Historic Significance
Architectural description:
This is a 1 1/2-story eave and gable-entry hybrid, bank barn. The main grade eave-facade faces approximately north-west, perpendicular to Jonathan Trumbull Highway (US Rte 6) which runs approximately north-west to south-east. The slight earthen ramp that leads to the main entry is supported by un-mortared fieldstone. The middle of three bays in the main entry is a pair of double doors. The roof has a deep projecting eave spanning the entire length of the barn on this facade. The main gable-facade faces the north-east and has two pairs of double doors opening from the basement to the lower grade covered by a bracketed projecting hood. Above grade are a pair of window openings, the southern most with what appears to be plate glass while the northern most appears to be boarded. The south-east eave-facade has a single window opening above grade towards the east corner. Below grade appears to be two window openings and a pass-through door at the west corner. Un-mortared fieldstone is evident in the south-west facade under grade. The barn has vertical siding painted red and an asphalt shingled roof.
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 a simple building with rectangular plan, pitched 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 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. 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.
In this case, both an eave entry and a gable entry are used.
The 19th century would see 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 on 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.
Barn footings and foundations were usually built of stone, often harvested from nearby fields or quarried from local outcroppings. The earliest type of field-stone foundations found in Connecticut do not use mortar, as early builders thought it unnecessary.
Field Notes
A Greek Revival style ell-shaped farmhouse with a New England bank barn to the rear. Located along the historic main route from Hartford to Willimantic, Norwich, and Providence, this farm was situated on a terrace above the floodplain of the Hop River which provided fertile farmland.