Folk Culture Landscapes

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Folk Culture Landscapes

• Folk Housing

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Why Study Housing?

• Most folk cultures agrarian, rural
• Houses most important (and often only) thing
  people build in folk cultures
• Few changes over time (traditional)
• Reveals info about the region/cultural group
• Environment (materials used, climatic conditions)
• Social/economic needs
• Values/beliefs

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Common Folk Housing Characteristics

• Essentially uniform design
• Similar interior space (often one-room homes
  comparable interior decorative style)
• Responses/adaptations to natural environment
  (climate, terrain)
• Typically conservative, simple (functional)

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Folk Building Considerations

• Materials
• Wood (forested areas- warmth, fuel)
• Brick (warmer areas)
• Stone (high elevations, rough terrain)
• Wattle (poles and sticks- Africa, SE Asia) often
  nomadic peoples
• Grass/brush (Africa, South America)

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Regional Variations in Function/Setup

• Eastern Europe (mix of people/livestock)
• Stilted homes (protection against flooding keeps
  cool)
• Underground homes (Lan Yu Island, Alaska)
• American suburban homes (single- function rooms)

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North American Folk Housing 4 Hearths

• New England
• Wood frame, shingled sides
• Flat front steep, slanted roof in back
  (saltbox house)
• Large size (functionality during colder winters)
• Massive central chimneys
• Similar to style in rural England

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2) Mid-Atlantic Hearth

• I-house (two rooms on each side, connected by
  central hallways, chimneys on each end, front
  porch)
• Four-over, four-under (box appearance)
• Often average Joe homes, little
  style/distinction

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3) Southern Housing

• Vernacular impressions (not all are plantations)
• Smaller size (generally less wealthy)
• Hotter, humid weather, insects homes designed
  for cooling
• 1) Raised homes (prevent flooding/rot cooling)
• 2) Dogtrot house (cooling)
• 3) Shotgun house (narrow, long-lot system of
  French)
• 4) Charleston single-house (long corridors with
  windows on both ends, verandas)

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4) French Canada

• St. Lawrence River valley
• Similar to France (Norman cottages- steep roofs)
• Montreal house (stone, urban-resembling French
  urban styles)
• Quebec long barn (cold winters)
• Similar building style, different materials
  (more wood/stone rather than sod/thatch)

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Folk Housing Diffusion

• Migration relocation diffusion
• Migrants bring ideas of how houses should be
  built (style, function)
• Preadaptation to similar environments
• New physical environments some modifications may
  be made
• Map of US folk housing diffusion (p. 116)