American Housing Styles

Housing
3rd and 4th Block
Selma High School

Links From The Past

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

Native American Homes

Hunting/gathering

Wigwam

Easily constructed
Easily carried
Tepee

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

Native American Homes

Longhouse

Iroquois

Permanent homes

Pueblos

Spanish for villages

Built on top of each other
into cliffs and caves

Adobe: sun-dried clay bricks

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

English Settlements

Northeastern Colonies: Cape Cod Houses

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 fullsized rooms

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

Garrison House

Second story that

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

Swedish Settlements

Dog-trot log cabins

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

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

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com

French Settlements
Pictures

Aaron Mang, Greensburg High School, 1000 E. Central, Greensburg, IN 47240 (psmang@msn.com