Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

Inventory of structures (C – contributing, NC – non-contributing):
House 1893 C
Carriage Barn ca. 1895 C
This is a 1 ½-story eave-entry carriage barn with a gambrel roof. The primary façade is the west eave-side, which
faces Lovely Street. Lovely Street runs approximately north-south and the house is on the east side with the barn
sited to the southeast behind the house. The barn plan is divided into two parts – the north bay is a space for a
carriage while the south bay contains a horse stall and a small room with a stair leading up to the attic.

Exterior:

The primary façade of this barn is the west eave-side. The principal feature of this elevation is a 7-foot wide interior
sliding barn door, placed off-center toward the left (north), above which is a gambrel-roofed wall dormer projecting
slightly out beyond the eave overhang of the roof. The dormer has a four-panel hay door and a projecting hoist
beam above in the peak. The soffit below the dormer features two deep brackets, visually supporting the eave
returns of the dormer roof, and five modillions above the barn door. Both the barn door and hay door are
constructed with chamfered stiles and rails with tongue and groove plank infill panels; two tall panels above two
shorter panels in each.
To the left (north) of the door is a six-over-one wood double hung window centered in the wall. To the right is a
matching window also roughly centered in the right bay. A pass-through door between the barn door and the south
window appears to have been a later addition, as it is placed awkwardly below the bracket supporting the dormer;
and the door is a 20th-century neo-Colonial style six-panel door with glazed upper lights which has been modified
with a patch to increase its height.

The south gable-end has three nearly square four-pane stable windows on the ground level. The outer windows are
set two feet in from the corners and the third is centered. At the attic level, the gable-end has two symmetrical sixover-
one double hung windows. A round arch-topped louvered opening is just below the peak of the roof.
The east eave-side has three openings in the ground level. Toward the right (north) a six-over-one double hung
window is roughly centered on the carriage bay. Toward the left a pass-through door leads into the aisle between the
stall and the carriage bay. To its left (south) is a six-over-one double hung window. The pass-through door is in poor
condition but appears to represent an original configuration with six glazed panes in the upper panel above a single
short panel.

The north gable-end has two evenly-spaced six-over-one double hung windows at the ground level. There are two
six-over-one double hung windows and an arched louvered opening in the attic level, matching the south end.
The exterior walls of the ground level are clad with 4-inch wood clapboard siding with corner board trim and a
wood base course with a wood water table on the first story. The second-story gable-ends, and the façade dormer,
are clad with wood shingle siding. A belt course at the eave spring line continues across the north and south ends,
with a horizontal trim board topped by a molding supporting the slightly flared plane of the wood shingles. All
exterior walls are painted white with blue trim.

The roof is covered with light brown asphalt shingles. The eaves overhang approximately 12-15 inches, with a solid
wood soffit. Shingled eave returns are present on both gable ends and the dormer. A brick chimney projects from
the roof, slightly west of the ridge-line and off-center toward the south.
Several courses of brick foundation are visible on all sides except at the barn door, where a ramped surface of
asphalt paving meets the sill.

Interior:

The interior is little altered from its original condition. The north bay is constructed with full-dimension 3- x 4-inch
studs at 24 inches on center, exposed in the north, and east walls. The center dividing partition supports the attic
floor joists and is sheathed in vertical 3-inch tongue and groove bead-board on both sides. A wide door way for
horses has a sliding door and leads through the partition to the stall area in the south bay. A steel hoist mechanism is
mounted on rails between the attic floor joists; the period of use for this equipment has not been determined.
The south bay has all walls finished in the same vertical bead-board. A four-foot wide corridor runs next to the
center partition. The stall has three six-inch chamfered posts supporting a sliding door with a wire mesh upper panel
and solid lower. A four-foot high plank partition encloses the stall on its east side, leaving a space for supplies next
to the eastern wall. The western area is enclosed as for use by the staff, and has a brick chimney with a thimble for a
stove pipe. In the southwest corner, an L-plan stair with 14 risers at 9 inches (total floor-to-floor height of 10’-6”)
including 45-degree winder treads at the corner, leads up to the attic level.
Flooring is 12-inch wood planking at the lower level, presumably over a shallow cavity, as evidenced by the exposed
brick foundation.
The attic is unfinished on the interior, with exposed 2 inch x 6-inch rafters on a 2-foot kneewall. The brick chimney
is exposed and flooring is 6-inch wide wood planks. In the ground floor and attic there are piles of fish-scale roofing
slates, evidence of the original roof material. During the re-roofing process, narrow wood strips were inserted
between the original spaced boards, so that no plywood is visible. Collar ties are present at an elevation of 8’-6”
above the floor, at the break line in the roof pitches.

