Vernacular Arch It 00 Brun

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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2011 with funding from

LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/vernaculararchitOObrun


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National Trust forHistoric Preservation

Libraryof the

University of Maryland,College Park


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B 'VERNACULAR ARCHITECTUREIN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES

An exhibition of measured drawingsfrom the Historic American Building

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VERNACULAR iKCHITECTURE IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES.

An exhibition of measured drawings from the Historic AmericanBuildings Survey.

IntroductionIt is usaally fssumed, and with reason that the history

cf architecture in the United States is a history of certainprovincial variations on established European styles of com-paratively recent development, that even more recently, if atall, iuu.y a specifically American contribution be distinguished.In the field of vernacular architecture, however, this assump-tion may scarcely be maintained. The settlement of Britishi^orth -xmerica coincided with the waves of rebuilding ir themother country and many counties of New England have as muchtc show of vernacular interest as most counties of the UnitedKingdom, Moreover, the pioneering conditions which lasted inthe "iLit^d States until the beginning of the Twentieth Centuryentailed a reliance on traditional methods of design and con-struction long after tlese had been abandoned in Great Britain.

While Lritish precedents were perhaps paramount therewere, of course, early Dutch and Swedish settlements on theEastern Seabord and French settlements along the length of theMississippi which contributed to the vernacular and the Spanishsettlement j of Florida, the South-West, and California set thecharacter of veraacular building for as much as three hundredyears.

In the Brioish colonies the box-frame tradition of southand eastern En&land was predominant. Since the correspondingcruck tradioxon was still very much alive in the SeventeenthCentury, it is surprising that it was not carried across theAtlantic. But no mcterial evidence has ever been discovered anddocumentary evidence, such as that of the "cratchets" on whichthe 1603 church at uamestown was built, is rather ambiguous.

But the box-frame tradition, and the house plans whicwith it were quickly modified to suit local conditioncold winters of New England required a fireplace to eroom and the strong winds led to the development of cboarding to replace wattle and daub; the heat and humthe southern states led to the development of porchesverandahs. Gradually, as power-driven saws and cheapbecame available the box-frame tradition developed inplatform and balloon frame traditions, still in use,the characteristic grace to the older American countr

But alongside the box-frame tradition there wamaintained the tradition of hewn-log construction, batimber but employing a structural principle more likethe masonry wall. The hewn-log tradition accommodatecrude huts of the pioneering settlers and the sophistwork of the garrison-house builders and was carried wwave of settlement right across to the Pacific coast.

The measured drawings on exhibition are examplwork of the Historic American Buildings Survey. Thisof the many projects initiated during the DepressionNineteen-Thirties to make use of talents temporarilyployed. After a lapse during the Second World War thhas now been re-established. The National Parks Servout a certain amount of investigation in the field, wSmithsonian Institution, another organ of the Federalcarries out research through the Division of Culturaland has re-nrrected typical dwellings in its galleriesstate and local level many buildings have be^n preserthe initiative of ad hoc bodies, sometimes with statebut usually on private funds. Some organisations asSturbridge Village and the Shelburne lMuseum have estaconsiderable collections of vernacular buildings. Bubeing realised that as redevelopment proceeds ever farecording of vernacular buildings which it may not beto preserve, is being undertaken and the work of theof Syracuse provides an example.


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VERNACULAR IRCHTi^CTURE IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATESILLUSTRATED EI MEASURED DRAWINGS FROM THE HISTORICAMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY.

1. Swedish Log Cabin (Lover Log House) Darby Creek .Delaware County Pennsylvania, Said to have been built1640-43 ?nd thas the only surviving house of the Swedishsettlement. Booh the plan, with corner fireplaces andthe construction of round logs, roughly notched andprojecting at the corners are believed to follow Swedishprecedent.

2. Gilman Garrison. Exeter. Rockingham County. New Hampshire .Erected in lo58 the Gilman Garrison is typical of thefortified houses vhich were built to act as refuges fr->mthe French ard Indie n raids. Constructed cf carefullysquared logs, lovetc iled at the corners and provided withsmall opening! to serve as gun ports rather than windows,the house was proof against attack short of full militaryassault.

