Historic Significance
Architectural description:
This is a 2 1/2-story gable-entry barn with sliding doors on both the west gable-end and the south eave-side corner. It is covered in horizontal clapboards painted red and has a number of windows along the eave side. There is a single cupola on the west side ridge of the asphalt shingled roof. There is a portion on the hay track projecting from underneath the gable peak apex and just under that a window where the hay door would have been.
Historical significance:
The New England barn or gable front barn was the successor to the English barn and relies on a gable entry rather than an entry under the eaves. The gable front offers many practical advantages. Roofs drain off the side, rather than flooding the dooryard. With the main drive floor running parallel to the ridge, the size of the barn could be increased to accommodate larger herds by adding additional bays to the rear gable end. Although it was seen by many as an improvement over the earlier side entry English Barn, the New England barn did not replace its predecessor but rather coexisted with it.
The first ventilators were simple louvered wooden boxes with gable roofs, mounted near the ridge of the barn. The successor to the ventilator was the more decorative cupola. Coinciding with the Italianate style of domestic architecture popular during the mid-nineteenth century, the room sized cupola, embellished with decorative brackets and a copper weathervane, became a symbol of modern farming during the early Victorian era. The object of the cupola is to protect the opening of the flue from the elements, keep out birds, prevent back drafts as far as possible, and assist in drawing the foul air from the barn. The cupola was replaced in the early twentieth century by the factory-produced steel ventilator, symbolizing another step in the movement towards an industrial approach to farming.
Field Notes
House dates from 1768, barn and 2 sheds, garage, 5 acre property consisting of 2 non-adjacent parcels. Located at the corner of Main Street across Ripley Hill from Coventry High School.