Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2 story side- or eave-entry bank barn with two shed-roofed additions. The barn faces east with its ridge line running north-south, parallel to Baltic Road. A fixed six-pane window is in the southern-most end of the east eave-facade with an exterior sliding door to its north. The north half of the east eave-facade has two, evenly spaced exterior sliding doors. On the south gable-facade, the grade slopes down to the west, exposing the foundation, and siding divide. On the main floor of the south gable-facade is an off-center, fixed six-pane window.

There is a shed-roofed addition off the west eave-facade. The south facade of the addition appears to be blank. A second shed-roofed addition is off the north gable-facade and is flush with the east eave-facade, built into the grade with the roof sloping down to the west. There appears to be a pass-through door in the northern-most end of the shed-roofed addition’s east facade.

The barn and its addition’s have vertical siding that is painted red with corrugated metal, also painted red, on the basement level of the south gable-facade. The barn has a tin roof. The shed-roofed addition off the north gable-facade has an asphalt shingle roof.

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 multipurpose 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 b 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

n/a

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

This is one of three barns on the property. A second eave-entry bank barn is located to its south. Southwest of the two bank barns is an irregular shaped, less significant barn complex. Open land is northwest and southwest of the barn with woodland areas to its east.

Building Typology

• English Bank

Materials

• Aluminum Siding
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle
• Tin

Roof type

• Gable
• Shed

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

06/29/2010

Compiled By

S. Lessard and T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust.

Sources

Photographs by Rick Spencer (rspencer02@snet.net). - 12/09/2009

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.