Hall and parlor house
A hall and parlor house is a type of vernacular timber-framed house found in medieval to 19th century England as well as colonial America.[1] It is presumed to have been the model on which other North American house types have been developed such as the Cape Cod house and the Saltbox and influenced the somewhat later I-house. In England it probably was the origin of among others such types as the Wealden hall house or of the type portrayed by the Pendean farmhouse(1609) known since about 1550.
The hall and parlor style entails a rectangular two room configuration.[2] The style began in medieval England. Many could not afford a large house, however putting up a wall in the only room created a smaller area in the rear of the house, called a parlor. This was a private room, and usually contained a bed.[3] In early examples, the house is one room wide and two deep. The two adjoining rooms are connected by an interior door. An exterior door leads to the hall, the larger of the two rooms and the one in the front of the house. Behind the hall is the parlor. The hall may have been used for cooking, while the parlor was the general living space and bedroom.[4] In colonial America, hall and parlor houses were two rooms wide and one deep. They were often one and half stories tall, with a steeply pitched roof gabled on the sides of the house. There were often chimneys on both sides of the house. The houses were often wooden on a brick foundation, with flush chimneys and small, asymmetrically-placed windows. Common dimensions are between 16-20 feet deep and 20-40 feet wide. The style was at one time so ubiquitous that it was known colloquially as the 'Virginia style'. The larger hall was the general purpose room and contained a stairway or ladder to the loft above. The parlor was smaller and private.[1][5]
The hall and parlor style would lead to the center-hall style, in which two rooms (a hall and a parlor) are separated by a large chimney and small room. The small room leads to the house's exterior as well as either room.[6]
Examples
- 8308 Vulcan St., St. Louis, Missouri, USA
References
- ^ a b The Hall-and-Parlor or Hall-and-Chamber House in American houses: a field guide to the architecture of the home by Gerald L. Foster
- ^ An entry to history in Vernacular architecture by Henry H. Glassie
- ^ Mary Mix Foley (1980). The American House. Harper & Row. p. 16.
- ^ "Period I: The Walking City". St. Louis Heritage. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ "Early Vernacular Plan Houses". The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ "Hall-and-Parlor Plan". Retrieved 2009-01-07.