CONCH HOUSE

A conch house is a style of architecture that developed in Key West, Florida in the 19th century and that was also used in Miami, and rarely elsewhere in Florida, into the early 20th century. The introduction of the conch house style is attributed to immigrants from the Bahamas.

Characteristics

The conch house, like other Florida vernacular architecture styles, is built of wood, and set on posts or piers, which allows air to circulate under the floor. Conch houses are rectangular, of one or two floors, and usually have a porch across the full width of the front of the house both floors if the house has two floors. Other characteristics are horizontal weatherboarding or clapboarding, low gabled or hip roofs, and double-hung sash windows. Roofs may be metal or shingled. Conch house designs were often influenced by Classical Revival or Neoclassical architecture. Other than carved brackets and/or rafter ends on porches, conch houses generally lack ornamentation.

History

Stirrup House in Coconut Grove - Miami

The conch house style was developed in Key West by Bahamian immigrants, known as "Conchs". Many Bahamians had experience building boats, and the earliest conch houses were built like boats, using timber framing. In the 1880s timber framing was replaced with balloon framing. Houses in the conch style were also built in Miami, in particular, in the Coconut Grove and Overtown neighborhoods. The term "conch house" has been applied to houses built in a variety of styles in Key West, but the most common usage is for houses built in a Bahamian style. About half of the historic houses in Key West have been classified as being in the Classical Revival style. The Bahamian immigrants in Key West were accustomed to building houses in the Bahamian clapboard house style. This style placed houses on posts or piers, used timber framing, had large windows and high ceilings to allow cooling by available breezes, and had louvered shutters hinged at the top "Bahamas shutters". The Bahamian clapboard house style has influenced housing in many areas with tropical climates.

CASTLE HOUSE

This article is about medieval fortifications. For other uses, see Castle disambiguation.

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A castle high on a rocky peninsula above a plain. It is dominated by a tall rectangular tower rising above a main building with steep slate roof. The walls are pink, and covered with a sculptural pattern. There is a variety of turrets and details.

The Alcázar of Segovia in Spain overlooking the city

A castle of square plan surrounded by a water-filled moat. It has round corner towers and a forbidding appearance.

Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, England, surrounded by a water-filled moat

A castle from Latin: castellum is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for nobility; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Usage of the term has varied over time and has been applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls and arrowslits, were commonplace.

A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the area immediately surrounding them, and were both offensive and defensive structures; they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures also served as centres of administration and symbols of power. Urban castles were used to control the local populace and important travel routes, and rural castles were often situated near features that were integral to life in the community, such as mills and fertile land.

Many castles were originally built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, and lacked features such as towers and arrowslits and relied on a central keep. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire. Many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castle's firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, and inspiration from earlier defences such as Roman forts. Not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, and devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape.

Although gunpowder was introduced to Europe in the 14th century, it did not significantly affect castle building until the 15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break through stone walls. While castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of mock castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture, but they had no military purpose.

CAPE COD

The Cape Cod cottage style and in turn its Colonial Revival descendant of the 1930s–50s originated with the colonists who came from England to New England. They used the English house with a hall and parlor as a model, adapting this design with local materials to best protect against New England's notoriously stormy weather. Over the next several generations emerged a 1- to 1 1⁄2-story house with wooden shutters and clapboard or shingle exterior.

The Reverend Timothy Dwight IV 1752–1817, president of Yale University from 1795–1817, coined the term "Cape Cod House" after a visit to the Cape in 1800. His observations were published posthumously in Travels in New England and New York 1821–22.

Cape Cod–style house c. 1920

Climate influences

The Pilgrims designed houses that provided safety from New England’s extreme winter climate.  in January and February can drop to -20 degrees Fahrenheit, and multiple-feet snow pile-ups occur frequently. To fight the chill, the Pilgrims built extensive central chimneys and low ceilinged rooms to conserve heat. Most Cape Cod homes faced the south, which allowed sunlight to enter the windows and provide additional heat. The steep roof characteristic of New England homes also prevented excessive amounts of snow from accumulating on the house. Fluctuating Cape Cod temperatures presented the problem of moisture within interior walls, which was addressed by using wainscoting: a design element still prevalent today. Finally, the Pilgrims dealt with stormy winds by installing shutters on the windows. A trademark of Cape Cod home design, the shutter is now an aesthetic element instead of a functional one.

Natural resource influences

Isolated from Europe, early New Englanders used natural resources available in the environment for building materials. Colonists made shingles out of cedar trees, while using pine and oak for hardwood flooring.

Economic influences

Glass from England ran at a high price, so New Englanders arranged small panes six inches by eight inches in patterns to form large windows. The smaller panes were less likely to break during the long voyage from England to the colonies. The settlers’ limited economic resources kept their homes small and free from superfluous décor.

Colonial Capes 17th century–18th century

A classic Cape Cod style farmhouse in Brockton Heights, Massachusetts.

Colonial-era Capes were most prevalent in the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. They were made of wood, and covered in wide clapboard or shingles. Most houses were smaller, usually 1,000–2,000 square feet in size. Colonial-era Capes did not have dormer windows unlike revivals. There were generally an odd collection of windows in the gable ends, and in these windows nine and six panes were the most common. The rooms were generally furnished with all hardwood floors.

The style has a symmetrical appearance with front door in the center of the house, and a large central chimney for fireplaces in each room. A cape-style house also commonly had a master bedroom on the first floor and an unfinished loft on the second floor. A typical early house had little or no exterior ornamentation, although many built during the Greek Revival featured an entablature with corner pilasters, pedimented gable ends, and a pilaster-and-lintel entry with sidelights.

Home layout

The first Cape Cod–style houses fall into three categories: the half, three-quarter, and full Cape. The half Cape bears a door to one side of the house and two windows on one side of the door; the three-quarter Cape has a door with two windows on one side and a single window on the other, while the full Cape consists of a front door in the center of the home, flanked on each side by two windows. Otherwise, the three categories of early Cape Cod houses were nearly identical in layout. Inside the front door, a central staircase led to the small upper level, which consisted of two children’s bedrooms. The lower floor consisted of a hall for daily living including cooking, dining, and gathering and the parlor, or master bedroom.

