Great Preservation Opportunities for Tobacco Sheds
If there is a single type of
building that immediately says “Connecticut
Valley,” it must be the
tobacco shed, developed in the 19th century as the valley became a
leading source of tobacco for cigars. The long, narrow structures are so
completely designed for one particular use—curing tobacco—that they have been said
to be not buildings, but machines (see CPN, March/April 2005 and July/August
2009). Unfortunately, that perfect union
of form and function can also doom the sheds. As smoking has declined and
suburban sprawl invaded the tobacco fields, countless sheds have been
demolished.
The plight of the tobacco shed was
highlighted this summer with the news that 14 sheds in Simsbury were slated to give way to a new
housing development. The sheds were built in the early 20th century
by Cullman Brothers, Inc., one of the country’s largest growers of cigar
tobacco. In addition to their agricultural importance, these sheds are also
significant because it was in this part of Simsbury that Martin Luther King, Jr., spent
summers picking tobacco while he was in college, an experience that King later
cited as crucial in his spiritual formation.
Because of this combination of
agricultural and historic importance, the State Historic Preservation Office
determined that the sheds could qualify for the National Register and asked the
developer to provide documentation of the sheds’ appearance, construction and
history as a way of mitigating for their loss.
The
planning for the Simsbury
development has gone too far to preserve any of these sheds on site (there is a
possibility that some of them will be moved to another farm nearby that is
still, for the moment, in active use). But the situation led us to wonder if
other endangered tobacco sheds could successfully be adapted to other uses.
Reusing barns
is difficult. Their utilitarian design and lack of windows or tight enclosure all
pose significant hurdles. In fact, many converted barns simply don’t look much
like barns any more, except in a Disneyland sort
of way. Tobacco sheds in particular are defined by the need for ventilation,
met by systems of louvers and doors. Even more than with other barns, the
pattern of openings is crucial to their character. However, these openings also
offer opportunities for providing light and air that many other barns don’t
have.
We asked a
few architects to try to come up with some ideas for reusing tobacco sheds.
These are not finished plans, but rather cocktail-napkin sketches that we hope
might inspire someone to take the next step to preserve some tobacco sheds by
finding a new use for them.
Of course,
it’s also important to have some tobacco sheds preserved in their original
state, something that doesn’t currently exist, according to James F. O’Gorman’s
book Connecticut Valley Vernacular: The
Vanishing Landscape and Architecture of the New England Tobacco Fields (2004).
Even at sites dedicated to interpreting tobacco growing, the sheds have been
cleaned up, made weathertight, given concrete floors—as O’Gorman says, they
have lost “the rust of time.” Surely some historical society could make it
their mission to preserve an unimproved tobacco shed, preferably with a field
of shaded tobacco growing around it in the summer, so that visitors can
experience for themselves the Connecticut
Valley tobacco landscape.
The Connecticut Trust thanks Roger Clarke, AIA,
and Gary Nurnberger, AIA, LEED AP, for preparing feasibility studies, and Roy
Gilley, AIA, of Gilley Design Associates, for sharing his thoughts. Sara
Nelson, of NEC Architects, also devoted time to the study but other commitments
prevented her from meeting CPN’s deadline.
Auditorium, by Roger Clarke. “The linear
form of the barn is retained and extended to add space for new functions. New
glazing would be mainly along the added arcade under an extension of the roof.
Additional daylight could be provided by opening the slanted ventilation boards
and fitting glass inside them.” Key: 1, stage; 2, raked seating; 3, stairs; 4,
bathrooms; 5 arcade/lobby (addition); 6, entrance; 7, backstage (addition); 8,
catering; 9, new trusses to enable removal of columns.
Housing, by Roger Clarke. Tall, narrow
windows reflect the ventilation boards on some sheds. This schematic design
does not represent a review of building or fire codes.
Horse Stables, by Gary Nurnberger, AIA, LEED AP.
Nurnberger tried to find uses that would also utilize the surrounding land in
suitable ways. In this view, the end wall is removed to show the interior,
where stalls flank a center aisle, with sliding barn doors at either end. Other
requirements, such as tack rooms, staff and rider rooms, or storage, could
reduce the number of stalls or be housed in another barn.
Renewable Energy
Center, by Gary Nurnberger, AIA, LEED AP; technical
review by Ross Solar Group, Danbury.
Unobstructed, open land could be suitable for wind harvesting or solar
collectors, producing hot water and electricity. The shed would be adapted for
the storage, monitoring and use of renewable energy, or could be a satellite
facility of the Connecticut
Science Center.
The gable ends are the only modified walls, featuring full-width glazing and
doors, up to one of the intermediate framing levels.
The problem is that tobacco sheds are a bunch of poles stuck
in the ground, with no foundation. That makes them hard to convert to any other
use. The best thing would be to leave them as they are as much as possible. One
thing you could use them for would be a fair or carnival. Heat wouldn’t be a
problem, insulation wouldn’t be a problem; and the framing and board siding
would give them great flavor. I could see a cluster of sheds as a marvelous
farmers’ market, with stalls between the posts, and the ventilation slats open
for air and light.—Roy Gilley, AIA,
Gilley Design Associates
