Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• National Register
• State Historic Resource Inventory
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story gable-roofed gable-entry structure with a shed-roof addition.  The main façade faces south and the ridge-line is perpendicular to this portion of Route 6, which runs east-west.  The main entry is a centered interior-swinging pass-through door with a seven-pane transom light above.  The entry is flanked by a twelve-pane fixed window on each side on the main level.  There is a fixed eight-pane window in the gable attic.  The east eave-side appears to have five evenly spaced fixed windows. A small shed-roofed addition extends out from the north gable-end of the barn. The addition appears to be open on the north side. The barn has vertical board and batten siding which is unpainted and a fieldstone foundation.

Historical significance:

A shed is typically a simple, single-story structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop. Sheds vary considerably in the complexity of their construction and their size, from small open-sided tin-roofed structures to large wood-framed sheds with shingled roofs, windows, and electrical outlets. Sheds used on farms or in industry can be large structures.

Known as the shop, workshop, carpentry shop, toolshed, blacksmith shop, or machine shop, these small, well-lighted buildings provide a heated space for making and repairing furnishings, tools, and equipment, as well as for earning outside income through various trades. Typically 1 1/2 stories with a gabled front, and easily accessible doorway, and windows all around, most shops have a chimney for venting a cast iron rood or coal stove.

Field Notes

photo from street did not speak with owners - belongs with a house facing north on Hutchinson Road. For assessment search Vision Appraisal for "131 Route 6" Location: 41.753838,-72.398196 White's Tavern: listed on National Register No. 91000947. In addition to the dwelling, which currently is divided into two living units, the property includes a small 1-story novelty-sided house or cottage to the north (Photograph 3), a privy, and a small 1-story board-sided barn (Photograph 4), c.1900, which originated as an ell on a now-demolished larger barn abutting it just to the east. The age of the small house is not known, but its reported interior of vertical feather-edged boards suggests an 18th-century date. The interior was not accessible for inspection or photography. These outbuildings all appear to be more than 50 years old and are part of the historic complex represented by the property; they are considered contributing buildings. The shed-roofed garage which stands east of the barn site is modern and counted as noncontributing (Photographs 3 and 4) ( Clouette, Section 7). Small house - The significance of the small house on the property cannot be fully ascertained without more information on its origin. Was it, in whole or in part, an earlier house on the site, or another White home? Or was it moved to the site in the 19th century when the property was the Phelps farm? Architectural historians have noted that small, one room houses were once common throughout New England, but they have survived in relatively few numbers compared to the larger homes of better-off families. The small house contributes to the site as part of an historically related complex, but it may also have architectural significance in further demonstrating the variety of colonial house types (Clouette , Section 8).

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Garage
• Shed

Environment features

• Commercial
• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The shed faces south toward Jonathan Trumbull Highway (US Route 6) and is to the south of the house with which it is associated, which fronts Hutchinson Road to the north. Hutchinson Road marks the former course of the main road between Hartford and Windham; now the highway, known as U.S. Route 6, bypasses the house to the west, forming the rear property line of the parcel. The ridge-line of the house is oriented east-west perpendicular to the ridge-line of the shed.  The 2 ½-story double chimney Colonial style house, built in c. 1792, has a 1-story gable-roof addition on its rear, south, eave-side.  A driveway runs between Route 6 and Hutchinson Road, past the east eave-side of the shed and the west gable-end of the house.  There appears to be another shed adjacent to the north of the described shed and a garage beyond this.  This shed is surrounded by scattered trees and open land with numerous parked vehicles.  There are woodlands on the northwest and southeast perimeter of the flat 3.62-acre property.  The area surrounding the site is woodland, active agriculture, commercial and residential.  The property is approximately 2 miles northwest of the center of Andover.

Building Typology

• Other Shed

Materials

• Board & Batten
• Fieldstone
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

396 sq. ft.

Date Compiled

03/09/2011

Compiled By

L. Mackintosh & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Pamela Brown, date 3/10/2010, additional notes C. Hitchcock.

Town of Andover Assessor’s Record or GIS Viewer: http://data.visionappraisal.com/AndoverCT/
Parcel ID: 28/ 06A/ 000002/ / /

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 3/11/2011.

Clouette, Bruce, and Roth, Matthew, White’s Tavern National Register Nomination No.  91000947, National Park Service, 1991.

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.