Design elements

1940 federal government plans for a house

Located in an area of abundant wildlife, Cape Cod homes are designed to blend into the landscape. Natural colors and simple, subtle design elements are common inside and out.

Exterior design

External walls of classic Cape Cod houses are covered with unpainted shingles or clapboarding. After prolonged exposure to natural elements, the wood obtains an earthy gray color. The houses usually lack front porches, although modern Capes sometimes include screened-in porches located to one side of the home. The decorative highlight of Cape Cod homes is the front door, which is painted in distinct colors, bears an ornament or wreath, and has intricate carving. The windows of the home are surrounded by shutters that either match the front door or are painted white. Other exterior design features include a steep roof with a small overhang, a white picket fence around the front yard, and a detached garage.

Interior design

One of the most important design elements specific to Cape Cod homes is the trim color. Interior doors, cabinets, and mantels are painted white, and most rooms are finished with white crown molding. The clean look of the white detailing draws attention to another important feature: hardwood flooring. Matching hardwood floors run throughout the entire house except the kitchen, which is usually floored with linoleum or ceramic tiles. The white finishing also accentuates the wall colors, which often reflect the colorful Cape Cod seaside, including ocean blues, sand beiges, and sunset reds. Sometimes have sandy color in rare cases.

Modern adaptations

The houses of early New England settlers seem distantly related to modern Cape Cod–style homes and cottages found throughout the country. While the original half, three-quarter, and full Cape

styles are still common, homeowners experimented over the years by doubling the full Cape and adding new wings onto the rear end. Homeowners also added roof dormers for increased space, light, and ventilation. Despite the changes, 1 1⁄2-story Capes are still a popular, affordable style on the housing market.

Revival of the Cape

Colonial Revival Capes 1930s–1950s

Colonial Revival Cape Cod houses are very similar to Colonial Cape Cod houses, but some have the chimney at one end of the living room on the side of the house. High end replicas were designed by traditional architects, for example Boston architect Royal Barry Wills 1895–1962. For the less affluent, planned communities like Levittown, New York offered Cape Cod styled tract housing, particularly to soldiers returning from World War II.

The evolution and growth of Cape Cod style architecture is largely due to unstable economic conditions. The Cape experienced a nationwide revival during the Great Depression, when Americans sought affordable housing options. The Cape thrived as a prevalent style until about 1950, when Americans began viewing the Cape as a “poor person’s” or “farmer’s” home, and turned instead to two-story colonials.

Influence of Royal Barry Wills

Royal Barry Wills became the most popular architect in America after World War II because of his role in modernizing the Cape and promoting an appealing living option for middle-class families. After the Great Depression, Wills focused on designing small, 1,000-square-foot 93 m2 Colonial Revival houses. Rather than reproducing traditional Cape Cod–style homes, Wills refigured the design to include modern amenities that addressed demands for increased privacy and technology, including bathrooms, kitchens, and garages. The simplicity, functionality, and livability of the first Cape Cod houses remained prevalent features of Wills’ updated design. Wills published eight books and numerous magazine articles about architecture, which helped spread his modern Cape design throughout the country. Wills’ work stood in stark contrast to the Modernist architectural movement adopted by his peers. While urban architecture pushed skyward, dominated by larger-than-life skyscrapers, Wills downsized architecture and allowed human scale to define his work. While his Colonial Revival house targeted a less prestigious market than other Modernist architects, the work of Royal Barry Wills continues to profoundly impact the middle-class housing market.

MANSION HOUSE

History

Within an ancient Roman city, patrician dwellings might be very extensive, and luxurious. Such mansions on one hill in Rome became so extensive that the term palatial was actually derived from the name Palatine hill and is the etymological origin of "palace".

Renaissance villas such as Villa Rotonda near Vicenza were an inspiration for many later mansions, especially during the industrialisation.

Following the fall of Rome the practice of building unfortified villas ceased. Today, the oldest inhabited mansions around the world usually began their existence as fortified castles in the middle ages. As social conditions slowly changed and stabilised fortifications were able to be reduced, and over the centuries gave way to comfort. It became fashionable and possible for homes to be beautiful rather than grim and forbidding. Hence the modern mansion began to evolve.

In British English a mansion block refers to a block of flats or apartments. In many parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Japan, the word mansion also refers to a block of apartments.

In Europe, from the 15th century onwards, a combination of politics and advancements in modern weaponry negated the need for the aristocracy to live in fortified castles. As a result many were transformed into mansions without defences or demolished and rebuilt in a more modern, undefended style. Due to intermarriage and primogeniture inheritance amongst the aristocracy, it became common for one noble to often own several country houses. These would be visited rotationally throughout the year as their owner pursued the social and sporting circuit from country home to country home. Many owners of a country house would also own a town mansion in their country's capital city. These town mansions were referred to as 'houses' in London, hotels in Paris and palaces in most European cities elsewhere. It might be noted that sometimes the house of a clergyman was called a "mansion house" e.g.by the Revd James Blair, Commissary in Virginia for the Bishop of London, 1689-1745, a term related to the word "manse" commonly used in the Church of Scotland and in Non-Conformist churches. H.G.Herklots, The Church of England and the American Episcopal Church.

Harlaxton Manor, England, a 19th-century meeting of Renaissance, Tudor and Gothic architecture produced Jacobethan - a popular form of historicist mansion architecture.

As the 16th century progressed, and Renaissance styles of architecture slowly spread across Europe, the last vestiges of castle architecture and life changed; the central points of these great house, great halls, became redundant as owners wished to live separately from their servants, and no longer ate with them in a Great Hall. All evidence and odours of cooking and staff were banished from the principal parts of the house into distant wings, while the owners began to live in airy rooms, above the ground floor, with privacy from their servants, who were now confined, unless required, to their specifically delegated areas—often the ground and uppermost attic floors. This was a period of great social change, as the educated prided themselves on enlightenment.

