Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a large 2 ½-story gable-entry bank barn with a gambrel roof and several small additions.  A large earthen and concrete ramp provides access to an eave-entry door on the second story.  This barn is oriented perpendicular to Hautboy Hill Road, which passes this property on an east to west alignment.

The primary façade of this barn is the south gable-end, which faces Hautboy Hill Road.  This façade contains the main entry, an over-width opening centered on the first floor.  A paired window opening is located to the west of this entry, followed by a modern electrical meter box.  The mortared fieldstone foundation is visible on the west side of the over-width door.  A small hinged wooden access door is located on the second-story, centered between the paired window and the over-width door opening.  Centered in the gable-attic are a pair of symmetrically placed window openings.  A wooden sign reading “Hautboy Hill Farm” is centered beneath these windows.  A rectangular nine-pane window opening is centered above the other two gable windows, immediately beneath the roof ridgeline.  Two southward projecting additions are located on this side, detailed below.

The east eave-side contains several window opening and a second-story ramped entry.  Four paired nine-pane window openings are evenly spaced along the first story in the southern two-thirds of the structure.  An over-width door opening is centered between the two middle windows.  A single nine-pane window opening, followed by a sliding wooden door are located to the north of the paired window openings.  A large gable-dormer is located in the northeast corner of the gambrel roof.  This dormer contains a pair of over-size hinged doors of wood plank construction, located on the second story.  This entry is accessed via a lengthy concrete ramp, which projects to the east and is filled with earth.  A nine-pane horizontal window is located in the gable dormer above the paired hinged doors.  The north gable-end and the west eave-side of the structure are not visible for the purposes of an Historic Resource Inventory.

Addition I is a 1-story gable-roof addition which projects south from the east half of the façade.  The west eave-side of this addition contains a sliding wooden door in the northern half and a window opening in the southern half.  The south gable-end, which faces Hautboy Hill Road, has a rectangular horizontal window opening across much of the first floor, and a square window opening in the southeast corner.  The square opening has been blanked over with a piece of plywood.  A six-pane window is centered in the gable, beneath the roof ridgeline.  A pass-through door appears to be located in the south half of the east eave-side, and a single window opening appears to be located in the north half. 

Addition II is a 1-story gable-roof addition which projects to the west from the southwest corner.  The exposed east end of this addition is blank.  The south eave-side of this building contains a horizontal rectangular window with eighteen panes across the east two-thirds.  A wooden plank pass through door occupies the west third of this eave-side.  The concrete foundation is visible on this side.  The west gable-end and north eave-side of this addition are not visible for the purposes of an Historic Resource Inventory. 

The exterior walls of the main barn and both additions are clad in horizontal wooden siding, painted red.  The roof of the main barn and both additions is covered in gray asphalt shingles.  Two square, gable-roof cupolas are symmetrically placed on the ridgeline of the main barn.  Each contains a paired rectangular wooden louvered vent on each side. 

Historical significance:

The New England barn or gable front barn is 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 as both types continued to be constructed.

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.

The 19th century would see 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

There is one big barn and several smaller buildings around it Coordinates:41.8993°N, 73.2748°W

Use (Historic)

• dairy

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Cupola
• Other

Environment features

• Rural
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The large gambrel roof barn at Hautboy Hill Farm faces south and is perpendicular to Hautboy Hill Road, set away from the right-of-way.  It is one of several agricultural buildings located on the property.  Two other sheds and a much larger, modern, open sided pole barn for cattle are also located on the property.  The farmhouse associated with this property is located to the southeast of this barn, along the north side of Hautboy Hill Road.  The barn is immediately surrounded on the north, east, and south by open space dotted with occasional trees.  To the immediate west of the barn is a small woodland which separates the barn and sheds from the larger pole barn farther west down the road.  A small pond is located immediately south of the road across from the barn.  The larger area is a mix of open space and woodland, with trees lining most nearby roads.

Building Typology

• Gambrel
• Ground-Level Stable

Materials

• Concrete
• Fieldstone
• Horizontal Siding

Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gambrel

Approximate Dimensions

BARN: 2,184 square feet

Date Compiled

05/14/2011

Compiled By

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

Sources

Photographs by Lazlo Gyorsok, Alec Frost & Nathan Nietering.

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 Cornwall, CT, retrieved on May 6, 2011 from website www.bing.com.

Cornwall Assessor’s Records - Town of Cornwall Assessor’s Office site visit - April 21, 2011.