Clarke Barn (437 North Canterbury Road (Rte 169), Canterbury (Eastern Uplands))

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story side or eave-entry bank barn (barn I)attached at the northeast corner to a 1 ½-story gable-entry bank barn (barn II). The main façade of the barn faces north and the ridge-line is perpendicular to North Canterbury Road. The main entry is two overhead garage doors off-centered to the east on the north eave-façade of the barn. Between the western main entry garage door and the eave is a hinged hay door. To the west of the north eave-entry there appears to be two six-pane windows spaced apart with the window nearest the entry adjacent to that entry. To the west of the north eave-entry there appears to be a six-pane window adjacent between the entry and the junction of the north eave-façade and the adjacent barn (barn II). The grade of the east gable-end drops with the north corner overlapping with that of barn II. The east gable-end of barn I appears to have a central doorway in the basement level. There also appears to be a window near the apex of the east gable-end of the barn. The south eave-side of barn I has a pair of hinged doors in the basement level. The western door’s upper portion has been replaced with a large eight-pane window. The eastern door contains two equally spaced six-pane windows in the middle section of the door. The main level of the south eave-side of the barn has three six-pane windows, one centered on the eastern half and the other two adjacent to one another on the western half of the of the barn. To the upper southwest corner of the south eave-side of the barn is a hinged hay door. The grade of the west gable-end inclines sharply to the main level. There are 7 small square windows evenly spaced only the lower half of the west gable-end. There are four six-pane windows arrange in a rectangle in the upper half and gable portion of the west gable-end. The apex of the gable is exposed with two rectangular side hinged hay doors directly below. The barn has horizontal siding painted red with white trim, cornice boards and corner boards. The foundation is field-stone. The roof is covered in asphalt shingles.

The Barn II is a 1 ½-story side or gable-entry bank barn attached at the southwest corner to a 1 ½-story eave-entry bank barn. The main façade of the barn faces west and the ridgeline is perpendicular to North Canterbury Road. The main entry is a centered overhead garage door with two inset windows equally spaced. To the south of the main entry is a four-over-four double-hung window. To the north of the main entry is a four-over-four double-hung window. There is a double-hung window near the apex of the west gable-façade. The south corner of the west gable-façade overlaps with the corner of barn I. Set back to the north of the west gable-façade is a shed-roof annex with a door adjacent to the north wall of the barn and a small window adjacent to north side of the door. The north eave-side of the barn has a small shed-roof annex slightly off-centered to the east and projecting north. There appears to be three windows evenly spaced across the north eave-side of the barn. The east gable-end of the barn appears to have a centered sliding door. To the north of east gable-end door is a window and to the south of the east gable-end door is what appears to be a top hinged door into a now demolished silo. There is a window in the gable attic of the east gable-end of the barn. The grade of the south eave-side declines sharply, revealing a basement level, which consists of field-stone. There is a pair of hinged doors centered on the basement level of the south eave-side. On the main level of the south eave-side of the barn are six evenly spaced windows. The barn has horizontal siding painted red with white trim, cornice boards and corner boards. The foundation is field-stone. The roof is covered in asphalt shingles.

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 19th century saw the introduction of a basement under the barn to allow for the easy collection and storage of a winter’s worth of manure from the animals sheltered within the building. The bank barn is characterized by the location of its main floor above grade, either through building into a hillside or by raising the building on a foundation. This innovation, aided by the introduction of windows for light and ventilation, would eventually
be joined by the introduction of space to shelter more animals under the main floor of the barn.

The New England barn or gable front barn was the successor to the English barn and relies on a gable entry rather than an entry under the eaves. The gable front offers many practical advantages. Roofs drain off the side, rather than flooding the dooryard. With the main drive floor running parallel to the ridge, the size of the barn could be increased to accommodate larger herds by adding additional bays to the rear gable end. Although it was seen by many as an improvement over the earlier side-entry English Barn, the New England barn did not replace its predecessor but rather coexisted with it.

The 19th century also saw the introduction of a basement under the barn to allow for the easy collection and storage of a winter’s worth of manure from the animals sheltered within the building. The bank barn is characterized by the location of its main floor above grade, either through building on a hillside or by raising the building on a foundation. This innovation, aided by the introduction of windows for light and ventilation, would eventually be
joined by the introduction of space to shelter more animals under the main floor of the barn.

Field Notes

http://davidcostanzoart.com/Gallery.htm illustrates this barn as Clarke Barn

Use (Historic)

agriculture

Use (Present)

unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

Environment features

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is to the southeast of the c. 1780 house with which it is associated. The ridge-line of the house is perpendicular to the ridge-line of the barn. There is small English barn a short distance between the southeast corner of the house and the main barns. To the east of the house is a large gable-roofed shed. To the southeast corner of the New England bank barn is a field-stone foundation of former silo. There is a stone wall bordering the south face of the main barns creating an enclosure between the barns and fields beyond. Bordering most of the entire site are stone walls. The total size of the site is 12.6 acres. The area surrounding the site is agricultural, woodland and some light residential.

Building Typology

Materials

Approximate Dimensions

New England: 3080 square feet, English: 1073 square feet

Date Compiled

02/08/2011

Compiled By

TR Revella & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Ted Ells - 9/20/2006

Town of Canterbury Assessor’s Record
http://data.visionappraisal.com/CanterburyCT/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=2316

Parcel ID: 00211900

Aerial Mapping:
http://maps.google.com accessed 02/08/2011
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 02/08/2011

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.

Historic Barns of Connecticut

Barn Record Canterbury