284 Lake Street, Bolton (Eastern Uplands) | Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2-story, tripartite, eave-entry bank barn. The main facade faces east toward the interior of the property while the west side fronts Lake Street, which runs to the southwest to northeast. The ridge-line is oriented on a roughly north-south axis. The main entry of the barn is located in the center bay of the east eave-facade. A wooden hood covers the center and north bays above the entrance creating a horizontal band which is extended by a simple molding across the south bay of the facade. The entry now consists of a pair of hinged doors with a fixed, single-pane window centered above it. The north and south bays are blank except for horizontal moldings on each side marking the seams of repairs. The south gable-side of the barn has a pass-through door in the center and a set of three fixed windows on the far end of the west side of the lower story. A set of four horizontal moldings divide the upper story of the gable side into three bands from the girt line to the top of the window lintels. A pair of fixed windows illuminates the gable attic. The west eave-side of the barn has a set of two fixed windows in the center and three fixed windows in the south bay while the north bay is blank. The windows of the center bay are set slightly lower than the set of three in the south bay. All the windows are six-pane except for one, which appears to have been replaced by a pair of three-pane windows. The basement story constructed of fieldstone masonry is exposed on the west eave-side of the barn. The entrance, consisting of a pair of hinged doors, sits in the south bay and has been reinforced by fieldstone piers on either side. The north gable-side of the barn has a pair of adjacent windows of different sizes on the far east side of the lower story. The smaller window has is fixed with two panes divided horizontally and the larger appears to be a double-hung sash with two-over-two panes divided horizontally. The rest of the north gable-side of the barn is blank except for a pair of fixed windows, one six-pane and the other a two-pane divided horizontally, in the gable attic. The barn has vertical siding and is painted red. The roof is covered with asphalt shingles.

Historic 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.

Field Notes

This barn is near the junction of Lake and Cider Mill Road and may be in Manchester.

Use (Historic)

agriculture

Use (Present)

unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

Environment features

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is situated just to the south of the early nineteenth-century house with which it is associated. The ridge-line of the barn is parallel to the ridge-line of the house. The 0.92 acre-lot is defined by the intersection of Lake Street to the west and Cider Mill Road to the north. Both house and barn front Lake Street with a driveway running between them and leading to a large garage or shed on the east side of the property. The ridge-line of this 1 1/2-story structure also runs roughly parallel with the house and barn. A shed is attached to the rear of the house. Most of the lot is lightly wooded. A stone walls follows the course of Lake Street on the west side of the barn. A ruin of a building with wood shingles and a fieldstone chimney is to the east of the barn. The area surrounding the site is residential, light agriculture, light open space and woodland.

Map/Block/Lot 00006 00023 013B

Building Typology

English Bank

Materials

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

10/27/2010

Compiled By

Amy Prescher & Todd Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes by Carol and Alan Lyons.

Property data from Bolton, CT, retrieved on October 27, 2010 from website www.equalitycama.com

Map of Bolton, CT, retrieved on October 27, 2010 from website www.bing.com.

Map of Bolton, CT, retrieved on October 27, 2010 from website www.googlemaps.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.

Barn Record Bolton