Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story gable-roof, gable-entry barn with a shed-roof addition. The main façade faces south, and the ridge-line is parallel to West River Road, which at this point runs north-south. The main entries are two overhead garage doors in the south gable-end of the barn. Above the east entry is a pair of swinging hinged hay doors. Above the west entry is a pair of rectangular windows with single panes.  Located in the gable-attic is an exterior electric lamp.

Attached to and flush with the west corner of the south gable-end of the barn is a shed-roof addition.  There is a pair of hinged doors on the west side of the shed-roof addition.  The west eave-side of the barn is encompassed by the addition.  The addition appears to have no openings. 

Coming off the west corner of the north gable-end of the barn is a shed-roof ice house.  The north side of the ice house has a pair of hinged doors.  The west side and east side appear to be blank.

There appears to be a small stable window near the west corner of the north gable-end of the barn.  Located in the center of the north gable-end is a small extension extending to the north.  To the east are two small fixed windows.  In the gable-attic, directly above the girt line siding divide is a six-pane fixed window.  Located directly above this in the peak of the gable-attic is another six-pane fixed window.  The grade declines slightly to the east along the north gable-end of the barn revealing a cut stone foundation.

Along the foundation wall on the east eave-side of the barn are two, two-pane horizontal windows, spaced evenly across the wall.  There are four, six-over-six double-hung windows in the main level along the east eave-side. Toward the south corner, and under the eave-line, is a fixed window with twenty-eight panes. North of center, under the eave, is a hinged hay door.

The barn has vertical, flush-board siding painted gray. The roof has asphalt shingles and overhanging eaves. At the ridge-line is a cupola with a square wooden shaft, ventilated sides and a pyramidal roof which is topped by a weather vane. The foundation appears to be cut stone.

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, as both types continued to be built.

Field Notes

Barn has a 2 hole outhouse attached on North wall Historic Use included ice storage in an addition on the North end- Ice harvested from west branch of Farmington River. Ice house measures 10' x 20' Barn shown in circa 1880 photo.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• storage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Original Site

Related features

• Barn
• Cupola
• Other
• Shed

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn sits close to the road on a 4.75-acre parcel of land on the west side of West River Road, in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County. The property is approximately two miles north of New Hartford center, and east of People’s State Forest.  The house, built in 1830, is located in a clearing at the south end of the property. To the north is the barn, with its attached privy and ice house oriented west and near the rear of the property, which is heavily wooded. Across the street, less than three-hundred feet to the east, flows the West Branch of the Farmington River. The area nearby is rural and heavily wooded, with pockets of residential land.

M/P 31139

Building Typology

• New England

Materials

• Concrete
• Fieldstone
• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Load-bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

29'x 38' not including Ice house addition on North side

Date Compiled

03/26/2011

Compiled By

C. Wilkinson & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Paul Hart & John Greaser - 8/4/2010

Town of Barkhamsted Assessor’s Record:
http://www.visionappraisal.com
Parcel ID: 31139

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 3/26/2011

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.