3 Mclntire Garrison House. Scotland. York County. Maine .Known to hi.ve been in existence in 1692, this house wasbuilt of hewn logs carefully fitted and ingeniouslyjointed at the corners. The drawings show the building aslater altered to liave large windows and a clap boardfinish.

4 Fort Egypt , near Luray ? Page County. Virginia . One of astriig of fortified houses built 1730-50 as the settlersof Virginia pujhed westwards into the mountains, FortEgypt had hewn log walls and a vaulted stone cellar saidto nr.ve acted as a fireprocf refuge.

Houses in Newburyport. Essex County. MassachussettBoth the Thurlow House of c.1725 and the Marden Hoof 1765-70 illustrate the development of the tradibox-frame house plans brought over from East unglithe 17C. settlers.

Log Cabin. Terrytown. Bradford County. PennsylvaniThe date of this house which has hewn log walls on3 tone foundation is unknown, but probably 18C. Itno tradition of use as a garrison.Blair Cabin. Girard Township. Erie County. PennsylThis small cabin without a history is typical of tstructures erected by settlers in the 18th and 19tCenturies as they pushed from east to west acrosscontinent. The corner jointing differs from bothSwedish and the Garrison Houses.

9.

John Elder House and Barn f near Harrisburg. DauphiPennsylvania . The stone house was built in 174-0stone and timber bank barn was built some four yeaBoth are typical of the rich dairying country of cPennsylvania and illustrate building types spreademigrants from that state to other parts of AmericStauffer House, near Harmony. Butler County. PennsThe house bears a datestone of 1839 and the barn ato be contemporary. Both illustrate a type develothe state of the Pennsylvania Dutch which remainswhere they and their descendants have settled.


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DtcHed at cott**x-s

RAMINJG PIAGRAM\owing separation oF walls and roof

CILAsAAM GARRlSOMpvrst floor of aarefUlu hey^logs haWed or cto^eV-alTeci


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HEWN LOG CONSTRUCTIONAs a syiubol of the pioneering days of the Wild West,

the leg cabin probably shares pride of place with the ColtKevolver. r'or decades this symbol had such political forcethat aspiring candidates for the Presidency of the UnitedStates had to build a log cabin for the purpose if one couldnot be found in the femily.

\t one time it was believed that the pioneers of theWest tuok over the log cabin design from their Colonialpredecessors, but later research suggested that the methodof construction was bi ought from Eastern Europe by 19thCentury immigrants, low that several different types ofcabins have been distinguished, opinion is tending to thebelief that each one i_ay have a separate origin.

The conventional log cabin of the political myth liasrounded logs, roughly notched at the corners and with endsprojecting to form a criss-cross effect. The wide spacesbetween each layer of logs were chinked with bark, clay,skin etc. Such a construction was bound to be damp,draughty, and subject to decay as water collated in thejoints. The Sweuish Log Gafrln illustrates this constructionand Scandinavian precedents may be found.

The -nost common construction, at least as far assurviving examples indicate, is illustrated by theBlair Cabin . Hera the logs are roughly squared by the axe,horizontal joints are fairly thin, and may be tightlychinkou by clay end small stones, and the corners are boundtogether by ^etns of a simple but fairly weatherproof dove-tailed joint. Intermediate floors, as at Terrytown werecarried on logs nalved into the outer walls.

Put the oldest version of this method of construc-tion (with the exception of that illustrated in the tiny

and short-lived Swedish Colony) is demonstratedGarrison Houses of the New England states and ViHere, quite large houses were framed up out of csquared logs of large dimensions, accurately fittogether so as to make chinking unnecessary andelaborate corner joints dovetailed in all directshed water and to defend against attack by the ainstances the logs were further connected by verDescriptions of fortified houses on the Scottishsuggest a precedent for this version of the tech

In all cases roof and walls were separateand it is interesting that the hewn log houses hcharacteristics of mass walls rather than the tiwhich they are built.


