Barn Record Mansfield

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Building Name (Common)
n/a
Building Name (Historic)
n/a
Address
3 Merrow Road, Mansfield
Typology
Overview

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½-story eave-entry bank barn, with a slightly smaller annex to the north side. The main façade faces east and the ridge-line of the barn is perpendicular to Merrow Road, which at this point runs approximately west to east meeting Stafford Road (Rte. 32).

The main entry is a double-height single sliding door off-center to north. Set into the center of the main entry door is a side-hinged pass-through door with nine-pane windows flanking each side of the pass-through.  Centered above the main entry is an elongated fifteen-pane transom. Off-center to the south of the main entry is a side-hinged door on the east eave-façade of the barn.  Just south of the side-hinged door are two evenly spaced, nine-pane windows on the east eave-façade of the barn. There is a side-hinged hay door directly above the second south door on the east eave-façade of the barn. Set back to the north of the east eave-façade of the barn is the eave-side of the annex. To the south corner of the east eave-side of the annex is a large single sliding door.

There appears to be a side-hinged door at the east corner of the south gable-end of the barn. Centered on the gable of the south gable-end of the barn are two evenly spaced square windows.

The grade of the west eave-side of the barn declines sharply revealing a basement level. Projecting west off the basement level of the west eave-side of the barn is a shed-roof gallery, which extends slightly south. The lower half of the gallery appears to be poured concrete with the upper half being in the same construction style as the rest of the barn. The shed-roof gallery is punctuated along the west side by a series of doors and sets of windows.  The series of windows and doors along the shed-roof gallery starts at the far south corner with a side-hinged door which appears to have a four or six-pane window in the upper half.  Nearly adjacent to the door at the south corner of the shed-roof gallery are three sets of triple six-pane windows, with a single six-pane window further north along the gallery. The gallery ends at the north of the main section of the barn with a second plane side-hinged door followed to the north by a triple set of six-pane windows.  On the main level of the west eave-side of the barn two six-pane windows; one towards the north corner of the barn and the other towards the south corner of the barn. To the north of the west eave-side of the barn is the eave-side of the annex. On the basement level of the west eave-side of the annex are two doors, one a large sliding door slightly off-center to the south and a second smaller side-hinged door towards the north corner of the barn. Towards the south corner of the main level of the west eave-side of the annex is six-pane window.

The grade of the north gable-end of the barn inclines sharply to the main level. The annex projects north off-center to the west corner of the north gable-end of the barn. Near the apex of the north gable-end of the barn is a nine-pane window. There appears to be two evenly spaced nine-pane windows towards the lower part of the gable of the west gable-end of the annex.

The barn is covered in vertical flush-board painted red with white corner boards and white trim. The foundation is partly concrete. The roof is covered with asphalt shingles and a cupola is centered atop the ridgeline. The cupola is in the Italianate style and has paired arched openings with louvers on all four sides. There are three sets of two decorative brackets evenly spaced on each side of the cupola supporting a hipped roof that is topped by a decorative finial and weather-vane.

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.

The 19th century saw 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 into 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

beautiful barn - near the Willimantic river corner of Stafford Road (Rte 32)

Use & Accessibility

Use (Historic)

Use (Present)


Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Environment

Related features

Environment features

Relationship to surroundings

The barn sits to the north of the c. 1875 with which it is associated. The ridgeline of the house is parallel to that of the barn. Directly south of the barn is a small gable-roofed house or cottage. To the north and across Merrow Road from the barn is a c. 1800 house. To the west of the site is Stafford Road (Rte. 32). To the east of the barn is a railroad track running approximately northwest to southeast. To the west of the site is the Willimantic River. The total size of the site is 9.95 acres. The area surrounding the site is light residential, agricultural and woodland.

Typology & Materials

Building Typology

Materials


Structural System

n/a

Roof materials


Roof type


Approximate Dimensions

60 ft. x 30 ft.

Source

Date Compiled

03/03/2011

Compiled By

TR Revella & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Pat Brady date 4/13/2008.

Town of Mansfield Assessor’s Record:
http://www.mainstreetmaps.com/CT/Mansfield/
Parcel ID: 7-12-3

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 03/03/2010.

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.

PhotosClick on image to view full file