Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½ story gable-roofed barn structure oriented with its ridge-line perpendicular to Norwich Worcester Turnpike, which runs north-south.  The main gable-façade of the barn faces west and has a pair of sliding barn doors at the center mounted on an interior track and opens at grade on the main level.  Each leaf of the sliding barn doors has a vertical set of ten-light windows on the upper half.  The gable attic of the main west gable-façade of the barn is separated from the rest of the façade by a girt siding divide line, located just above the sliding barn doors.  A thirteen-light transom is located above the sliding barn doors and girt siding divide line and a six-pane window is located in the gable attic of the west gable-façade of the barn.  Between the gable attic window and the transom window on the west gable-façade of the barn are two signs with the name of the barn (Brunn Barn) and a date (1822).  The grade level along the west gable-façade drops towards the north to form the bank along the north eave-side. The north eave-side has a bank of four swinging hinged barn doors on the basement level.  Centered in the upper half of each leaf of the swinging hinged barn doors on the basement level is a six-pane window.  A stone foundation is seen on the west-most half and east-most half of the basement level on the north eave-side of the barn, flanking the bank of swinging hinged barn doors.  The main level of the north eave-side of the barn has three pairs of equally spaced six-pane windows on the west half and three pairs of smaller, equally spaced six-pane windows on the eastern most half.  The grade slopes up toward the east gable-end of the barn where a pair of sliding barn doors at the center mounted on an interior track and opens at grade on the main level.  Each leaf of the sliding barn doors has a vertical set of ten-light windows on the upper half.  A six-pane window is located in the gable attic of the east gable-end of the barn.  The south eave-side of the barn has three pairs of equally spaced six-pane windows on the main level.  The barn has red painted vertical siding with white window trim. The roof has a projecting overhang and asphalt shingles.  A hip-roof, louvered cupola is centered on the ridge of the roof; it is painted white and topped with a weather vane.

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.  The 19th century also 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 on 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

150th year of the Woodstock Fair - Labor Day weekend 2010. The Brunn Barn Agricultural Museum opened its doors during the 2005 Woodstock Fair, culminating five years of planning by a committee that recognized a community need for a structure that could house agricultural artifacts indigenous to northeastern Connecticut. The committee decided to find or build a barn representative of barn that might have been constructed in Woodstock during the time period 1865 to 1950. The barn, which houses a collection of old machinery and equipment, was originally located about one half mile south of its present site on the fairgrounds. The barn was dismantled and reconstructed on the fairgrounds during the fall of 2004 and spring of 2005. Many of the items on display were donated by area residents. In 2007 the Woodstock Fair Association received an Award of Merit from The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation for its work in preserving a barn of historic interest. Historic photo from: Wakely, Cheryl R., A Journey Through Woodstock 1686-2011, Woodstock Historical Society, Woodstock CT, 2011, p. 203. Caption: "Liskaveen Homestead, 1889. Mr. Armin Brunn, a farmer and veterinarian, and his wife, Grace, came to South Woodstock in 1887. On September 29, 1909, Armin Brunn and his sister, Miss Frieda Brunn, were fatally shot by their brother, Constantine, who then killed himself. In 1940 the 120-acre Brunn estate was purchased for the future Annhurst College; the barn was relocated to the Woodstock Fairgrounds in 2005."

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• museum

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

No

Demolished

No

Location Integrity

Moved

Related features

• Cupola

Environment features

• Residential
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is located to the south on property that is part of the Woodstock Fair Grounds.  To the west of the barn is Norwich Worcester Turnpike.  Further to the west and to the east are open fields.

Building Typology

• New England Bank

Materials

• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Post & Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

02/26/2011

Compiled By

A. Ehrgott & T. Levine; reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

http://www.woodstockfair.com/attractions/brunn-barn-complex.html

Field notes and photographs by Charlotte Hitchcock date 08/14/2010.

Town of Woodstock Assessor’s Record:  http://data.visionappraisal.com/WoodstockCT/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=4500
http://data.visionappraisal.com/WoodstockCT/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=4503
Parcel ID: W0435600 &  W0435300

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 02/25/2011.

http://www.woodstockfair.com/attractions/brunn-barn-complex.html

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.