Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

n/a

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2-story side- or eave-entry cross-gable gambrel bank barn with a gable-roofed addition and a shed-roofed addition. The cross-gable is in fact a second gambrel attached barn, with its ridge-line perpendicular to the main structure. The second gambrel attached barn appears to be a stable barn. The main facade of the main structure faces south towards School Street, which runs approximately east-west. The main entry is a pair of exterior sliding doors in the middle of three bays. The west bay has a pass-through door and two six-pane windows; the east bay is blank. Off of the east gable-facade is the gable-roofed addition. Off of the west gable-facade is a shed-roofed addition connecting the main structure to another barn. The main barn and cross-gable barn are clad in vertical siding painted white and the roof has asphalt shingles. Atop the roof of the main structure is a cupola.

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.

By the early 20th century agricultural engineers developed a new approach to dairy barn design: the ground-level stable barn, to reduce the spread of tuberculosis bacteria by improving ventilation, lighting, and reducing the airborne dust of manure. A concrete slab typically serves as the floor for the cow stables. Many farmers converted manure basements in older barns into ground-level stables with concrete floors. Some older barns were jacked up and set on new first stories to allow sufficient headroom. With the stables occupying the entire first story, the space above serves a a hayloft. By the 1920s most ground-level stable barns were being constructed with lightweight balloon frames using two-by-fours or two-by-sixes for most of the timbers. Tongue-and-groove beveled siding is common on the walls, although asbestos cement shingles also were a popular sheathing. Some barns have concrete for the first-story walls, either poured in place or built up out of blocks. The gambrel roof design was universally accepted as it enclosed a much greater volume than a gable roof did, and its shape could be formed with trusses.

Field Notes

The interior stone silo is an unusual feature. Visser suggests that this is a late 19th century feature.

Use (Historic)

• dairy

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Active Agriculture
• Barn
• Complex
• Cupola
• Fields
• Shed
• Silo
• Stone Walls

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings

Relationship to surroundings

This barn, its addition, and the barn to which it was joined create an L-shaped shield around a work yard which contains a small shop.  All of these buildings are behind the house with which they are associated.

Building Typology

• English Bank

Materials

• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Post & Beam

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gambrel

Approximate Dimensions

28x40; 21x20; 31x40

Date Compiled

05/12/2010

Compiled By

Todd Levine, reviewed by the Connecticut Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes by James Sexton, PhD - 08/24/2006

Photographs by Todd Levine

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.