Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a series of three 1 ½ story gable-entry tobacco sheds: Shed-I towards the south, Shed-II in the middle and Shed-III towards the north. The east eave-façades of the three tobacco sheds face Hartford Avenue while their ridge-lines run north-south parallel to the road. All the three tobacco sheds are more or less similar with main entrances on the south-gable façades through a pair of hinged wagon doors at the center. The three sheds have a unique system of ventilation through the horizontal siding on walls in which alternate boards are hinged along the top edge and open like long narrow awnings. The sheds have additional system of ventilation facilitated by continuous monitor roofs above the gable-roofs.
The wooden frames of the sheds have horizontal siding and metal sheet roofing.

Historical Significance:

The tobacco barn, or shed as it is called in the Connecticut River Valley, is one of the most distinctive of the single-crop barns. They tend to be long, low windowless buildings with pitched roofs. They are characterized by vented sides to regulate air flow and allow harvested tobacco to cure at the appropriate rate.  Derived initially from the design of the English barn, the shed is composed of a fixed skeleton consisting of two- or three-aisle bents repeated at intervals of 15 feet to the desired length. The wood-framed bents sit on piers of stone or concrete and the bents are connected by girts and diagonal braces. Typically there are two doors at each end, making the shed a “drive-through,” although some sheds are accessed through doors on the sides. The interior structural framework serves a second purpose in addition to supporting the walls and roof of the building; it provides a framework for the rails used to hang the tobacco as it cures.

This is accomplished with one of four different systems (more than one method may be utilized in a single shed):
a) Vertical siding in which every second board is hinged at the top and tilted out at the bottom by means of a horizontal cleat, that lifts many boards at once, and metal prop hooks to hold the boards in place;
b) Vertical siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the sides to open like tall narrow doors;
c) Less commonly, horizontal siding in which alternate boards are hinged along the top edge and open like long narrow awnings;
d) A series of large doors along one of the long sides of the building with the other sides of the building vented by one or more of the other methods.

Field Notes

tobacco barns: generally facing SW

Use (Historic)

• tobacco

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural

Relationship to surroundings

The 80.7 acres plot is located towards the west of Hartford Avenue, near the town line of Granby and East Granby. The property is flanked by residential properties towards the south and the east, across Hartford Avenue. A brook can be seen towards the western edge of the property that crosses Hartford Avenue towards the north.

The property includes three tobacco barns and a pole barn. The barns are arranged towards the south of the property with their gable façades facing each other and the ridge-lines running parallel to Hartford Avenue: Shed-I towards the south, Shed-II in the middle and Shed-III towards the north. A pole barn can be seen towards the north-east of Barn-I. The property is accessed by a driveway from the east of Barn-I. Parcels of farmland can be seen towards the west and the north-west of the property.

Building Typology

• Tobacco Shed

Materials

• Horizontal Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Metal

Roof type

• Gable
• Monitor

Approximate Dimensions

Three tobacco sheds each 6480 SqFt, one pole barn 960 SqFt

Date Compiled

08/21/2010

Compiled By

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

Sources

Photographs and field-notes provided by –
Doug Miller, photoguru@charter.net

Aerial photograph/Information retrieved on August 20th, 2010 from website http://www.zillow.com

Information retrieved on August 20th, 2010 from website http://www.google.com

Assessors information retrieved on August 20th, 2010 from website www.visionappraisal.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.