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French Rural Architecture
Granite Cottages with tufted thatched roofs or half timbered structures with clay and steep roofs of Normandy or the white washed cottages with canal tiled roofs of the South of France are all part of the French Rural Architectural style.
The rural homes of France use diverse styles and each one is charming. There are the indigenous granite cottages with roofs of tufted thatch or half-timbered structures faced with clay and topped with steep roofs. In the south of France, whitewashed cottages boast with canal-tiled roofs are found in Basque country. The country homes of Province have a Mediterranean flavour, with cheerful huts of limestone, with narrow, deep windows and doors, flanked by slat-board shutters and painted vividly. A typically French style is the “French Window”. These windows extend all the way from the roof to the floor and can be used both as doors and windows.
The interiors of the homes are similar in design. The kitchen is the heart of the home. It is a comfortable room with exposed, sturdy beams, tiled floors and open hearth cooking. The living room is large and stocked with dark wood, rustic country furniture and antiques. These were converted from livestock rooms of yesteryears into living rooms of the residents.
The French rural houses can be classified in accordance with the layout of the house interiors. The length wise house or the ‘longere’, the single room house or the ‘salle haute’(upper floor hall), the central corridor plan, the depth wise house.
The single room house is used by agricultural workers who do not own land, implements or livestock. It contains one room that is generally square in shape with a hearth and oven at the end of the gables. The façade has a doorway and a window and is simply furnished with bedroom furniture. There is a loft which is sometimes used as sleeping accommodation.
The Longere is the home of the small peasant and craftsman. This is usually a narrow house with doorways in the long wall rather than in the gable wall. The room could be shared by both men and animals or could be a barn-cum-byre added to the living room, or freestanding byre with a courtyard etc. The floor was sometimes built with a slope to prevent liquid manure from spoiling the floor of the human living space. The interior is very primitive with a fireplace against the gable wall and an oven outside with a sink set into the wall next to the entrance. The furniture is also very rudimentary with tables, curtained beds and a kneading trough.
The Salle Haute is the living accommodation of the leaders and wealthy rural tradesmen and craftsmen. The ground level floor was reserved for production and storage and the living accommodation was confined to the upper floor. The entry to the upper floor was by means of a stairway set on the outer wall of the house. The stairway is protected by hanging eaves supported by posts or pillars. Very few of these buildings have survived in modern day France.
The house with the central corridor plan and symmetrical façade was for the residence of the urban and rural upper classes during the Renaissance period. The house has a central entrance with an elevation of two or three stories under the eaves of a roof that is pierced by dormer windows. A cross passage is used to separate two rooms at the ground floor level. One room is a kitchen and the other is the dining area. A staircase leads up to the upper floors where two bedrooms are located on either side of an axial corridor.
The depth wise house as the name suggests extends in depth. It has a load bearing structure consisting of a pairs of wooden supporting trusses forming a nave which is flanked by two aisles or more. This is a dwelling cum farming homestead, sheltering man and beast, crops and implements. They generally housed agricultural tenants. The functional division of the house was on the lines of the constructional division. One half of the aisle is the domestic quarters and the other half the agricultural workspace. The wine cellar or byre is a crosswise room added to the rear of the building.
The farm stead with the enclosed courtyard was generally the residence of the tenant farmer supervising numerous staff. It also evolved as a symbol of economic power and social prestige. The homestead consists of an enclosed courtyard surrounded on all sides by buildings or walls with access from outside limited to a single monumental cart entrance combined with a pedestrian entrance. The dwelling quarters were located opposite the entrance while the byres and stables occupy the sides of the building. A barn is located on the side in which the courtyard entrance is placed.
The homogenous architecture of France gave way to more diverse types of architectures during this period. The acquisition of wealth by the agricultural proletariat enabled them to indulge in better building materials such as aslar, fired clay bricks, quarried slates, fired clay tiles, lime etc. Evidence of this prosperity is visible in the great reconstruction movement that took place in the 19th century France in the rural architecture of this period.
French Colonial Houses
The distinctive hipped and double pitched roofs, with split cypress shingles are typical of French Colonial house architecture. The Four sided porch is another significant aspect of these buildings. These houses were built at least two feet off the ground to avoid water seepage. The foundation was built on upright posts driven into the ground or it had a mammoth timer frame built directly on a sill. In both cases the spaces between the vertical posts were filled with clay and rubble stone, or mud bound with grasses or Spanish moss. The interior of the house consisted of two rooms with a centre chimney. In larger versions the floor plan consisted of single or double row of rooms from end to end. The kitchens were accommodated in a separate building.
The French Creole Architecture
The French Creole architecture is one of the three major colonial styles that became popular in France. A typical French Creole house includes a number of galleries, a broad spreading roofline, and gallery roofs supported by wooden colonnades, placement of rooms above grade, utilization of heavy timber frames for construction with infill made of brick, multiple French doors and French wraparound mantels. Steep angle frames were incorporated into the timber frame and made to run full length from sill to plate. Urban Creole style excluded galleries and is L shaped. The ground floor usually served as mercantile space while the upper floors were residential. A wide carriage path connected the house to street. The floor plans tend to be asymmetrical and do not have interior hallways. Aesthetics is not taken into consideration while placing openings in the walls. The rear range of rooms consists of a loggia with a small room at the ends known as cabinet. These houses are also known for the pigeon houses. |
