Peckaitis Home (41 College Street, Old Saybrook ())

Barn Record Old Saybrook

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Building Name (Common)

Peckaitis Home

Building Name (Historic)

n/a

Address

41 College Street, Old Saybrook

Typology

New England

Overview

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2 story gable-entry barn with a shed-roofed addition. The main facade faces College Street, which runs approximately east-west. The main entry is a pair of swinging hinged doors in the center of the south facade. A six-over-six double hung window is off to the east. Centered above the girt-line siding divide is another six-over-six double hung window. The rest of the south gable facade is blank, except for a pair of slightly smaller swinging hinged doors on the shed-roofed addition that extends off of the west eave-facade. The entire length of the west eave-facade of the barn is encompassed by the shed-roofed addition and its ends are flush with the gable-facades of the main structure. Off center just below the girt-line siding divide of the north gable-façade is a small hay door. The west portion of the north gable-facade appears to be board-and-batten. A siding divide is evident in the shed-roofed addition along the eave-line. The east eave-facade of the barn has a pass-through door near the center and a small half door to the north. The roof has soffit overhangs and asphalt shingles. The barn has vertical flush-board siding painted white with green doors.

Historical 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.

Field Notes

The current owners purchased the property from Alma Westlund. They say the house and barn were built in 1890's. The barn sits behind the house and is barely visible from the road. It is a New England style post & beam with vertical siding and an asphalt shingle roof. It had been used for animals, horse and cows and, with some interesting side doors, perhaps chickens. Next to it is a 3 seat outhouse. The very charming property is located in a residential neighborhood.

Use & Accessibility

Use (Historic)

agriculture

Use (Present)

unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Environment

Related features

Other

Environment features

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is behind and north of the house associated with it. To the east of the barn is an outhouse with an identical color scheme encompassed by a white picket fence. There is a large open space to the east of the site. Otherwise, the area is residential.

Typology & Materials