The uses of these edifices paralleled that of the Roman villas. It was vital for powerful people and families to keep in social contact with each other as they were the primary moulders of society. The rounds of visits and entertainments were an essential part of the societal process, as painted in the novels of Jane Austen. State business was often discussed and determined in informal settings. Times of revolution reversed this value. During July/August 1789 a significant number of French country mansions chateaux were destroyed by the rural population as part of the Great Fear - a symbolic rejection of the feudal rights and restraints in effect under the ancient régime.

Until World War I it was not unusual for a moderately sized mansion in England such as Cliveden to have an indoor staff of 20 and an outside staff of the same sizecitation needed and in ducal mansions such as Chatsworth House the numbers could be far higher. In the great houses of Italy, the number of retainers was often even greater than in England; whole families plus extended relations would often inhabit warrens of rooms in basements and attics. It is doubtful that a 19th-century Marchesa would even know the exact number of individuals who served her. Most European mansions also were the hub of vast estates. A true estate the medieval villa, French ville always contains at least one complete village and its church. Large estates such as that of Woburn Abbey have several villages attached.

TERRACED HOUSE

Origins and nomenclature

The practice of homes built uniformly to the property line began in the 16th century and became known as "row" houses. "Yarmouth Rows" in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk is an example where the building fronts uniformly ran right to the property line.

The term terrace was borrowed from garden terraces by British architects of the late Georgian period to describe streets of houses whose uniform fronts and uniform height created an ensemble that was more stylish than a "row". Townhouses or townhomes are generally two– to three-storey structures that share a wall with a neighbouring unit. As opposed to an apartment building, townhouses do not have neighbouring units above or below them. They are similar in concept to row houses or terraced houses, except they are usually divided into smaller groupings of homes.

Australia and New Zealand

Royal terraces in Toorak, Victoria which have been repainted and renovated.

Terraces in Paddington, New South Wales exemplify the local variation found in Sydney. Large rows with taller dormer windows often appear to march up and down hills.

Main article: Terraced houses in Australia

See also: Australian residential architectural styles

In Australia and New Zealand, the term "terrace house" refers almost exclusively to Victorian and Edwardian era terraces or replicas almost always found in the older, inner city areas of the major cities.[citation needed] Modern suburban versions of this style of housing are referred to as "town houses".citation needed

Terraced housing was introduced to Australia from the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century. Large numbers of terraced houses were built in the inner suburbs of large Australian cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne, mainly between the 1850s and the 1890s terraced housing is rare outside of these cities. The beginning of this period coincided with a population boom caused by the Victorian and New South Wales Gold Rushes of the 1850s and finished with an economic depression in the early 1890s. Detached housing became the popular style of housing in Australia following Federation in 1901.

Terraced housing in Australia ranged from expensive middle-class houses of three, four and five-storeys down to single-storey cottages in working-class suburbs. The most common building material used was brick, often covered with stucco. Many terraces were built in the "Filigree" style, a style distinguished through heavy use of cast iron ornament, particularly on the balconies and sometimes depicting native Australian flora. As some terraces were built speculatively, there are examples of "freestanding" and "semi-detached" terraces which were either intended to have adjoin terraces or the neighbouring buildings were later demolished.

In the first half of the twentieth-century, terraced housing in Australia fell into disfavour and the inner-city areas where they were found were often considered slums. In the 1950s, many urban renewal programs were aimed at eradicating them entirely in favour of high-rise development. In recent decades these inner-city areas and their terraced houses have been gentrified. Terrace

houses are now highly sought after in Australia, and due to their proximity to the CBD of the major cities, are often expensive.

With artificial urban boundaries, new townhouse type developments—often nostalgically evoking old style terraces in a post-modern style—returned to the favour of local planning offices in many suburban areas.

Europe

See also: Housing in Europe

France

East side of the Place des Vosges, Paris. One of the earliest examples of terraced housing

Row housing became the popular style in Paris, France. The Place des Vosges (1605 – 1612) was one of the earliest examples of the style. In Parisian squares, central blocks were given discreet prominence, to relieve the façade. Terraced building including housing was also used primarily during Haussmann's renovation of Paris between 1852 and 1870 creating whole streetscapes consisting of terraced rows.

United Kingdom and Ireland

Grosvenor Square, one of the earliest terraces in Britain

Park Crescent, Regent's Park, London

Royal Crescent, Bath 1767-1777

In Great Britain, the first streets of houses with uniform fronts were built by the Huguenot entrepreneur Nicholas Barbon in the rebuilding after the Great Fire of London. The Georgian idea of treating a row of houses as if it were a palace front, giving the central houses columned fronts under a shared pediment, appeared first in London's Grosvenor Square 1727 onwards; rebuilt and in Bath's Queen Square 1729 onwards Summerson 1947. The Scottish architect Robert Adam is credited with the development of the house itself.

Early terraces were also built by the two John Woods in Bath and under the direction of John Nash in Regent's Park, London, and the name was picked up by speculative builders like Thomas Cubitt and soon became commonplace. It is far from being the case that terraced houses were only built for people of limited means, and this is especially true in London, where some of the wealthiest people in the country owned terraced houses in locations such as Belgrave Square and Carlton House Terrace. They are hallmarks of Georgian architecture.

By the early Victorian period, a terrace had come to designate any style of housing where individual houses repeating one design are joined together into rows. The style was used for workers' housing in industrial districts during the great industrial boom following the industrial revolution, particularly in the houses built for workers of the expanding textile industry. The terrace style spread widely in the United Kingdom, and was the usual form of high density residential housing up to World War II, though the 19th century need for expressive individuality inspired variation of facade details and floor-plans reversed with those of each neighbouring pair, to offer variety within the standardised format.

Working-class terraced houses in Pakenham Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1981, with windows and doors of unoccupied houses bricked-up to deter vandals. The houses have since been fully restored.

