Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• Local Historic District
• National Register
• State Historic Resource Inventory
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

There are two structures of note.

Structure #1 is a 1-½ story eave-entry barn with a gable roof.  The main façade faces southeast, and the ridgeline runs southwest to northeast, parallel to Main Street North (U.S. 6), which lies to the east.  From east to west along the main façade are two overhead garage doors and a six-pane stable window. There appears to have once been a pair of sliding doors in the center bay of the main façade. On the west gable-end there is a six-pane stable window below the apex of the gable.  Along the east gable-end there appears to be two stable windows.  The exterior walls are covered with unpainted vertical board siding.  A girt-line siding divide is visible.  The roof is covered with wood shingles.  The foundation appears to be un-mortared fieldstone. 

Structure #2 is located to the east of structure #1.  This is a gable-entry shed with a shed-roof addition on the southeast eave-side.  The main façade faces southwest, and principal entry is provided by an open bay on the shed-roof addition.  Further north there appears to be two stable windows and what appears to be a hinged loft-door beneath the apex of the gable.  The walls are covered with unpainted vertical board siding.  The gable roof of the main structure appears to be covered with asphalt shingles, and the shed addition features a metal roof. 

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.

Historical background:

“The Woodbury Historic District is a residential community bounded by open fields and woods. It has a variety of Colonial and Federal houses within it and includes a number of Greek Revival and Victorian buildings as well.

The Woodbury Historic district is significant because its architecture and historic sites embody the history of the area since the seventeenth century. Nearly every type of house from the time of settlement to 1828 can be found in the area and it has some interesting Victorian houses as well.”

Field Notes

Greek Revival style house - date: 1789-1828. Located in Woodbury North Historic District No. 1.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• garage

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

No

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Shed

Environment features

• Commercial
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

This property is located on North Main Street in the Town of Woodbury in a historic residential and commercial area that has been nationally recognized for its significance.  The barn is located on a 0.92-acre parcel that also includes a mid-19th century house with Greek Revival detailing.

The main house lies to the southeast of the barn and shed.  This is a 2-½ story eave-entry structure with 5-bays and a gable roof.  The main façade faces southeast, the ridgeline running parallel to the road.  On the north eave-side, there is a gable-roof addition, its ridgeline running perpendicular to the main structure, forming a t-shape plan.  The main entry is in the center bay, and features a paneled wood door flanked by sidelights and pilasters with Ionic capitals. There is a single-story portico supported by classical columns with Ionic capitals.  On both sides of the entry are two 6/6 double-hung sash windows with trim.  There are five identical windows on the second-story of the main façade.  Above the windows is an unadorned cornice that spans the entire perimeter of the main structure.  There are Doric pilasters on the corners of the main façade.  On the northeast gable-end there are six 6/6 double-hung sash windows with trim.  Beneath the gable, there is a large unadorned band of trim forming a pediment, in the center of which is an eight-pane window with a prominent keystone lintel.  Along the southwest gable-end there is a single-story porch spanning the entire length of the original structure.  The walls are covered with painted clapboards.  The roof is covered in wood shingles.  The foundation appears to be coarsed and mortared ashlar stone.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Fieldstone
• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle
• Tin
• Wood Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Date Compiled

02/27/2011

Compiled By

E. Reisman & T. Levine; reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Charlotte Hitchcock - 1/19/2009.

Town of Woodbury, Connecticut GIS Viewer:  http://www.cogcnvgis.com/woodbury/AGS_MAP (Parcel ID: 105-066:  0.92 acres: c. 1875 house, 2,954 sq. ft.)

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 02/27/2011.
http://maps.google.com/maps accessed 02/27/2011.

Luyster, Constance, Woodbury North National Register District Nomination No. 71000908, National Park Service, 1971.

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.

“Woodbury: a Townscape,” Tony Wrenn, 1975, Preservation Press, Washington, D.C.

Local Historic District - Woodbury Historic District #1.