Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 2 ½ story three-bay eave-entry gambrel-roof barn with flared eave. The eastern eave-façade of the barn faces Kelseytown Road while the ridge-line runs north-south parallel to the road. The main façade of the barn is the three-bay eastern eave-façade with two main entrances, one each in the first bay and the second bay from the south. Each main entrance to the barn in each of the two bays is through a garage door with chamfered corners. The façade also has two six-pane vertical windows equally spaced in the third bay from the south. The northern gable-façade of the barn has two horizontal trims separating the first floor level, the second floor level and the gable attic above. Two equally spaced six-pane vertical windows can be seen at the first at the first floor level of the facade. The façade also has a pair of hinged braced hay doors with trim, centered at the second floor level. The northern gable-façade of the barn also has a louvered ventilator just below the apex of the roof which projects out to form a hay hood. Concrete masonry foundation can be seen near the grade level towards the western edge of the façade. The southern gable-façade of the barn appears to have a deck at the second floor level, connecting the barn to the main residence towards the south. 
The wooden frame of the barn is supported on concrete masonry foundation. The barn has white painted vertical siding and asphalt shingles roofing.

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 gambrel roof enclosed a much greater volume than a gable roof did, and its shape could be formed with trusses that did not require cross beams, which would interfere with the movement and storage of hay. Also known as the curb roof, the double slopes of the gambrel offer more volume in the hayloft without increasing the height of the side walls.

A slight flare in the roof near the eaves, reminiscent of the starched caps that women once wore in the Netherlands, gives the Dutch gambrel its name. Dutch Colonial buildings of the 17th century also had the flare or “overshoot” design. The flare functions to protect the walls and foundations below by directing rain and snow away from the walls.

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.

The proximity to the main residence and main wagon door entrances on the eave-side of the barn suggest its usage as a carriage barn.

Until the 1830s, the horses used for riding and driving carriages were often kept in the main barn along with the other farm animals. By the 1850s, some New England farmers built separate horse stables and carriage houses. Early carriage houses were built just to shelter a carriage and perhaps a sleigh, but no horses. The pre-cursor to the twentieth-century garage, these outbuildings are distinguished by their large hinged doors, few windows, and proximity to the dooryard. The combined horse stable and carriage house continued to be a common farm building through the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, until automobiles became common. Elaborate carriage houses were also associated with gentlemen farms and country estates of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Another form of carriage barn, the urban livery stable, served the needs of tradespeople.

Field Notes

n/a

Use (Historic)

• carriage barn

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The property towards the west of Kelseytown Road in a rural residential area surrounded by dense woodland. Residential plots flank the property towards the north and the east, across Kelseytown Road. A water body can be seen towards further west of the property with dense woodland towards south.
The barn is located towards the western edge of the property with a driveway towards its south-east. The main residence of the property can be seen towards the south of the barn. Un-coursed un-mortared stone masonry boundary wall defines the eastern edge of the property along Kelseytown Road.

Building Typology

• Connected
• Gambrel

Materials

• Concrete
• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

• Load-bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Dutch Gambrel

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Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

07/28/2010

Compiled By

T. Levine and M. Patnaik, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and information provided by –
Jan O’Sullivan, danjan85@aol.com

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.