A major distinction is between through terraces, whose houses have both a front and a back door, and back-to-backs, which are bricked in on three sides. Since the Second World War, housing redevelopment has led to many outdated or dilapidated terraces being cleared to make room for tower blocks, which occupy a much smaller area of land. Because of this land use in the inner city areas could in theory have been used to create greater accessibility, employment or recreational or leisure centres. However botched implementation meant that in many areas like Manchester or the London estates the tower blocks offered no real improvement for rehoused residents over their prior terraced houses.

In 2005 the English Heritage report Low Demand Housing and the Historic Environment found that repairing a standard Victorian terraced house over 30 years is around 60% cheaper than building and maintaining a newly built house. In a 2003 survey for Heritage Counts a team of experts contrasted a Victorian terrace with a house built after 1980, and found that:

The research demonstrated that, contrary to earlier thinking, older housing actually costs less to maintain and occupy over the long-term life of the dwelling than more modern housing. Largely due to the quality and life-span of the materials used, the Victorian terraced house proved almost £1,000 per 100 m2 cheaper to maintain and inhabit on average each year.

DECK HOUSE

Functions and materials[edit]

Wood or timber "decking" can be used in a number of ways: as part of garden landscaping, to extend living areas of houses, and as an alternative to stone based features such as patios. Decks are made from treated lumber, composite lumber, composite material, Aluminum, Western red cedar, teak, mahogany, ipê and other hardwoods and recycled planks made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene (PS) and PET plastic as well as mixed plastics and wood fiber (often called "composite" lumber). Artificial decking products are often called "wood-plastic composites". These days, WPC's have more widely known by different brands like Trex, Azek, Ecornboard etc.

Historically, the softwoods used for decking were logged from old growth forests. These include Atlantic white cedar, redwood and Western red cedar (redcedar). Atlantic City built the first coastal boardwalk in the United States, originally constructed of Atlantic white cedar. However, it was not long before the commercial logging of this tree and clearing of cedar swamps in New Jersey caused a decline in the availability of decking. Atlantic City and New York City both switched to Western red cedar. By the 1960s, Western red cedar from the US was declining due to over-logging. More expensive Western red cedar was available from western Canada (British Columbia) but by then, pressure treated pine had become available.

But even with chemical treatments (such as chromated copper arsenate or CCA), pine decking is not as durable as cedars in an outdoor environment. Thus, many municipalities and homeowners are turning to hardwoods. Decks are often built from pressure treated wood. Pressure treated wood is long lasting and holds up to wet and icey weather conditions. Pressure treated wood however is treated with chemicals which have been known to be toxic.[1] Slivers received from pressure treated wood most generally become infected. Pressure treated saw dust also contains toxins such as strychnine, also often used as rat poison. These toxins, when inhaled, can require hospitalization for both acute and chronic exposures.

Generally, hardwoods used for decking come from tropical forests. Much of the logging taking place to produce these woods, especially teak, mahogany and ipê, is occurring illegally, as outlined in numerous reports by environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Rainforest Relief.[2][3][4] US tropical wood imports are rising, partly due to the demand for decking.

Due to environmental concerns, composite decking (a mixture of two materials, typically wood pulp and recycled material such as plastic bottles or plastic bags) have appeared on the market. Proponents of composite decking have touted this as a much needed development as this helps to curb logging of trees for new decks. However composite decking has been found to contain harmful chemicals, cannot be refurbished, and despite claims from decking companies, the composite deck still attracts molding.[5]

Residential decks may contain spaces for BBQing, dining and seating. BBQ areas ideally should be situated near the patio door while out of the way from general foot traffic. Dining spaces will include patio tables, for a typical 6 person outdoor patio table building an area of 12' x 16' is ideal. If deck space is available, homeowners may choose to include a seating area for outdoor couches and benches.

Construction[edit]

The deck of a house is generally a wooden platform built above the ground and connected to the main building. It is generally enclosed by a railing for safety. Access may be from the house through doors and from the ground via a stairway. Residential decks can be constructed over steep areas or rough ground that is otherwise unusable. Decks can also be covered by a canopy or pergola to control sunlight. Deck designs can be found in numerous books, do-it-yourself magazines and web sites, and from the USDA.[6]

Larger buildings may also have decks on the upper floors of the building which may be open to the public as observation decks or a Skyrise greenery.

A deck is also the surface used to construct a boardwalk over sand on barrier islands.

Laying deck or throwing deck refers to the act of placing and bolting down cold-formed steel beneath roofing and concrete floors. This is usually done by an ironworker, sometimes in conjunction with a cement mason or carpenter. It regarded as one of the most physically demanding jobs in the iron working industry.

In the UK the various ban on smoking in public buildings was expected lead to an increase in the use of timber decking for outdoor spaces where smokers can gather.[7]

LIST OF HOUSE TYPES

Houses can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or Single-family houses and various types of attached or multi-user dwellings. Both sorts may vary greatly in scale and amount of accommodation provided. Although there appear to be many different types, many of the variations listed below are purely matters of style rather than spatial arrangement or scale. Some of the terms listed are only used in some parts of the English-speaking world.

Contents  [hide]

1 Detached single-unit housing

2 Semi-detached dwellings

3 Attached Single-unit housing

4 Attached Multi-unit housing

5 Movable dwellings

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

Detached single-unit housing[edit]

Main article: Single-family detached home

A-frame: so-called because of the appearance of the structure, namely steep roofline.

The Addison house: a type of low-cost house with metal floors and cavity walls made of concrete blocks, mostly built in the United Kingdom and in Ireland during 1920 through 1921 to provide housing for soldiers, sailors, and airmen who had returned home from the First World War.

The Airey house: a type of low-cost house that was developed in the United Kingdom during in the 1940s by Sir Edwin Airey, and then widely constructed between 1945 and 1960 to provide housing for soldiers, sailors, and airmen who had returned home from World War II. These are recognizable by their precast concrete columns and by their walls made of precast "ship-lap" concrete panels.[1]

American Colonial: a traditional style of house that originated in the East Coast of the United States of America.

