Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

According to local informants, the barn was originally associated with 308 Redding Road.  This house sat too close to the road and so was moved.  The house is now associated with 309 Redding Road.

This is a 3-bay, eaves entry barn with a central cross dormer and ventilator.  There is a pair of centrally located, large sliding doors that sit under the dormer, which contains a central window.  Hay doors flank the lower edges of the dormer.  Small square windows are located elsewhere in the building.

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

n/a

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• storage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Original Site

Related features

n/a

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The building sits very close to Redding Road.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

06/30/2011

Compiled By

James Sexton, PhD - KY

Sources

Sexton, James, The Town of Redding Historic Outbuildings Survey, April, 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, 213 pages.

Redding Assessor’s Database:
http://data.visionappraisal.com/ReddingCT/search.asp - 4/30/2011.

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps - 4/30/2011.