Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½ story gable-entry barn. The main façade of the barn faces south and the ridge-line of the barn runs roughly north-south. The main entry is on the south gable-façade and consists of three bays. The west and middle bays each contain a modern overhead garage door. The east bay holds a pass-through door and a window. The gable attic has a four-light window in the apex. The west eave-side of the barn appears to have three windows. The north gable-side of the barn appears to have a window in the gable attic apex.  The east eave-side of the barn appears to contain a pair of pass-through doors covered with a shed roof hood. The barn is clad with vertical flush-board that has been allowed to naturally weather. The modern overhead garage doors, the window mullions and frames, and the frame of the pass-through doors on the east elevation are white. The pass-through door on the south elevation is red. The roof is covered with asphalt shingles.

Historic significance:

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.
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.

Field Notes

Corner Halladay and North Main. It appears that there is an English barn attached to the house. A tobacco barn on the property is individually recorded.

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
• Shed

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

This barn is set on a 15.05 acre property that is located in the northeast quadrant of the intersection between Halladay Avenue and North Street. The property appears to be bounded by Halladay Avenue East on the south, North Street on the west, a residential property and a horse farm to the north, and residential lots to the east. A late eighteenth-century house is in the western corner of the property, directly west of the barn. The façade faces west with the ridge line running north-south with an addition on the rear. Off of the addition, it appears that there is an English barn with a ridge line that runs east-west. Grassy lawn surrounds the house and extends to the main barn.  A shed likely used as a farm stand is located to the south of the barn. Four cold frame greenhouses are located to the east of the barn. A large tobacco barn is located east of the greenhouses. Tobacco fields are to the north and southeast of the barn.

Building Typology

• New England

Materials

• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

Main Barn: 2300 sq ft Connected English Barn: 1200 sq ft Shed: 120 sq ft

Date Compiled

08/16/2010

Compiled By

Melissa Antonelli, reviewed by the CT Trust

Sources

Photographs by Henry Hanmer.

Map of Suffield, CT, retrieved Aug 16, 2010 from website www.bing.com.

Sexton, James, PhD, Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Hamden, CT, 2005, http://www.connecticutbarns.org/history.

Vision Appraisal Online Database. www.visionappraisal.com/SuffieldCT.

Visser, Thomas D., Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, University Press of New England, 1997.