Georgian Colonial

German Colonial

Hall and parlor house

New England Colonial

Spanish Colonial

VANCOUVER

Vancouver

The introduction to Vancouver of this form of housing was part of an initiative by former Mayor  as part of his council's initiative to increase urban density in pre-existing neighbourhoods while retaining the single-family feel of the neighbourhood. Vancouver's average laneway house is 550 square feet 51 m2, one and a half stories, with one or two bedrooms. Typical regulations require that the laneway home is built in the back half of a traditional lot in the space that is normally reserved for a garage.In December 2009, the Sustainable Laneway House project began. BC Hydro Power Smart joined Simon Fraser University and the City of Vancouver in championing the project. A host of industrial partners joined the effort by providing expertise, materials and labour, including Small works Studio and Laneway Housing, Fortin Terasen Gas, Embedded Automation, Day4 Energy, VerTech Solutions, MSR Innovations and Pulse Energy. Westhouse was showcased at the Yaletown LiveCity site during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games to over 66,000 people and subsequently moved to its current semi-permanent site at SFU. Vancouver's first laneway house to be completed under the 2009 laneway house bylaw was the Mendoza Lane House by Lanefab Design/Build. The Mendoza lane house is 710sf and was built on a 33'x122' lot and features a single outdoor parking space. The project was granted an occupancy permit by the City of Vancouver in May 2010.The first unsubsidized 'net-zero' solar powered laneway house was completed in 2012.In July 2013, an updated set of rules governing laneway house design in Vancouver went into effect. The July 2013 rule update was aimed at making it easier to build 1 storey laneway houses, and to address concerns about parking and the use of garages.

Affordability Housing affordability is an important issue in Vancouver, due to the high density of population in the city.While the EcoDensity Charter is no longer applicable in Vancouver due to the current council's updated strategies on affordability and Greenest City initiatives initial concerns around laneway housing and affordability that related to the EcoDensity Charter remain. The approach from the Charter was to increase the supply of housings to help moderate house prices and to reduce the living costs from transportation and energy. The Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives reportedto the Vancouver City Council on housing affordability in 2008, arguing that the EcoDensity Charter's claim that the increase in urban density would result in greater affordability is false. They argued further that if the Charter remained unchanged then the existing affordability for housing in Vancouver would worsen and also increase the difficulties to middle and low income families

MANOR HOUSE

Function

The lord of a manor may have held several such properties throughout a county or even, for example in the case of a feudal baron, throughout a kingdom, which he occupied only on occasional visits. Even so the business of the manor required to be directed and controlled by regular manorial courts, which appointed manorial officials such as the bailiff, granted copyhold leases to tenants, resolved disputes between manorial tenants and administered justice in general. A large and suitable building was required within the manor for such purpose, generally in the form of a great hall, and a solar might be attached to form accommodation for the lord. Furthermore, the produce of a small manor might be insufficient to feed a lord and his large family for a full year, and thus he would spend only a few months at each manor and move on to another where stores had been laid up. This also gave the opportunity for the vacated manor house to be cleaned, especially important in the days of the cess-pit, and repaired. Thus such non-resident lords needed to appoint a steward or seneschal to act as their deputy in such matters and to preside at the manorial courts of his different manorial properties. The day-to-day administration was carried out by a resident official in authority at each manor, who in England was called a bailiff, or reeve.

Architecture

Markenfield Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire, a 14th-century manor house defended by a moat, wall and gatehouse

Although not typically built with strong fortifications as were castles, many manor-houses were fortified, which required a royal licence to crenellate. They were often enclosed within walls or ditches which often also included the agricultural buildings. Arranged for defence against roaming bands of robbers and thieves, in days long before police, they were often surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge, and were equipped with gatehouses and watchtowers, but not, as for castles, with a keep, large towers or lofty curtain walls designed to withstand a siege. The primary feature of the manor house was its great hall, to which subsidiary apartments were added as the lessening of feudal warfare permitted more peaceful domestic life.

By the beginning of the 16th century, manor houses as well as small castles began to acquire the character and amenities of the residences of country gentlemen, and many defensive elements were dispensed with, for example Sutton Place in Surrey, circa 1521. A late 16th-century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France and the numerous country mansions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England.

MINKA HOUSES

Types of minka

Gassho-style roof

Gassho-zukuri under repair

The term Minka literally means "houses of the people" and it covers houses that accommodated a wide variety of people from farmers through to village headmen, merchants and low level samurai.

Minka come in wide range of styles and sizes, largely as a result of differing geographic and climatic conditions as well as the lifestyle of the inhabitants, but most generally fall into one of four classifications: farmhouses noka town houses machiya, fishermen's dwellings gyoka  and mountain dwellings sanka .

Unlike other forms of Japanese architecture such as those of the sukiya style, it is the structure rather than the plan that is of primary importance to the minka. Minka are divided up with primary posts that form the basic framework and bear the structural load of the building; and secondary posts which are arranged to suit the functional arrangements of the plan.

Despite the wide variety of minka, there are eight basic forms. The inverted U consists of two vertical posts fixed at the top with a horizontal beam, these individual units can then be added together with side girders. The beam can be fixed to the top of the post either by just resting upon it or via a mortise and tenon joint. This latter method is often found in minka on the island of Shikoku. The ladder has a number of post and beam units connected together with larger beams including beams that are closer to the foundation level and this form of structure originated in townhouses of the Edo period. The system will allow the irregular placement of posts and therefore allows flexibility in the plan. With the umbrella style, four beams radiate out from a central post. These posts sit at the centre of the four sides of the square rather than the corners. Minka of this type are often found in Shiga Prefecture. The cross has two beams at right angles to one another with the posts in the centre of the sides. It is often used for very small minka that have no other posts erected within the space, or for large minka in the earth-floored area. The style is most often found in Shiga and Fukui prefectures. Parallel crosses are found in Shizuoka Prefecture and will cover an area 5 metres by 10 metres. This system doubles up the cross structure with two crosses and eight posts. The box structure connects four or more post and beam units to create a box-like structure. It was devised in the Edo period and can be found in Toyama and Ishikawa Prefectures. The interconnected box can be found in Kyoto and Osaka. And finally, rising beams is a form of structure that enables better use of the second storey. It uses beams that rise from the posts to a secondary ridge that is below the one formed by the rafters.

