Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• National Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 2 1/2 story Gothic (bell-shaped) gable-entry barn with two gable-roofed wings and a gable-roofed rear addition. The main facade faces northeast, with its ridge-line perpendicular with Madlet Road, which runs southeast-northwest.  The main entry is an exterior sliding door with a track that extends to the north corner of the barn. Flanking the entry is a pair of six-pane windows. Above the door is a side-hinged hay-door. Beneath the apex of the hooded roof is a hay track extension, with the hook still intact (a rarity in historic barns). Below are a pair of windows flanking a recessed barn door. The gable-roofed wings on the northeast eave-facade are similar. The northernmost wing has a pass-through door flanked by six-pane hopper windows. The southernmost wing has a pass-though sliding door towards the east corner and a set of three six-pane windows. On the gable-facade of the southernmost wing has a stove pipe. Both eave-facades of the barn have a series of stable windows. Extending south from southwest gable-facade is a gable-roofed addition, also with a series of stable windows on the eave-facades. The barn has horizontal siding with a concrete block masonry foundational. The roof has asphalt shingles and two metal ventilators atop the ridge-line.

Historical significance:

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

Homestead is individually listed on National Register No. 78002875 Oldest house in Lebanon. Original barn down in 38 hurrcane and replace with UCONN prefab barn. Original use dairy and small farm animals. Current use is workshop and storage. Threat deterioration and high cost to renovate.

Use (Historic)

• agriculture

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Related features

• Cupola
• Other
• Shed

Environment features

• Residential
• Rural
• Scattered Buildings
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is to the southeast and next to the house it is associated with. Across Madley Road is a large tract of open space, bordered by Goshen Hill Road and woodland to the north and residential to the south along the road. Behind the barn to the west is light woodland. The total size of the site is 2 acres.

mblu = 246//21

Building Typology

• Gambrel
• Ground-Level Stable
• New England
• Unknown

Materials

• Other

Structural System

n/a

Roof materials

• Asphalt Shingle

Roof type

• Gothic

Approximate Dimensions

1350 S.F.

Date Compiled

07/22/2010

Compiled By

Todd Levine, reveiwed by the Connecticut Trust

Sources

Photographs and field notes by Jacky Smakula.

Clark Homestead National Register Nomination No. 78002875, National Park Service, 1978.

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.

Map of the Lebanon, CT, retrieved on July 25, 2010 from website www.zillow.com.

Town of Lebanon assessors office, 579 Exeter Road, Lebanon, CT 06249.