Building Name (Common)

Franklin & Harriet Johnson Mansion

Building Name (Historic)

Franklin & Harriet Johnson Mansion

Address

152 South Main Street
Wallingford

Typology

• Carriage House

 

Designations

• National Register
• Local Historic District

Historic Significance

Architectural Description:

This is a 1 ½ -tory gable-entry barn with its main facade facing north. The main entries are two pairs of hinged doors on the north gable-facade. Centered on the north gable-facade, above the doors is a hinged haymow door. A six-over-six double-hung window is centered in the attic gable above the girt line siding divide. The west eave-facade appears to have a boarded up pass-through door with a boarded up window to the north. The east eave-facade is blank with a boarded up window and is missing sheathing in many locations. The barn has vertical siding that is painted white. The east eave-facade is unpainted. The barn has an asphalt shingled roof with a slight overhand.

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.

Demolished in 2010.

Field Notes

House date 1866, Italianate style. Future home of American Silver Museum. Carriage barn is located at rear of important mid-19th-century Italian villa style house in the urbanized part of town. Adjacent to the barn is an original outhouse, styled to match the main house. This barn replaced an earlier barn at the NW corner of the lot. Johnson was a local land developer who built the house as his own home. National Register and Wallingford Center Historic District. Source: National Register Registration Form 1998.