Thatched roof farmhouses based upon the rising beam structure can be further classified into four major types. The first two of these, the yojiro-gumi and the wagoya are rare. Although the latter of these, the wagoya is popular for machiya houses. Far more common are the sasu also known as gasshou  and the odachi types.

The odachi style has rafters, crossbeams and short vertical posts to support the ridge. Historically, these posts would have extended to the ground resulting in a row of posts extending down the centre of the house and dividing it in two. Although these could be accommodated within the layout of the main house, they were impractical within the earth-floored entrance area and so they were omitted and a special beam structure used instead. This style was in wide use until the Edo period when a shift was made to the sasu style although both types had been used since historic times.

The sasu style is a simpler triangular shape with a pair of rafters joined at the top to support the ridge pole. The ends of these rafters were sharpened to fit into mortice holes at either end of crossbeam.

As this system does not rely on central posts it leaves a more unobstructed plan than the odachi style.

Design of the floor plan

Decorative roof projections on the ridge of a thatched roof

There were two main methods for setting out the floor plan of the minka. The kyoma  method uses a standard size of tatami  mat, whereas the inakama method is based upon column spacing.

The kyoma method works well for minka without central columns as the mats and the sliding partitions fusuma  and shoji  can based on a standard size. This method was mainly used in minka in eastern Japan. The method has its disadvantages if used with posts because variations in post width can make the prefabrication of the sliding partitions difficult.

The inakama method is based upon the distance between centre of one post and centre of the post adjacent to it and it was mainly used on the eastern side of Japan.

Overall construction

Tiled udatsu projecting above the roof

The size, construction and decoration of a minka was dependent upon its location and local climate as well as the social status of its owner.

Minka were influenced by local building techniques and were built with materials that were abundant in the immediate locality. For example, minka in Shizuoka used abundant bamboo for roofs, eaves, doors and floors. When miscanthus reeds were difficult to obtain for thatched roofs, shingles were used instead; and in volcanic areas rushes or boards were used instead of clay for the walls.

Climate too had a bearing on construction, in Kyoto in the late Heian and Muromachi periods, roofs were clad in thin wooden shingles so owners would put stones on top to prevent the shingles from flying away in the wind.

The social status of the minka owner was indicated by the size and complexity of the building. For thatched roof minka the number of crossed wooden members umanori  or bundles of miscanthus reeds along the ridge are a good indicator of the importance of the owner's social status within the village. For machiya, the presence and elaborateness of an udatsu, which is a wall that projects above the roof line has a similar status. Latterly the udatsu inherited the function of a fire break, but initially it was a method of establishing the extent of ownership in long terraces of row houses.

During the evolution of minka, the machiya townhouses gradually changed its construction away from perishable and flammable materials to those of a more durable nature. Thatched roofs were replaced with tiles and exposed timbers were covered up with layers of clay plastering.

Minka owned by people of a higher social status began to incorporate elements of the shoin style, particularly within the living rooms. The types of elements incorporated were limited by laws to preserve strict class distinctions.

MEWS HOUSE

Origin & evolution of the term

The term mews is plural in form but singular in construction. It arose from "mews" in the sense of a building where birds used for falconry are kept, which in turn comes from birds' cyclical loss of feathers known as 'mewing' or moulting.

Though the term originated in London, its use has spread to parts of Canada, Australia and the United States see, for example, Washington Mews in Greenwich Village, New York City.

From 1377 onwards the king's falconry birds were kept in the King's Mews at Charing Cross. The name remained when it became the royal stables starting in 1537 during the reign of King Henry VIII.[1] It was demolished in the early 19th century and Trafalgar Square was built on the site. The present Royal Mews was then built in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. The stables of St James's Palace, which occupied the site where Lancaster House was later built, were also referred to as the "Royal Mews" on occasion, including on John Rocque's 1740s map of London.

The term "mews" is not used for large individual non-royal British stable blocks, a feature of country houses. For example the grand stable block at Chatsworth House is referred to as the stables, not the mews. Instead the word was applied to service streets and the stables in them in cities, primarily London. In the 18th and 19th centuries London housing for wealthy people generally consisted of streets of large terraced houses with stables at the back, which opened onto a small service street. The mews had horse stalls and a carriage house on the ground floor, and stable servants' living accommodation above. Generally this was mirrored by another row of stables on the opposite side of the service street, backing onto another row of terraced houses facing outward into the next street. Sometimes there were variations such as small courtyards. Most mews are named after one of the principal streets which they back onto. Most but not all have the word "mews" in their name. This arrangement was different from most of Continental Europe, where the stables in wealthy urban residences were usually off a front or central courtyard. The advantage of the British system was that it hid the sounds and smells of the stables away from the family when they were not using the horses.

Mews lost their equestrian function in the early 20th century when motor cars were introduced. At the same time, after World War I and especially after World War II, the number of people who could afford to live in the type of houses which had a mews attached fell sharply.[citation needed] One place where a mews may still be found put to equestrian use is Bathurst Mews in Westminster, near Hyde Park, London, where several private horses are kept. Nearby, the mews' stables have been put to commercial use, Hyde Park Stables, where horses may be let for guided rides in Hyde Park, £64 for the hour 2013 price. Some mews were demolished or put to commercial use, but the majority were converted into homes. These "mews houses", nearly always located in the wealthiest districts, are themselves now fashionable residences.

Contemporary movements to revitalize and creatively re-use historical and traditional features of urban environments have also cast some appreciative light on mews. A contemporary presentation of the some 500 former horse stables in the city of London appears in the book The Mews of London: A Guide to the Hidden Byways of London's Past

Mews in contemporary urban planning and new construction

The use of Mews in new urban development is advocated by Leon Krier, who is himself a strong influence on the New Urbanism movement in the United States. For his foundational contributions to the movement, Krier received the first Athena Medal awarded by the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2006.

