Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• Local Historic District
• National Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This one-story wood-sided barn, oriented east-west, is connected to the rear ell of a brick house. The area adjacent to the house appears to be used as a garage. A one-story ell projects south perpendicular to the main structure. The barn/garage has a gable roof which continues the line of the house ell, although the eave trim is slightly different in appearance. The barn structure is sided in horizontal clapboard siding with corner board trim. The foundation is concrete block masonry.

The south eave-side façade has an overhead garage door. The adjoining east eave-side of the barn ell has a pass-through door with a stone stoop and two stone steps. The south wall of the ell is a gable-end façade with a large 28-pane divided light fixed sash window in the main level and an attic vent above. The west elevation consists of the gable-end of the main structure and the eave-side of the ell. The gable-end projects approximately four feet beyond the ell wall and has a single six-over-six double hung window; the eave-side of the ell has a pass-through door. There is a brick chimney at the inside corner where the ell meets the main wing. The north eave-side has a pass-through door and several windows.

The roofing is asphalt shingles; the siding is painted barn red with white trim.

A silo foundation remains to the west of the building.

Historical significance:

Connected barns tied all of the functions of a farmstead - home, hearth, workplace and barn - into a series of linked buildings. This is the “big house, little house, back house, barn” of nursery rhymes.
In this example, the connected structure may be an addition not related to agriculture but evoking the appearance of the traditional connected barn.
The house and attached barn are in a village of closely-spaced 19th-century homes, many with barns. Chaplin Street, formerly the main highway, is now a secondary road since Route 198 has been straightened to bypass the village center. No. 15 is near the south end of Chaplin Street where the present Route 198 diverges.

Historical background:

The Chaplin Historic District is an entire village built between 1815 and 1840, standing today in complete integrity, free of intrusions. The church, tavern, Town Hall, store and nineteen houses in late Federal and early Greek Revival styles provide a unique example of the architecture and ambience of a New England village - entirely constructed in a compressed period of time a century and a half ago, and unaltered since that time.
Connecticut has many villages which are older than Chaplin and many towns founded earlier than Chaplin in which can be traced continuing architectural and community developments from a century or more before through a century or more after the fabric demonstrated by Chaplin. Chaplin is unique because it was created on site where before there had been no settlement, was created complete in a brief span of time, and subsequently has experienced no development or changes. Chaplin provides a unique record of the architecture and community planning of the 1820’s and 1830’s (Ransom, p. 7).

Field Notes

Associated house- 1830, Local and National Register Historic District. - 2' jog out at rear( see photo) - Was converted into a theater where Sidney Chrysler put on his puppet Operas. Puppets now at U Conn puppet museum. - silo foundation and older barn foundation.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• storage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Other
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

The house and attached barn are in a village of closely-spaced 19th-century homes, many with barns. Chaplin Street, formerly the main highway, is now a secondary road since Route 198 has been straightened to bypass the village center.

Building Typology

• Connected

Materials

• Clapboard

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

42' x 18', 18' x 16' ell

Date Compiled

01/27/2010

Compiled By

Charlotte Hitchcock, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field Notes by Catherine Lynch and Hill Bullard 11/25/2009. Photographs by Catherine Lynch, Hill Bullard, Charlotte Hitchcock, and Stephanie Lessard.

Town of Chaplin Assessor’s Record Map/Lot 75/ 39.

Ransom, David, Chaplin National Register Historic District Nomination, No. 78002856, National Park Service, 10/11/1978.

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.

Works Progress Administration Writers’ Project: Architectural Survey, Census of Old Buildings, Reference Group 33, Box 226 “Bolton-Chaplin,” Hartford: Connecticut State Library Archives.