The Barn

The Barn. . , Eli Whitney completed this Barn in 1816. He had contemplated the design during a year that was full of transitions. The War of 18 12 had ended. His Armory had won a new federal contract. He had turned 50. When Whitney wrote his friend Josiah Stebbins in Maine for help in securing the timbers for the new barn, Stebbins rightly guessed that Whitney was beginning to construct a life for himself. Stebbins taunted that perhaps a proper house would follow, and then a wife. The solitary bachelor' Whitney would marry Henrietta Frances Edwards in 1817., The Barn is our largest artifact of Whitney's mind at work. It's Square Rule Construction is an early application of precision and interchangeability practices to barn construction. The Barn housed the draft animals, horses and oxen, that moved materials and products back and forth from this site to the harbor. Its New England style end-gable orientation allowed farmers to drive their wagons through the Barn. Its four levels allowed efficient unloading, storage and feeding of hay and fodder. Its inventive details impressed travel writers and visiting American Presidents., The Barn's simple elegance and Palladian arches confirm Stebbins' guess that Whitney was becoming mindful of respectability and his legacy. The same year that Whitney completed the Barn, New Haven's gifted neoclassical architect, Ithiel Town, completed Trinity Church on the Green. As Whitney was quarrying the stone for the foundation that has held this Barn square and true, he supplied Town with the stone for his gothic masterpiece. Town's artistry may have inspired Whitney, Preservation and Evolution , Serendipity and devotion have preserved the spirit of the Barn again the ravages of time and changing needs. A brief history., 1816: Eli Whitney's 10 year old nephew, Philos Blake, makes simple drawings of the Barn that have guided preservation efforts for 200 years., 1860: Whitney's son built the large Dam and the New Haven Water Company. Whitney Avenue moved closer to the Barn. The Water company used the Barn and maintained it without significant changes until 1979., 1904: The Water Company built New Haven's first filtration plant in the hillside behind the Barn. A slate roof replaced the barn's cedar shake roof. A gabled wing replaced the original oxen wing on the south., 1930: The last of the Barn's draft horses retired., 1950: The floor decking was replaced., 1979: The Water Authority contributed the Barn to help establish the Museum. Music, dance, theater and cultural programs are presented in the Barn., 2001: The Water Authority constructed the new Whitney Water Treatment Plant. The landscape plan resembles the Barn's original setting., 2012: The CT Dept of Economic and Community Development funded a major restoration of the Barn. The South Wing was rebuilt to resemble its original configuration. The Wing was configured to accommodate an independent Artist-in-Residence., (sketch caption) , Philos Blake, age 10.