Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 1 ½ story side or eave-entry barn clad in wood shingles with the main facade facing west. The ridge line runs north-south, parallel to Bates Road. The main entry of the west facade is a wood shingle swinging door. Above the door is a fifteen-pane transom light. The north gable-end has a wood paneled pass-through door and a fixed six-pane window below the apex. Off-center to the north on the east eave-facade is a wood shingle swinging door. Above the swinging doors are two fixed four-pane windows. The south gable-end has a pass-through door on its west side. Attached to the north-east corner of the south gable-end is a gable-roofed addition. The north facade of the addition has a fixed twelve-pane window below the apex. The addition’s west facade appears to have a pass-through door that is painted white and a fixed four-pane window. The barn has an un-mortared fieldstone foundation and an asphalt shingle roof with a louvered cupola.

Historical Significance:

The oldest barns still found in the state are called the “English Barn,” “side-entry barn,” “eave entry,” or a 30 x 40. They are simple buildings with rectangular plan, pitched gable roof, and a door or doors located on one or both of the eave sides of the building based on the grain warehouses of the English colonists’ homeland. The name “30 by 40” originates from its size (in feet), which was large enough for 1 family and could service about 100 acres. The multi-purpose use of the English barn is reflected by the building’s construction in three distinct bays - one for each use. The middle bay was used for threshing, which is separating the seed from the stalk in wheat and oat by beating the stalks with a flail. The flanking bays would be for animals and hay storage.

The first ventilators were simple wooden louvered boxes with gable roofs, mounted near the ridge of the barn. The successor to the ventilator was the more romantic cupola. Coinciding with the Italianate style of domestic architecture popular during the mid-nineteenth century, the room-sized cupola, embellished with decorative brackets and a copper weathervane, became a symbol of modern farming during the early Victorian era. The object of the cupola is to protect the opening of the flue from the elements, keep out birds, prevent back drafts as far as possible, and assist in drawing the foul air from the barn. The cupola was replaced in the early twentieth century by the factory-produced steel ventilator, symbolizing another step in the movement towards an industrial approach to farming.

Field Notes

19th Century Carriage House close to road. Needs major repair. stored Hudson cars in the 1920s Single antiques wooden cow stanchion in the basement.

Use (Historic)

• carriage barn

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Garage
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is besides and to the north of the house with which it is associated. The ridgeline of the barn is parallel to the ridgeline of the house. A driveway from Bates Road runs east towards a second English barn; http://www.connecticutbarns.org/13804. The driveway turns north at the house towards the garage, a shed and the barn.  The open space of the site extends to the east where it is demarcated by stone walls and dense woodland. To the Northeast is Mansfield Hollow State Park. The total size of the site is 1.60 acres. The area surrounding the site is residential, open space and woodland.

Building Typology

• Carriage House
• English

Materials

• Wood Shingle

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

02/09/2010

Compiled By

T. Levine and S. Lessard, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes by Warren Church - 09/17/2009.

Town of Chaplin Assessor’s Record Account number B000146, MBLU: 2/26//.

Arial map - www.googlemaps.com accessed 2/09/2010.

Sexton, James, PhD, Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Hamden, CT, 2005, http://www.connecticutbarns.org/history.

Visser, Thomas D., Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, University Press of New England, 1997.