The Solomon Goffe House is a historic house museum at 677 North Colony Street in Meriden, Connecticut , United States. It was built in 1711, and is the oldest remaining building in the city of Meriden. It is owned by the city and is open for tours during the summer, or by appointment.
9-545: The Solomon Goffe House is located north of downtown Meriden, on the east side of North Colony Street between Griswold and Maynard Streets. It is a 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story wood-frame structure, with a gambrel roof, central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. It is eight bays wide, with two entrances and six windows; there are four shed-roof dormers on the front roof face. The interior has undergone significant alterations, but three downstairs rooms remain relatively unaltered, and other features are preserved elsewhere. The house
18-447: A different theme. One of the highlights of the landscaping is its traditional herb garden, which was designed after examples of typical 18th century herb gardens in the area. The Archaeology Society of Connecticut has done some digs on the property and found a number of objects, including an axe blade. Gambrel A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope
27-458: A house with a gambrel-roof,— Standing still, if you must have proof.— "Gambrel?—Gambrel?"—Let me beg You'll look at a horse's hinder leg,— First great angle above the hoof,— That's the gambrel; hence gambrel-roof.) An earlier reference from the Dictionary of Americanisms , published in 1848, defines gambrel as "A hipped roof of a house, so called from
36-423: A wooden bar used by butchers to hang the carcasses of slaughtered animals. Butcher's gambrels, later made of metal, resembled the two-sloped appearance of a gambrel roof when in use. Gambrel is also a term for the joint in the upper part of a horse's hind leg, the hock . In 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote: Know old Cambridge? Hope you do.— Born there? Don't say so! I was, too. (Born in
45-471: Is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom inside the building's upper level and shortening what would otherwise be a tall roof, as well as reducing the span of each set of rafters . The name comes from the Medieval Latin word gamba , meaning horse's hock or leg. The term gambrel is of American origin,
54-458: Is similar to that of a mansard roof, but a gambrel has vertical gable ends instead of being hipped at the four corners of the building. A gambrel roof overhangs the façade , whereas a mansard normally does not. Gambrel is a Norman English word, sometimes spelled gambol such as in the 1774 Boston carpenters' price book (revised 1800). Other spellings include gamerel, gamrel, gambril, gameral, gambering, cambrel, cambering, chambrel referring to
63-467: The older, European name being a curb (kerb, kirb) roof. Europeans historically did not distinguish between a gambrel roof and a mansard roof but called both types a mansard. In the United States, various shapes of gambrel roofs are sometimes called Dutch gambrel or Dutch Colonial gambrel with bell-cast eaves, Swedish, German, English, French, or New England gambrel. The cross-section of a gambrel roof
72-586: The resemblance to the hind leg of a horse which by farriers is termed the gambrel ." Webster's Dictionary also confusingly used the term hip in the definition of this roof. The term is also used for a single mansard roof in France and Germany. In Dutch the term 'two-sided mansard roof' is used for gambrel roofs. The origin of the gambrel roof form in North America is unknown. The oldest known gambrel roof in America
81-441: Was built about 1711 by Solomon Goffe, about whom little is known. It was probably constructed at first as a five-bay structure, with the northern three bays added later. It had received numerous small additions in the 20th century, most of which have been removed during restoration. The house is currently a museum owned by the city. There are tours the first Sunday of the month from April to November 1:30pm to 4:30pm. Each month has
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