Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½ story eave-entry bank barn with a shed-roofed addition on its eastern gable-façade. The northern eave-façade facing Railroad Avenue is the main façade of the barn with the main entrance through an over-head garage door with a white trim. The main entrance is centered on the main façade which is otherwise blank. The eastern gable-façade of the barn is devoid of any significant feature apart from the shed-roofed addition with its side-walls flush with the northern and southern eave-facades of the main barn. The angle of the shed-roof raises midway from the eastern gable-façade of the main barn to form a gradual slope along the eastern eave-side of the shed-roofed addition. The southern eave-façade of the barn is marked by a steep drop in the grade level towards the west, revealing the field-stone masonry wall at the bank level. The façade has a shed-roofed addition towards the east at the bank level and appears to have two window inserts at the first floor level, one towards the east and the other towards the west. A third window can be seen centered on the façade, just below the eave-line. The southern side-wall of the shed-roofed addition is punctuated by four similar windows forming a band on the facade.
The wooden frame of the barn is supported on field-stone masonry foundation. The barn has asphalt roofing with red-painted vertical siding walls.

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.

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

Small red vertical sided barn, with small shed addition.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Other

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential

Relationship to surroundings

The property is in a predominantly residential area towards the east of Railroad Avenue. It is flanked by St. Joseph’s Cemetery towards its west.
The barn is situated towards the east in the property with a driveway leading to it and the main residence towards the north-west of the barn. A large open area can be seen towards the south of the barn.

Building Typology

• Carriage House
• English

Materials

• Fieldstone
• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

• Load-bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

07/13/2010

Compiled By

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

Sources

Photographs and fieldnotes provided by – Diane Lindsay

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.