• Historical or Architectural importance:

Applicable Connecticut Register Criterion:

2. Embodying the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction.

Historical background:

The Union District of Farmington was one of numerous outlying villages. During the 19th century many of them
incorporated as distinct towns; Unionville remained a part of Farmington and acquired its name in 1834 when a
local post office branch was established. By the 1830s, the Farmington River’s water power had made Unionville a
busy manufacturing center, economically more productive than Farmington Village. In the 1880s the Sanford and
Hawley Lumber Company was founded at the corner of Farmington Avenue and West Avon Road, utilizing an
existing mill structure. Sanford and Hawley, Inc. remains in business, still a family-run company.
Lovely Street (Route 177) extends north from the center of Unionville and its rising ground outside the village
center became a desirable location for the construction of substantial Victorian homes of the well-to-do middle
class. Sanford and Hawley founders and brothers Sherman and Edmund Sanford purchased 17 acres of land in 1861
and another 9 acres subsequently. Edmund quit-claimed his share to Sherman who in the 1890s developed a row of
three houses on Lovely Street: 188-190 in 1890, 176 in 1893, and 162-164 in 1896. The parcels are the northernmost
lots in Unionville adjacent to the Avon town line. The adjacent side streets, Sherman and Sanford Avenues,
commemorate Sherman Sanford. 176 Lovely Street was deeded to his son Edwin M. Sanford. The property passed
to Edwin’s second wife Grace in 1920 and was sold in 1927 to Thomas Crockett, a real estate and insurance
entrepreneur. His son Jack Crockett, who was born in the house and subsequently lived in Unionville into his 80s,
provided reminiscences of the house and barn.
The exact date of construction of the carriage barn is unclear. Stylistically its details exhibit some characteristics that
seem more Shingle style or neo-Classical revival than the Queen Anne style of the house. For instance, the gambrel
roof, shingled attic walls, and six-over-one windows, and the modillion trim over the barn door, may suggest the
barn as an addition to the property after its initial construction.
This area on Lovely Street was sufficiently upscale to remain the home of a businessman such as Edwin Sanford, yet
the neighboring house at 188-190 was constructed as a two-family “tenement” and remains so.

Architectural significance:

This carriage barn is significant because of the integrity of the exterior and interior including the original barn door
and the stall for the horse. It is an excellent and well-preserved example of a typical residential carriage barn from
the late 19th century period just prior to the replacement of horses and barns by the automobile and garage. The
setting on Lovely Street is a nearly-intact streetscape of three adjacent houses built by one developer, representing
the upper middle class homes of mill owners, managers, and other professionals in the newly-developing suburban
fringe of a prosperous industrial town at the end of the 19th century.

Field Notes

Listed on the State Register of Historic Places 2/06/2013 Historic Resource Inventory by N. Nietering & T. Levine 04/10/2011 Architectural description: This is a 1 ½-story eave-entry carriage barn with a gambrel roof. The primary façade is the west eave-side, which faces Lovely Street. Lovely Street passes this property at a nearly north to south angle. The primary façade of this barn is the west eave-side. Two doors are present on this façade. Off-center slightly to the south is a wooden panel pass-through door. The two top panels have been replaced with rectangular panes of glass. Immediately beside this pass-through door to the north is an over-width sliding door of wooden construction. Farther north from this over-width door is a double-hung six-over-one window. Another six-over-one window is present to the south of the pass-through door. Centered over the large sliding door on the façade is a gambrel wall dormer, projecting slightly. This dormer contains a centered panel access door, topped by a modern security lamp. The projecting dormer is supported by brackets at the eave line. The south gable-end has three rectangular four-over-one double-hung windows evenly spaced on the first story. Within the second story, the gable end contains two symmetrical six-over-one double-hung windows. The east eave-side appears to have three window openings on the first story. The north gable-end has two evenly-spaced six-over-one double-hung windows on the first story, and two addition six-over-one double-hung windows on the second story. A small rectangular window opening is centered just below the roof ridgeline on this gable end. The exterior walls of this barn are clad with horizontal wooden clapboard siding on the first story. The second-story gable-ends, and the façade dormer, are clad with wooden shingles. All exterior walls are painted battleship gray. Some trim is white. The roof is covered with light brown asphalt shingles. Shingled cornice returns are present on both gable ends. A brick chimney is present projecting from the west face of the roof, above the purlin. Historical significance: Until the 1830s, the horses used for riding and driving carriages were often kept in the main barn along with the other farm animals. By the 1850s, some New England farmers built separate horse stables and carriage houses. Early carriage houses were built just to shelter a carriage and perhaps a sleigh, but no horses. The pre-cursor to the twentieth-century garage, these outbuildings are distinguished by their large hinged doors, few windows, and proximity to the dooryard. The combined horse stable and carriage house continued to be a common farm building through the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, until automobiles became common. Elaborate carriage houses were also associated with gentlemen farms and country estates of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The gambrel roof enclosed a much greater volume than a gable roof did, and its shape could be formed with trusses that did not require cross beams, which would interfere with the movement and storage of hay. Also known as the curb roof, the double slopes of the gambrel offer more volume in the hayloft without increasing the height of the side walls. Detached 2-story Dutch Colonial style, gambrel-roofed carriage & horse barn. House dates to 1893. Brick foundation and chimney. Wood clapboard siding. We didn't get into the interior. According to a previous owner the interior had horse stalls and a groom's living quarters. Surrounding environment is residential.