In the Smart Growth, Traditional Neighborhood Development and New Urbanism movements, the term is used frequently, but definitions of the term are rare. The East Village Redevelopment Plan for Calgary, Alberta, Canada, explains that "Mews are narrow, intimate streets that balance the access and service functions of a lane with active building frontages, accessory uses, and a street space shared by cars and pedestrians.",

KIT HOUSE

Design;

Stick-built, balloon-framed kit houses were built as permanent, not temporary structures, as the manager of the Sears, Roebuck lumber department explained to a United States Senate committee in 1919:

A ready-cut house should not be confused with a sectional-portable house, which can be taken down and moved by being unbolted. A ready-cut house is a permanent house and the method of its construction is not different from any other frame house where the lumber is framed or cut to its proper length, notched, etc., by hand by carpenters.

Unlike modular homes, which are built in sections at a factory, in a kit house every separate piece of lumber was shipped already numbered and cut to fit its particular place in the house, thus eliminating the need for measuring and cutting, and likewise the waste of time especially in the days before power tools  and of materials. Thus, kit home manufacturers claimed to save the customer as much as 30 to 40 percent over traditional building methods. This description by researcher Dale Wolicki of kit house manufacture by the Gordon-Van Tine Company was typical of other kit house companies' efforts as well:

All designs were standard­ized to maximize efficiency and reduce waste in materials and labor. Lumber and hardware were purchased in bulk. The factories had skilled employees and special machines to cut difficult pieces such as rafters and staircases. Lumber was pre-cut to length, guaranteed to fit, ready to nail, and labeled for easy assembly. Floor joists and bridging, sub-flooring, finished flooring, studs, rafters, sheathing, clap­boards, shingles, stucco, plaster or drywall, columns, railings, doors and windows, hardware, nails, and paint for two exterior coats were included in the order. Plumbing, electrical, and heating systems were available for an additional charge. Although the lumber and hardware were standardized, the designs were not and buyers were encouraged to personalize their order. Many models had two or three floor plans, while the exterior could be clapboards, shingles, stucco, or framed for brick. Walls, windows, and doors could be moved, added or eliminated. Porches, sun rooms, flower boxes, trellises, balconies, built-in cabinets, and a variety of door and sash patterns were available at an additional charge.

Delivery and construction

Depending on the size and style of the plan, the materials needed to construct a typical house, including perhaps 10,000-30,000 pieces of lumber, would fill one or two railroad boxcars, which would be loaded at the company's factory and sent to the customer's home town, where they would be parked on a siding or in a freight yard for unloading. Once the materials arrived, a customer would arrange for a local carpenter or contractor to assemble the house on a piece of land owned by the customer; or a customer who was handy with tools might assemble all or part of the house himself in several weeks or a few months' time.

The resulting houses were indistinguishable in quality and appearance from those built by traditional methods, if not better, yet were often significantly cheaper to build because of the savings on carpenters' and contractors' wages; and the cost of high-quality lumber bought from a large kit house company often was lower than at the local lumber yard. In addition, some companies, including Sears, Montgomery Ward, Gordon-Van Tine, and Harris Brothers, offered cash discounts and generous mortgage terms. For most homeowners, the complete cost of building a kit house was about double the catalog price, allowing for the construction of a foundation and labor costs. The price of land or a city lot on which to build would be another expense.

Customization

In addition to their pre-cut houses, some companies also sold only the house plans with the homebuyer purchasing all the materials locally or non-pre-cut versions of their houses at a lower price, leaving it up to the buyer to arrange for construction and carpentry work. According to the Sears Archives, "Sears actually encouraged builders of Modern Homes to save money by ordering their lumber from local lumber mills. Sears wanted Modern Homes to be cost-effective for buyers, which often meant purchasing materials locally and not from the few and geographically distant Sears lumber mills."

Furthermore, some companies would provide reversed versions of their homes or make other modifications upon request. For example,

Sears was ... a very able follower of popular home designs but with the added advantage of modifying houses and hardware according to buyer tastes. Individuals could even design their own homes and submit the blueprints to Sears, which would then ship off the appropriate precut and fitted materials, putting the home owner in full creative control.

In addition, with some companies, homebuyers could choose the quality of materials. Gordon-Van Tine offered discounts for customers who chose lesser-quality siding, roofing, doors, windows, and trim. Sears offered "Honor Bilt" homes, with the finest quality materials, as well as "Standard Built" homes that were "best for warmer climates, meaning they did not retain heat very well," and "Simplex Sectionals," made from prefabricated panels that could be bolted together, intended for use as temporary structures or summer homes.

Advertising:

1915 magazine ad

Advertisement for knocked down kits for houses, in Popular Mechanics, May 1908.

Kit houses were promoted through catalogs available at lumber yards and hardware stores, through the mail-order catalogs published by large retailers like Sears and Wards, and through advertisements in popular magazines and newspapers in those cities where kit home manufacturers had local sales offices. Dale Wolicki lists Saturday Evening Post, National Geographic, and Good Housekeeping as examples of magazines where Gordon-VanTine advertised. Prospective customers could arrange to inspect kit houses in their vicinity or visit a company's factory to tour model homes.

The ease of construction and cost savings of kit houses appealed to many would-be homeowners across the economic spectrum, from blue-collar workers to the affluent. For example, in 1928 Walt Disney and his brother Roy built two kit houses made by Pacific Ready Cut Homes on lots they owned in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The popularity of kit houses was attested in a roundabout way in the 1920 silent comedy One Week starring Buster Keaton, which shows Keaton constructing a build-it-yourself house that turns out all wrong.

PALLOZA HOUSE

Structure

A circular or oval, of ten to twenty meters in diameter, with

stone walls and a conical roof composed of stalks of rye.

Intended in part to house and in part to block for the cattle,

its structure was ideal to withstand the harsh winters.

Origin

Is of pre-Roman origin, presumably Celtic. The pallozas have

similarities with the round houses of the Iron Age in Great

Britain or the buildings of the Castro culture. As an anecdotal

note worth mentioning that the village of Asterix, the Gaul, is

composed, in part, by pallozas.

Castro of Chano municipality of Peranzanes Province of León.

Detail of one of the buildings. Inside can see the home.

