Building Name (Common)

Booth-Dimock Barns / Crossen Arabians

Building Name (Historic)

Henry Dimock Barns

Address

1209 South Street
Coventry

Typology

• New England Bank

 

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

Barn I:

This monumental-scaled, 1 ½-story gable-roofed bank barn is oriented with its ridge-line parallel to South Street, roughly east-west. The principal entries to the main level are in the east and west gable ends. In each, a tall door opening has interior sliding doors with glazed panels in the upper center and diagonal planking in a grid of panels at the sides and lower portions. Above in the peak is a pair of six-over-six double hung windows. The north eave-side has from left (east) to right (west) four six-pane stable windows, a pair of barn doors with glazed lights in the upper panels leading to an outside ring, two stable windows, a pass-through door with a shed-roofed hood, and one more stable window. A single dormer is located in the north slope of the roof, off-center toward the west, with a gable roof and a six-over-six double hung window. The south eave-side has a basement accessible from a lower grade level, with a row of sliding doors with stable window glazing in their upper parts. Near the west and east corners there is exposed fieldstone masonry foundation wall. In the main level there is a row of seven or eight stable windows. The grade slopes down from the upper level door in the east gable-end, past the silo, to the lower level elevation.

The roof has overhangs at the eaves and rakes, with stick brackets at the corners. Roofing is asphalt shingles. On the ridge there are two reproduction cupolas modeled on photographic evidence of the originals. These have hip roofs with flared dormers on all four sides, a pair of louvered openings with segmental-arched tops on each of the four sides, and weather vanes on the peaks.

Barn II:

This is a 1 ½-story gable-roofed bank barn with its ridge-line oriented north-south, abutting the corner of Barn I. The north gable-end has its main entry at the upper grade level, a tall barn door opening with a pair of interior sliding doors matching Barn I. Above in the attic peak is a pair of six-over-six double hung windows. The west eave-side has several courses of exposed fieldstone foundation as the grade declines toward the south. There are two basement windows. In the main level there are five six-pane stable windows. Photos of “before” conditions show that the south gable end was formerly a bank barn, but grading has been altered to provide a ramp to the south doors from the main level. The doors, matching the other gable-ends, are flanked by a stable window on each side. A matching pair of double hung windows sits in the peak of the attic. The east eave-side has an exposed basement level similar to Barn I’s south side, and a row of five stable windows in the main level.

The asphalt-shingle roof has one matching cupola on the center of the ridge. Siding is clapboards painted red with white trim.

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 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. Silos are held together with adjustable steel hoops, spaced about fifteen inches apart. Since concrete does not expand and contract with changes in moisture levels, the hoops on concrete stave silos were usually tightened only once after the structure was built. inside, these silos are coated with a cement wash.

Field Notes

Owners' notes: We recently restored the barns that were built in 1899 by Henry Dimock, who left funds to the Town of Coventry to build an addition to their Library. We also restored the house that was built between 1809 and 1815. It was built for the Rev. Chauncey Booth and his wife, Laura Farnum. We had a genealogy done on the property and all can be verified. Both structures are magnificent but esp. the barns. Attached are pictures of both house and barns before and after the restoration work. The barns were built in 1899 by Henry Farnum Dimock, to house twelve imported prize cows. Mr. Dimock, owned over time, several large farms in Coventry. As an adult he lived and practiced law in New York City and summered in Coventry. The farm changed ownership over the many years. It eventually was purchased in 1946 to be used as a dairy farm. It remained a dairy farm until sold in 2001, at which time major renovations were made. It is currently being used as a horse breeding facility ( www.crossenarabians.com ). The property also includes 92 acres of land. Approximately, half of the acreage is fields used for both pasture and to produce hay.

This large, 2 1/2-story gable-entry bank barn has recently been restored and painted red. It has a fieldstone foundation and is covered in vertical clapboards. Two new windows sit under the apex of the east gable where the hay loft doors would have been. Under grade are two rows of horse stalls on the outside wall separated by a hall. There are sliding doors on the south side of the under grade wall allowing horse to enter and exit. The sliding doors as well as all of the window trim and other doors on this barn are highlighted with white paint. There are a row of windows on each of the eave sides of the barn above grade for light and ventilation. The barn roof is covered in asphalt shingles, has two rebuilt cupolas along the apex of the roof and on the north side of the roof is a dormer. A second smaller barn is attached at the southwest corner and is nearly identical in every way except size and number of cupolas; the smaller barn has just one. There is a poured concrete silo on the south eave side of the larger barn.

The large barn (I) is 104' long by 46' wide and 46' high, and has the capacity of holding 10,000 bales of hay in the hayloft.  The center aisle of the large barn is fifteen feet wide.  The roof rafters are 46' long in the hayloft.   The smaller conjoined barn (II) is 60' long X 30' wide x 42' high with a twelve foot wide center aisle. Property includes 92 acres, now used for horse farm. Cupola restoration - quote from owner: "We had a picture given to us by a prior owner that my husband had spoken to about the farm. He was 96 years old at the time. He had done a study on the farm when he was a young man attending UCONN. The picture shows the original cupolas, which we had reproduced exactly, with the exception of the size. On the large barn, there was only one huge one instead of the two we had made. It wasn't feasible to make the one large one, plus I don't know how we would have gotten it up there. The one on the smaller barn is the same size."