Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 ½ story side- or eave-entry barn with a saltbox-roofed addition. The main facade faces north with its ridge line running roughly east-west.
The current main entry is an overhead garage door in the east half of the north eave-facade. Further east is a modern pass-through door. West of the garage door and off-center to the east is a pair of swinging hinged doors. Further west and off-center to the west is an exterior sliding door. The east gable-end of the barn has a pair of single-pane windows off-center to the south. Centered in the gable end, above the window, is a haymow door. In the gable attic appears to be a frame for a haymow door. The south eave-side of the barn is encompassed entirely by the shed-roof addition. The west gable-end of the barn is blank except for a framed window opening in the gable attic.

The sides of the addition are flush with the gable ends of the barn. The east side of the shed-roofed addition has a fixed six-pane window. To the north and slightly below is a small opening that appears to be used by chickens, accessed by a wood ramp. The mortared fieldstone foundation is exposed here. The south side of the addition has three visible single-pane replacement windows and a pair of screened pass-through doors towards the east corner.

The barn has unpainted vertical siding. The foudnation is mortared fieldstone. The barn has a tin roof and the shed-roof addition 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

n/a

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• animals, not listed

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Barn

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is behind and to the east of the c 1989 house with which it is associated. A drive runs from the road to the north to the south, with a small parking lot to the east in front of the barn. The house is to the west of the lot. The total size of the lot is 2.25 acres. There are two small tracts of land; one each just south of the house and barn respectively. Further south is a large tract of open space. The area surrounding the site is open space, active agriculture, light commercial, light residential and woodland.

Building Typology

• English

Materials

• Vertical Siding

Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle
• Tin

Roof type

• Gable
• Shed

Approximate Dimensions

1800 square feet.

Date Compiled

03/01/2010

Compiled By

T. Levine and S. Lessard, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Photography by Joseph Szalay - 09/19/2009

Town of Ashford’s Assessors Records: Account # 00092000, 31/c/3//, 1800 square feet.

Ashford’s online assessors database, Vision Appraisal: http://data.visionappraisal.com/AshfordCT/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=854

Aerial Mapping: Ashford Maps
www.bing.com/maps - accessed 5/26/2011.

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