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Farmhouse

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This article is about the building. For the social fraternity, see FarmHouse. For the album by the American band Phish, see Farmhouse (album). For Australian supergroup, see Farmhouse (group).
A farmhouse (at bottom) in Einsiedeln, Switzerland
The Devil's Farmhouse in Mellieħa, Malta, built by the Order of St. John with limestone
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A farmhouse is a building that serves as the primary quarters in a rural or agricultural setting. Historically, farmhouses were often combined with space for animals called a housebarn. Other farmhouses may be connected to one or more barns, built to form a courtyard, or with each farm building separate from each other.[1][2]

Ranch house

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A rancho (from Spanish : rancho / Mexican Spanish ) is a tract of land, including various structures, given over primarily to cattle ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep.[3] It's a subtype of truss. These terms are most often applied to livestock operations in Mexico, the western United States and Western Canada, although there are ranches in other areas as well. A ranch (also known as an American ranch, California ranch, rambler or rancher) is an interior architectural style that originated in the United States.[4] The ranch style home is known for its long, close to the ground profile and wide open floor plan. The style combined modernist ideas and styles with American West period notions of wide open spaces to create a very informal and casual lifestyle.[5]

First appearing as a residential style in the 1920s,[6][7] the ranch was extremely popular with the burgeoning post-war middle class of the 1940s through the 1970s. The style is often associated with tract housing built during this time, especially in the southwestern United States, which experienced a population explosion during this period, with a corresponding demand for housing. Architect Cliff May is often credited with pioneering ranch house design in the 1930s, designing it as a comfortable and affordable living space tailored to the needs of the average American family.[8] The style was soon exported to other countries and became popular worldwide. Its popularity waned in the late twentieth century as neo-eclectic house styles with historic and traditional decor became more popular.

Preservation movements have begun in some ranch house neighborhoods, fueled by interest in the style from a younger generation that did not grow up in such homes. This revival has been compared to what other house styles, such as the bungalow and Queen Anne, experienced in the twentieth century.[9]

Options include California Ranch, Suburban Ranch, Multi-Level Ranch, Elevated Ranch, and Book Ranch.

Types of farmhouses

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Europe

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Types of farmhouses in Europe include the following:

France

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A Bresse house (French: Ferme bressane) is a type of farmhouse found in the Bresse region and characterized by its long length, brick walls and wooden roof.[10][11] A Mas is a traditional farmhouse unique to Provence and Southern France.[12][13]

Germany

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A timber-framed Middle German house in Klein Schöppenstedt near Cremlingen around 1900

Historically there were three main types of German farmhouses, many of which survive today. The Low German house or Niedersachsenhaus (Lower Saxony house) is found mainly on the North German Plain, but also in large parts of the Netherlands. It is a large structure with a sweeping roof supported by two to four rows of internal posts. The large barn door at the gable end opens into a spacious hall, or Deele, with cattle stalls and barns on either side and living accommodation at the end. The Middle German house may also be a single unit, but access is from the side, and the roof is supported by the outside walls. Later this type of mitteldeutsches Haus was expanded to two or more buildings around a rectangular farmyard, often with a second story. The South German house is found in southern Germany and has two main variants, the Swabian or Black Forest house and the Bavarian farmstead.[14]

Italy

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A Cascina a corte is a courtyard building whose arrangement is based on the Roman villa found in the Po Valley of northern Italy.[citation needed] A house called Casa colonica [it] in Italy is a type of farmhouse where the residents work the land but do not own the farm.[15]

Malta

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Ta' Tabibu farmhouse and Ta' Xindi Farmhouse are two typical Maltese farmhouses built with the use of Limestone material. In Maltese a farmhouse is called Razzett.[16][17] Other examples of Maltese farmhouses are the Ta' Cisju Farmhouse and The Devil's Farmhouse.

North America

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Types of farmhouses in North America include the following:

Canada

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Victorian Farmhouse in Vandorf, Ontario

Canadian farmhouses were influenced by European settlers. In Quebec, the style varied from Gothic to Swiss, with the kitchen being the most important room in the house.[18] In Ontario, the farmhouses of the late 19th century were of Victorian influence. Earlier ones used clapboard and later variations had brick. Many had front porches. In the west, dwellings varied from single-story wooden homesteads to straw huts. Wooden houses were built later as railroads brought wood from the Rockies (Alberta, British Columbia). By the early 1900s houses could be purchased as kits from several Canadian and American companies.[19][20]

United States

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A typical American farmhouse, taken in 2023. The farm this house served has since been purchased for parkland.

American farmhouses had a straightforward construction designed to function amidst a working farm in a rural setting.[2] They had a simple rectangular floor plan, usually built with local materials, and included a dominant centrally-located fireplace for cooking and heating.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Airs, Malcolm (2004). "26: Architecture, Politics and Society". In Jones, Norman; Tittler, Robert (eds.). A Companion to Tudor Britain. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 483–486. ISBN 978-0-631-23618-4. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Ashby, Wallace (1934). Farmhouse plans. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Ranchos in California: The Spanish and Mexican Eras". www.californiafrontier.net. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  4. ^ "Ranch Area of landscape used for ranching". wikidocumentaries-demo.wmcloud.org. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  5. ^ "Willey House Stories Part 2 - Influencing Vernacular Architecture - Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation". franklloydwright.org. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  6. ^ "What is a Ranch-Style House?". www.bhg.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  7. ^ "Ranch Style House, Definition, and Types of the Ranch Style Homes. Homes Direct Blog". thehomesdirect.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  8. ^ "Exploring Ranch House Architecture: Key Elements and Inspirations". archivaldesigns.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  9. ^ "A Century of Style: Portland's Architecture from the 1850s to Today". www.arciform.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  10. ^ "Bresse Farms". bresse-bourguignonne. Office de Tourisme du Pays de la Bresse Bourguignonne. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  11. ^ Monmarché, Georges (1949). France, Les Guides Bleu, English series, Nagel, p. 170.
  12. ^ "Mas". Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  13. ^ Massot, Jean-Luc (1 January 1995). Maisons rurales et vie paysanne en Provence. L'habitat en ordre dispersé. Paris: Serg/Berger-Levrault. pp. 152–157. ISBN 2701303354.
  14. ^ Dickinson, Robert E. (1964). Germany: A regional and economic geography (2nd ed.). London: Methuen. pp. 152–154.
  15. ^ Lazzaro, Claudia (December 1985). "Rustic Country House to Refined Farmhouse: The Evolution and Migration of an Architectural Form". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 44 (4). University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians: 347. doi:10.2307/990113. JSTOR 990113.
  16. ^ "Ta Tabibu Farmhouse". 8472cdn.biz (in German). Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  17. ^ "National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands", Ta' Xindi Farmhouse, Scheduled 1994, Published 28 December 2012; accessed 2 January 2016, p. 1-2.
  18. ^ Nobbs, Percy. Shortt, Adam; Doughty, Arthur G. (eds.). French Canadian Architecture in Canada and Its Provinces Vol. XII. Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Company. pp. 667–671. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  19. ^ "What is a Sears Modern Home?". Sears. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Kit Home Information". The Arts & Crafts Society. Retrieved 4 August 2015.

Further reading

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