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Xground Fl. p,rst P-AAcJNTYRE GARRISON! MOUSE, YORK,central chimney sback., hvo f\OOr* and attoc*: ( vjpper Roc\efcied on all fboc sides, walls op hewn 103s, o6eme.otrUrK3e.r-

PORT EGYPT, r. L.URAY, VirgtWibwo ploor-s or\d Stone vautted fcxaseme.ofc-, cntrrlwqihs of h*wn iocjs, fJevetcwlfd

3x:grourvd Floor prsb floor


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HARRISON HOboESThe earliest settlers, as at Jamestown, Virginia,

erected walled forts within which they could feel fairlysecure from attack oy the Indians, and outside which theycould cultivate enough land for their requirements. Assettlement extended beyond the coastal fringe this mediaevalpattern of life became less feasible. This was particularlytrue during the period of the late 17th and EighteenthCentuiies when Indians under French leadership carried outcampaigns of tarrcr against the rival colonies.

To mejt the challenge of this sort of raid, theGarrison House was developed as a building type. Such adwelling would be occupied by a family during times of peacebut would act as a refuse for neighbouring families during theraids or as a safe resort for women and children when counter-raids were mounted. A scattered community might have severalsuch Louses; in 1711, for instance, the community of York, inthe State of Maine, had 20 garrisons. The building type ischaracteristic of the Hew England state, but similar buildingswere erected uuring the first half of the 18th Century in thewestern part of Virginia.

The Garrison houses gained security from their methodof construction of hewn logs, carefully squared, dowelledtogether, and jointed at the corners. The timbers were toostout to be cut down by axes, too elaborately jointed to besprung apart oj. crow-bars, and too unfirm in surface to beburnt, except by ^ considerable fire. In place of windows theyhad small portp for hand guns, and some of the more elaboratehad a projecting upper storey with gun slits commanding thelower floor rather like mediaeval machicolations. The methodof construetion was used for forts and block-houses in theUnited Stctss until well into the 19th Century and a similarmethod lemained part of British military engineering certainlyuntil after the South African War.

In function, the Garrison Houses were similar to thpeels, and borstel houses of the English and Scottiborders erected during the Sixteenth and Early SeveCenturies and the Seventeenth Century towers of NorIreland, and while surviving examples are all of stconstruction references suggest that clay and timbealso used. It is interesting that place names andnames of settlers using garrison houses suggest ScoScotch-Irish origins.


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BANK BitRUSOne of the most characteristic features of the

Pennsylvania landscape, and one which has attracted comment fromtravellers lor nearly two centuries, is the huge barn whichdominates eacn farmstead.

The typical barn of Pennsylvania consists of two levels :a lewer level, acujing the cattle and horses and an upper levelcontaining both hay and grain. The stables and cewshed at thelower xevel are entered through a range of doors along one loog side,while the barn at one upper level has one or more pairs of barndcors, sometimes protected by projecting wings forming a granaryor other store, approached by way of a shallow ramp and matched bysmaller winnowing doors. The whole building is usually arrangedalong a slope - natural or artificial - hence the name bank-barn;the ha^ and grain may be dropped down to the "foddergang" or fendingwalk, the hay provides insulation to keep the animals warm and aprojection of the barn provides shelter to the doors of stable anddowshed underneath. The whole combines to form a convenient andlabour-saving arrangement for a particular form of agriculture andwas perfected iuri_ig the Nineteenth Century to produce impressiveand rather elegant pieces of vernacular architecture.

Most of the surviving bank barns have a combination of stoneand timber construction. The lower level is normally walled instone, this material \ roviding a good retaining wall at the head ofstable and cowshed, built into the slope. Heavy timber binders runalong the length of the building and carry stout joists which projectas much as eight feet to provide the protective overhang. From thisbase treses are raised at intervals across the length of the barnand joined b;> wall plates to form a box frame. Above these trussesa sort of trussed purlin, sloping outwards carries the spars whichin turn carry the roof covering, which traditionally was wood shingle.The two long sides are usually boarded while the gable walls may bein stone, brick, or timber. Simple decorative roundels, known as"hex" signs, pai^oed in bright colours make the barns of the Berkshire,

Lehigh, and Montgomery counties of Pennsylvania atourist attraction.The bank barn may be found in Pennsylvania,

of the surrounding States, and those states, partiin the mid-west settled by the Mennanites and membsimilar religious sects. It is generally assumedbuilding type was brought from North Germany by thPennsylvania Dutch but as it is also found in partFrance and the North-West of England, its origin rfurther investigation.


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