Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story, eave-entry barn with a saltbox roof.  The main façade faces south and the ridge-line of the barn is parallel to this portion of Berkshire Road, which runs east-west.  The main entry is an exterior sliding door situated just east of center in the south eave-façade.  A narrower exterior sliding door is situated between two fixed, six-pane windows on the west side of the south-eave façade.  Two interior sliding doors spaced evenly occupy the upper story just under the eaves.  The west gable-side of the barn has a pair of windows set at the far ends of the lower story and a single window in the gable attic.  The east gable-side is blank except for a window in the gable attic.  The vertical siding appears to be new and is painted red with white trim around the windows and on the door panels.  The lintels of the windows are tapered.  The roof is covered with asphalt shingles. 

The second barn is a 1 ½-story, tripartite, eave entry barn.  The main façade faces south and the ridge-line is also parallel to Berkshire Road.  The main entry is a pair of exterior, double-height doors situated nearly in the middle of the façade.  The wide track covers most of the south eave-façade up to the fixed, six-pane windows at the far ends of the lower story.  The gable attic of the west, gable-side of the second barn is blank.  The barn has vertical flush-board siding which is painted red with white trim around the windows, the corner edges and the rakes.  The roof is covered with asphalt shingles. 

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

Sandy Hook - Assessor’s card indicates an additional attached barn at the northeast corner, house construction ca. 1860.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn
• Shed
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Active Agriculture
• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is behind and to the east of the house with which it is associated.  The house faces the road, but is elevated on a hill behind a stone retaining wall which forms the south border of the property. The south eave-side of the house connects identical gable-sided wings on both sides.  They attach just behind the first window axis on the east and west gable-sides of the eave-sided section.  Open porches fill the corners at the intersection of the exterior walls in the lower story.  There are two gable-sided additions to the west wing and a shed-roof addition to the east wing.  The driveway enters the property just east of the house and leads to the first barn.  Its ridge-line is parallel to Berkshire Road and aligned with the second barn situated due east of the first barn.  A gable-sided shed sits next to the west gable-side of the second barn.  Two small sheds, one possibly a henhouse, occupy the north side of a barnyard behind the barns.  There is a yard on the north side of the house and a clearing with shade trees on the south side of the barns.  The east border of the property is defined by a stone wall.  There is woodland on the north end of the 5.21-acre lot.  The area surrounding the site is residential, light agriculture, light industrial, light open space and woodland. 

Map/Block/Lot 57/ 3/ 4/ /

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Saltbox

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

11/19/2010

Compiled By

Amy Prescher & Todd Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes by Charlotte Hitchcock 3/15/2008.

Map of Newtown, CT, retrieved on November 19, 2010 from website
http://bing.com/maps/

Map of Newtown, CT, retrieved on November 19, 2010 from website http://maps.google.com/

Vision Appraisal Online Database.  http://www.visionappraisal.com/databases

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.