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(from:http://d21c.com/sombra5/navigation.html)
The history of American houses began with the first colonial houses that were built by the first settlers of the country.
Read the following text describing one period in the History of American Houses.
Before reading the text come up with question/questions about American Houses that the text could help you answer?
Colonial Houses
English Colonial Houses
The first settlers on the eastern seaboard were from England. Although others followed particularly from France, Germany, and Scandinavia, the English prevailed in language, custom, and architecture.
The first residential buildings were Medieval in style because that is all the settlers knew. Houses in England, since at least the 13th century had been timber framed, because there was an abundance of oak. Roofs were made of thatch. Colonist s brought this method to America: a timber frame with a skin made of local materials, in New England, wood, and in Virginia, brick.
The first basic house, in the 1600s, was a one-story two room (hall and parlor) house with a central chimney. This evolved into a two-story, four room building. By 1700, the salt-box evolved with a shed-like addition on the back. By 1740, the shed had become a full story, or a four-on-four room house. This, with a central hall with stair case, is the basic plan outline. The standard Colonial design, with a symmetrical front – with a central door and two windows on either side, and five windows across the second floor – remains the most popular architectural plan in the United States today. It traveled west with the pioneers.
In New England, there was usually one chimney in the middle. In Virginia and the Southern colonies, there were often two chimneys – one at either end of the house – to direct the heat outwards. Today, a standard Colonial design has one chimney located conveniently to provide for the hearth in the living room and the furnace beneath it in the basement.
As settlers had began to think about aesthetics over basic shelter, and their houses were evolving from one and two room shelters, they looked to England for new ideas.
From 1700 to 1776, when the colonists on the eastern seaboard were establishing a civil society, the architectural life in England was vibrant, and the excitement crossed the ocean. Builders in America had access to books describing this new architecture, and they used them.
Dutch Colonial
The Dutch influence on American colonial architecture can be found in New York City and surrounding areas in New Jersey, on Long Island and along the Hudson River.
French Colonial
In the Louisiana territory, houses were built in the French style. Surviving structures can be best seen in New Orleans and in rural Louisiana along the Mississippi River. The plantation houses are timber-framed structures featuring tall and steeply pitched hipped roofs characteristic of rural French manor houses. They are adapted to the sub-tropical Louisiana in two ways: the main living area, built of heavy timbers, was built on a very tall brick foundation to protect the house from the periodical river flooding; and, the houses were usually surrounded by wide porches, or galleries, to provide refreshingly cool yet sheltered outdoor living during the summer months. They had French doors from every room to the porch.
Spanish Colonial
Florida and the Southwest were sparsely settled by missionaries and military men to serve as buffers to French and English expansion. However, by the time settlers arrived in Virginia and Massachusetts in the early 1600s, the Spanish Empire had been thriving for more than a century. Today few buildings from this era survive, except for the mission chapels. Most colonial houses were modest structures of adobe and stone.
( www.house.com)
Find in the text answers to the questions that you had before reading the text.
Give answers to the questions below:
ü What were the first residential buildings of the settlers of the New World like?
ü Traditions of what European country prevailed in the design of the American houses at that time?
ü What architectural plan traveled westward with the pioneers and why?
ü Where did the settlers look for new ideas?
ü What influences of other cultures on American colonial architecture can be found in different parts of the country?
Working in groups of three sum up the information in the following table:
| Style | Main Features |
| Medieval | |
| Colonial |
2.3. Have you ever driven by an old, abandoned house or farm and wondered who lived there, what happened to them? If only those old walls could talk. Would they tell tales of happy families, hard work, joy, blessing, sadness, and tragedy - all of these? If only they could talk.
ü Read the lyrics of the song ”The Old House”.
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