The Palloza name is actually a corruption of the Galician

word "pallaza", first included in the late 19th century by

ethnographers such as German Fritz Krüger, referring to the

material that was used to make the roof of the building. The

traditional name of these buildings is in fact casa de teito or

casa de teitu.

Today

Municipal palloza in Balboa León. It is used as bar and

restaurant.

They were used until the second half of the 20th century,

when improved communications have facilitated the arrival

of modern building materials to the area. Today these are in

Galicia, comarca of Os Ancares, and they remain in several

areas of the municipality of Candín and western Asturias.

The remarkable set of pallozas in the Bierzan town of Campo

del Agua was largely destroyed by a large fire in the mid

1980's. The most famous of them may be that of Piornedo,

which since the 70's has been an ethnographic museum.

There has long been building of new pallozas used mainly

as holiday homes, even in remote areas, where they did not

traditionally exist.

PUMAH GADANG

pumah gadang


Houses gadang a Minangkabau traditional house. Gadang 

house has features that are very typical. The form is 

essentially a rectangular beam that expands upward. 

Melintangnya sharp curved lines and ramps in the middle of 

the lower. Curved roof of his house is very sharp like buffalo 

horns, while the curved body and home ramps like the hull. 

Roof made ?of palm fiber. Form a curved roof and pointed 

upward is called gonjong. Because of its roof form gonjong, 

then the house is also home gadang bagonjong.

Gadang which form the roof like a buffalo horn is often 

associated with stories Tambo Minangkabau Alam. The story 

of victory in the event of Minang people fighting against the 

Javanese buffalo.

The forms resemble buffalo horns are very commonly used 

in the Minangkabau, either as symbol or the jewelry. One 

of them in traditional clothes, namely tingkuluak tanduak 

tengkuluk horn to Bundo Kanduang.

The origins of house gadang also often associated with travel 

stories Minangkabau ancestors. The legend says gadang 

Minangkabau house body shape that resembles a ship's body 

is to imitate the form of boat Minangkabau ancestors during 

the first. Boat ancestor is known as presumptuous.

According to the story, this sassy ancestors originally sailed 

into the upper Batang Kampar. After arriving in an area, the 

passengers and crew climbed ashore. This sassy also drawn 

to the land so as not decomposed by the water stream.

Presumptuous then supported by the timber to stand 

strong. Then, it was presumptuous to hang the screen on 

the roof with a rope attached to the pole presumptuous. 

Furthermore, because the screen is hanging very heavy, 

rope-rope to form arches that resemble gonjong. This 

presumptuous to make a temporary shelter. Furthermore, 

the passenger boat makes a dwelling house that 

resembles those presumptuous. Once the ancestors of 

the Minangkabau of this spread, the form continues to be 

presumptuous that bergonjong as the characteristic shape of 

their home. Given these characteristics, among them even 

his descendants become easier to recognize each other. 

They will easily find out that the house had belonged to their 

relatives gonjong originating from the same sassy landed on 

the edge of Batang Kampar.

The sections in the House Gadang Minangkabau

Minangkabau traditional house is called house gadang 

is because the size of this house is big. Great in the 

Minangkabau language is gadarig. So, home gadang means 

big house. The inside of the house is a room off the large 

sieve, except the bedroom. The room is off the main room 

consisting of tapering and space that is marked by poles. Pole 

house gadang berbanjar from the face to the back or from 

left to right. Berbanjar mast from front to back mbnandai 

tapering, while the pole of right now to mark the space. So-
called tapering is the room from front to back. The rooms are 

lined up from left to right is called space.

Number of tapering depends on the big house. Usually the 

amount of tapering is two, three, four clans. Number of 

rooms usually consist of an odd number between three and 

eleven. Gadang house size depending onamount lanjarnya .

As a big house, then in the house there was gadang parts 

that have special functions. Another part of the house is 

the large sieve under the floor. This section is called the pit 

of a house gadang. Gadang under the house is quite high 

and wide. These pools are usually used as a storehouse of 

agricultural equipment or used as a women's weaving. All 

parts of this pit covered with a latticed ruyung rare.

Gadang house wall made ?of wood, except the back of the 

bamboo. The wall board is installed vertically. At each 

connection board framed. All boards are filled with carvings. 

Sometimes the pole is in the well carved. Thus, ukirang 

is the dominant decoration in the home building gadang 

Minangkabau. Carvings here are not associated with beliefs 

that are sacred, but only as valuable works of art decoration.

NOMAD DOME SHAPPED

Nomad dome shapped

home

somali houseNomadic

Herders spend nearly all of

their time Outdoors. A large

shade tree might provide a Meeting place or a Classroom.

The traditional shelter of the herders is the Aqal Dome-

shaped Huts, a dome-shaped, collapsible hut made from

poles covered by hides, woven fiber mats, or sometimes

cloth or tin. Easy to break down and reassemble, the aqal is

carried on a Camel’s back and set up by the women of the

family once a New camp is made. A bed made from wooden

stakes covered with Hides is the only furniture in the aqal.

Nomads have few Possessions, and each item has Practical

uses. Cooking utensils, Storage boxes, Stools, Woven mats,

and Water bags are among the family’s only Household

goods.

A Nomad Camp may be surrounded by a Fence made from

Thorn bushes to keep out Predators. Animals are also kept in

Corrals made from Thorn bushes. A Prayer area may be set

apart within the camp by a Circle of Stones.

Farmers make permanent homes that are similar to the Aqal.

Round huts called Mundals Cone-shaped Huts are made from

Poles and Brush or Vines plastered with Mud, Animal dung,

and Ashes and covered with a Broad, Cone-shaped Thatched

Roof. Rectangular huts, often with flat-tin Roofs, are called

Arish Rectangular-shaped Huts.

Other homes are built from Logs, Stone, Brick, or Cement.

Farmers have a few pieces of Wooden Furniture and

Decorative Pottery, Gourds, or Woven goods.

City Dwellers often live in Arab-style Whitewashed Houses

made of Stone or Brick covered with Plaster or Cement.