Use (Historic)

• carriage barn

Use (Present)

• storage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Garden

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

State Register description:


Lovely Street (Route 177) runs north into the town of Avon; the property is a .46-acre parcel on the east side of the
street at the northern edge of Unionville close to the Avon town line. The roughly 100-foot-wide lot extends east
from the street line with several irregular jogs in the property lines. The parcel includes an L-shaped extension
southward across the rear of the adjacent parcel to the south (No. 162 Lovely Street).
The barn is behind and to the southeast of the associated house, and the primary façade faces west.
The house is a 2 ½-story gable-roofed Queen Anne style residence with its main ridgeline oriented east-west. The
front façade is a west-facing gable-end with a turret at its southwest corner, a wrap-around porch along the west
front and south sides, and a projecting bay window in the south wing under a transverse gable.
The barn is accessed from the street via an asphalt-paved driveway which passes along the south wall of the house
through a decorative porte-cochere. The property west of the house and leading to the barn is lawn with a few trees.
Clusters of trees mark the property boundaries between many of the houses on this block, giving the area a wooded
appearance. To the east of the barn, the adjacent property is currently under construction as a residential cul-de-sac.
Nearby streets are lined by dwellings of varying ages from 19th-century buildings along Lovely Street to mid- to late-
20th-century homes on lateral streets, many developed as residential cul-de-sacs. The Farmington River runs
southward a short distance to the west beyond Main Street/Farmington Avenue (Route 4) where the commercial
center of Unionville is located at the intersection with Lovely Street. A bridge crossing the Farmington River and a
19th-century railroad depot on the south side of the river historically focused activity at this location.




HRI Description:


Lovely Street runs north into the town of Avon; the property is on the east side of the street at the northern edge of Unionville close to the Avon town line. The barn is behind and to the east of the associated house, oriented parallel to Lovely Street, and the primary façade faces west. The house is a 2 ½-story gable-roofed Queen Anne style residence with a turret at its southwest corner, a wrap-around porch along the west front gable-end and south sides, and a projecting bay window in the south wing under a transverse gable. The barn is accessed from the street via an asphalt paved driveway, which passes along the south wall of the house, through a decorative porte cochere. The property alongside the house and leading up to the barn is primarily a lawn with occasional trees. Lines of trees mark the property boundaries between many of the houses on this block. To the east of the barn, the land is primarily woodland and there is a golf course nearby. Nearby streets are mostly lined by dwellings of varying ages from 19th-century along Lovely Street to mid- to late-20th-century homes on lateral streets, many developed as residential cul de sacs. The Farmington River runs southward a short distance to the west beyond Main Street (Route 4). Occasional plots of woodland complete the surrounding landscape.

Building Typology

• Carriage House
• Gambrel

Materials

• Brick
• Clapboard
• Wood Shingle

Structural System

• Balloon Frame
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gambrel

Approximate Dimensions

22 x 34 feet; 748 square feet

Date Compiled

04/10/2011

Compiled By

N. Nietering & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs by Diana Meyer/Janet Macomber 8/20/2010 and Todd Levine.

Farmington Assessor’s Records - online - http://www.farmington-ct.org/landrecords/search.php

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, 213 pages.

Map of Unionville, CT, retrieved on April 9, 2011 from website www.bing.com.

Hitchcock, C. State Register of Historic Places nomination, 2011.