Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This stable likely dates from the Ifkovic ownership. The stable stands to the rear (east) of the house and is approached by a gravel drive passing on the south side of the house. There are fields spread to the north, east and south, with a pond to northeast of the stable. Features include: 30 x 20; gable ends oriented to the north and south; primary west elevation symmetrically massed with central cross-bar sliding wagon doors flanked by 3-over-3 double-hung sash; hexagonal copper-roofed (pagoda), louvered cupola located at center of roof ridge; weather vane with compass points; small flanking cupolas, copper roofs (hipped); pair of divided stable doors (cross braces) open at north gable end; cross-braced loft door centered above; pair of similar doors at south gable end shaded by shed-roofed hoods on braces; vertical tongue-and-groove barn board.

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.

Field Notes

Information from a survey of Roxbury by Rachel Carley. This property, which includes an 18th-century house, was sold in the late 1930s by the Bolt family to Frasier McCann, the gentleman farmer who in the 1930s purchased the old Botsford house at 119 Botsford Hill Road. He consolidated these properties along the road to become part of Golden Harvest Farm. The property was purchased by the Ifkovics in 1987, when Golden Harvest was subdivided.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

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Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Cupola

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

n/a

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Vertical Siding

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Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

---

Roof type

• Gable

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Approximate Dimensions

30 x 20

Date Compiled

06/30/2011

Compiled By

Rachel D. Carley - CH

Sources

Carley, Rachel D., Barn Stories from Roxbury Connecticut, Roxbury Historic District Commission/Town of Roxbury/CT Commission on Culture & Tourism, 2010.

Cunningham, Jan, Roxbury, A Historic and Architectural Survey, Roxbury Historic District Commission, 1996-97.

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.