The Vernacular Architecture of France

France, a country rich in the variety of its culture and natural resources, displays a greatly varied vernacular architecture. Building materials, stone, timber and clay, are present in abundance. Walling is of earth, stone and timber frame; roofing of thatch, tile, stone and wood shingle. Roof construction is varied and includes the aisled form as well as king-post, collar-and-tie-beam, coupled-rafter and cruck trusses. The 'open' hall with its central hearth was widely known in medieval times but the enclosed hearth and chimney stack were well established by the end of the Middle Ages. The single-cell house was a common form of accommodation for families without livestock. In the north, north-west and south-west the long-house, providing accommodation for man and beast under the same roof, existed. The first-floor hall, over a store, byre, lower chamber or open arcade, is widely distributed and associated with the upper social classes. Other types include the aisled hall which survives over most of the country but chiefly as a house-type in the south-west, the symmetrical Renaissance-plan house and other multi-cell structures. Rural domestic buildings survive in large numbers and pose many questions relating to origin, construction and evolution. More fieldwork, both intensive and extensive, is needed before answers can be given to many of these questions

Archaeology · Art · Chimney (locomotive · Geography · Hearth · Literature · Plank · Roof · Truss · Vernacular · Vernacular architecture · Architecture and Cultural Influences · Architecture, Modernity, and Design · Engineering · Historical Architecture and Urbanism · History · Architecture

• L'habitation rurale en France [Essai de classification des principaux types]

  Albert Demangeon•Annales de Géographie•1920

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