Historic Barns of Connecticut

Designations

• State Historic Resource Inventory
• State Register

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a one-story, gable-roofed, eave-entry shed, with six bays. The entry façade faces south and the ridge-line is parallel to Falcon Road, which at this point runs east-west. The main entrances are through six pairs of hinged oversized exterior doors with crossbuck detailing in the lower half, and eight-paned windows at the top. A low wood ramp extends across the foundation from east to west to make access easier. The east gable-end of the shed has a pair of oversized hinged exterior doors in the center. The north eave-side of the shed has five windows. A pass-through door is located just west of center. The west gable-end of the shed has a pair of oversized hinged exterior doors in the center. The shed has vertical, flush-board siding painted gray. The roof has asphalt shingles on the south and wood shingles on the north side. The structure is supported on wood cribbing resting on tidal mud flats.

Historical significance:

A shed is typically a simple, single-story structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop. Sheds vary considerably in the complexity of their construction and their size, from small open-sided tin-roofed structures to large wood-framed sheds with shingled roofs, windows, and electrical outlets. Sheds used on farms or in industry can be large structures.

Known as the shop, workshop, carpentry shop, toolshed, blacksmith shop, or machine shop, these small, well-lighted buildings provide a heated space for making and repairing furnishings, tools, and equipment, as well as for earning outside income through various trades. Typically 1 1/2 stories with a gabled front, and easily accessible doorway, and windows all around, most shops have a chimney for venting a cast iron rood or coal stove.

In this instance the function was that of a boat house or boat shed.

Field Notes

Listed on the State Register of Historic Places 9/04/2013. This boat house ('barn') sits on the border of a tidal salt-water marsh.

Use (Historic)

• workspace

Use (Present)

• unknown

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Original Site

Related features

• Carriage House
• Garage

Environment features

• Open Land
• Residential
• Woodland

Relationship to surroundings

The shed is located on a .57-acre parcel of land on the south side of Falcon Road, and southwest of its intersection with Prospect Avenue at Sachems Head. The house, built in 1882, with which the barn is associated, sits close to Falcon Road, along with a garage. The property declines south toward Long Island Sound, and the shed sits in a cove near the water. The surrounding landscape is residential, with Long Island Sound to the south, and homes, outbuildings, open salt marshes, and wooded areas, to the north.

M/P 001058

Building Typology

• Other Shed
• Wagon Shed

Materials

• Fieldstone
• Flush-board
• Vertical Siding

Structural System

• Wood Frame

Roof materials

• Wood Shingle

Roof type

• Gable

Approximate Dimensions

1560 sq. ft. 23' x 60'

Date Compiled

03/06/2011

Compiled By

C. Wilkinson & T. Levine, reviewed by CT Trust

Sources

Field notes and photographs by Nona Bloomer - 5/19/2008.

Town of Guilford Assessor’s Record:
http://www.prophecyone.us

GIS Viewer:  http://www.guilfordgis.com
Parcel ID:  001058

Aerial Mapping:
http://www.bing.com/maps accessed 3/6/2011

Helander, Joel E., A Treasury of Guilford Places, Joel E. Helander, 2008.

Helander, Joel E., Oxpasture to Summer Colony, Joel E. Helander, 1976.

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.