Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2–story side or eave-entry bank barn. The main façade faces northwest and the ridge-line is parallel to North Canterbury Road, which at this point runs approximately southwest-northeast. The main entry is a single sliding exterior door off-centered to the west on the northwest eave-façade. To the west of the main entry is a sign printed “Wanungatuck Farm”. The grade of the northeast gable-end of the barn appears to decline sharply revealing a basement level. The northeast gable-end appears to be blank. The southeast eave-side appears to reveal a field-stone basement level. The grade at the southwest gable-end inclines sharply to the main level. The southwest gable-end of the barn appears to have a small double-hung window near the apex of the gable. At the basement level of the southwest gable-end there appears to be a door off-centered to the west. To the south of the southwest gable-end door, there appears to be two evenly spaced six-pane windows. To the west of the southwest gable-end door there appears to be a six-pane window. The barn has un-painted vertical flush-board siding. The roof is covered in asphalt shingles and a cupola is centered atop the ridge-line. The cupola has louvered slats on each side and a hip-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 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

http://davidcostanzoart.com/Gallery.htm exhibits a painting of this barn

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
• Cupola
• Other
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is to the northeast and across North Canterbury Road to c. 1850 house with which it is associated. The ridge-line of the house is parallel to that of the barn. The total size of the site is 125 acres. The area surrounding the site is agricultural and woodlands.

Building Typology

• English Bank

Materials

• Fieldstone
• Flush-board

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Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

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Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

3840 square feet

Date Compiled

02/08/2011

Compiled By

TR Revella & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Ted Ells date 09/21/2006.

Town of Canterbury Assessor’s Record
http://data.visionappraisal.com/CanterburyCT/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=2161

Parcel ID: 00191200

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 02/08/2010.

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.