Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story gable-roofed eave-entry barn with a gable-roofed addition.  The main eave-side faces west and the ridge-line of the main portion of the barn is parallel with Long Hill Road, which runs approximately north-south.  The main entry is a large, centered internal sliding door with a lintel with decorative cornice trim.  In the south corner of the façade, there is a smaller pair of exterior hinged doors. In the north corner, there is a pass-through door with trim. The south gable-end has a double-hung window in the gable attic.  A 1-story gable-roofed addition extends east from the north half of the east eave-side of the barn.  A shed-roofed porch on the south eave-side of the addition is attached to the east eave-side of the barn and is open on the south and east sides.  The north eave-side of the addition appears to have several windows on the main level.  The north gable-end of the barn appears to have at least one window in the main level and a single window in the gable attic.  The barn has vertical flush-board siding painted red with white trim.  The roof has overhanging eaves and is covered with 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.

Field Notes

This is an English-style barn with a side entry door that slides behind the wall, rather than in front of it. There appears to be a small entry door, possibly hinged, at the left corner of the barn, but that part is obscured by trees. On the right is another entry which is not framed by white molding,and is hardly noticeable at first glance. The barn is made of wooden siding and a shingled roof, with electrical wires running to it from the street. The barn faces west, directly into the setting sun.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• agriculture

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is situated to the northeast of the house with which it is associated.  The ridge-line of the main part of the barn is oriented north-south, parallel with the road and with the ridge-line of the house.  The 1 ½-story center-chimney cape style gable-roof house, built in c. 1734, has a 1-story gable-roofed ell addition on its rear, east eave-side.  A driveway runs east from Long Hill Road, forming a circle next to the north gable-end of the house.  The driveway then leads northeast to the main entry in the west façade of the barn.  A grassed vehicle track also leads from the driveway past the south gable-end of the barn to a fenced yard on the north and east sides of the addition.  Woodlands extend beyond the west and south perimeters of the 2.65-acre site.  Bear Swamp road runs along the southern boundary of the property.  The area surrounding the site is woodland, open land and residential.  The property is approximately one mile west of Andover center.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

936 sq. ft.

Date Compiled

03/11/2011

Compiled By

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

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Ellen O’Shaughnessy date 3/15/2010.

Town of Andover Assessor’s Record or GIS Viewer: http://data.visionappraisal.com/AndoverCT/
Parcel ID: 34/ 025/ 0018-1/ / /

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 3/11/2010.

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.