American Housing Styles Home Environment Division 7 Decatur County Smyrna Guys & Gals Aaron Mang

American Housing Styles

Home EnvironmentDivision 7Decatur County Smyrna Guys & GalsAaron Mang

Links From The Past

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 ([email protected]

Native American Homes

Influences– Environment– Culture

Characteristics– Simple structures, dirt

floors– No windows or chimneys– Dark and crowded– Little furniture– Possessions stored on

shelves hung from walls



Wigwam Tepee

Hunting/gathering– Easily constructed

– Easily carried



Longhouse – Iroquois

Pueblos– Spanish for villages– Built on top of each other

into cliffs and caves– Adobe: sun-dried clay bricks

Permanent homes


The First Colonists

No shelter upon landing Had few tools and

materials Followed native people

examples Most were temporary

– Huts of bark and branches– Shed like roofed house

built into the side of a hill


Early American Period: 1640-1720

Permanent homes patterned after ones left behind

Modifications made to suit weather conditions/terrain

More people meant workforce became more specialized

Local material used– Wood in New England– Local stone– Brick making clay


English Settlements

Half-timbered houses– Wood frame of the house formed part of outside wall– Spaces between beams filled in with brick or plaster– Thatch roofs (bundles of reeds or straw)– Huge chimney served one or more fireplaces– Windows small: reduced heat loss and glass was expensive


English Settlements

Simple rectangular design Central chimney Pitched roof (gabled roof) Ell-extension built at right

angles to the length of structure added as families grew

Little usable space on second floor– Dormer windows added– Allowed for interior space for full-

sized rooms

Northeastern Colonies: Cape Cod Houses


Salt-box

Began as a two-story pitched roof house

Need for extra space-added additional set of rooms along the back

Roof line down to cover the addition

Long slope similar to sloping cover on the wooden saltboxes used in colonial kitchens


Garrison House

Second story that overhangs the first story

First used on forts or garrisons to prevent attackers from scaling the walls


German Settlements

German– Mostly settled in

Southeastern PA– Large, durable houses of

wood and quarry stone– Entry into first-floor

kitchen– Some had an

abbreviated roof or “hood” between 1st and 2nd stories


Dutch Settlements

Dutch– First settlements in New

Amsterdam (NY)– Stone and brick/ houses

large by colonial standards

– Known for decorative brickwork and intricate stepped gables

– Distinctive roof: Gambrel– Metal gutters, small windows

with sliding shutters– Dutch door-door divided in

half horizontally


Spanish Settlements

Florida and southwest– Early homes built from

coquina, a soft porous limestone composed of shell & coral

– Rectangular with balconies that faced the street

– Kitchens often separate– Interior simple and

whitewashed plaster walls, beamed ceilings, earthen floors

– Tile on roof


Spanish Settlements

Southwest– Adobe walls, flat roofs,

rough-hewn beams projecting through the outside

– Walls and deep-set windows

California– Covered with adobe, brick, or

stucco Stucco: plaster material made

with cement, sand, lime Rounded archways and

windows Red tile roofs


Swedish Settlements

American log cabin has Swedish origins

Primitive, small building Sometimes divided into 2

rooms with an attic above Originally roof was of bark or

thatch Wood shingles used later Modified from one-room to

two-rooms connected with breezeway

– Known as a dog-trot


Swedish Settlements

Dog-trot log cabins


French Settlements

St. Lawrence River– Stone or wood with high,

steep roofs common in French country

– Small closed windows with heavy wooden shutters

Closed to protect the occupants from cold weather

Mississippi Valley– Adaptations made for hot

and humid weather Porch added covered

by a broad roof extending around the house

Improved air circulation Usually white Rooms had many doors

and windows for air flow


French Settlements

Pictures


Documents

American Housing Styles Home Environment Division 7 Decatur County Smyrna Guys & Gals Aaron Mang