The I-house is a

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

house type, popular in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

from the colonial period onward. The I-house was so named in the 1930s by Fred Kniffen, a cultural geographer at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

who was a specialist in folk architecture. He identified and analyzed the type in his 1936 study of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

house types. He chose the name "I-house" because the style was commonly built in the rural farm areas of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, all states beginning with the letter "I".; the link is broken but for examples in Indiana see: https://www.in.gov/core/results.html?profile=_default&query=i-house&collection=global-collection But he was not implying that this house type originated in, or was restricted to, those three states. It is also referred to as Plantation Plain style.

History and defining characteristics

The I-house developed from traditional 17th-century

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

folk house types, such as the

hall and parlor house A hall-and-parlor house is a type of Vernacular architecture, vernacular house found in early-modern to 19th century England, as well as in colonial history of the United States, colonial North America.central-passage house The central-passage house, also known variously as central hall plan house, center-hall house, hall-passage-parlor house, Williamsburg cottage, and Tidewater-type cottage, was a vernacular, or folk form, house type from the colonial period onwar ...

. It became a popular house form in the

Mid-Atlantic Mid-Atlantic or Mid Atlantic can refer to: *The middle of the Atlantic Ocean *Mid-Atlantic English, any mix between British and American English *Mid-Atlantic Region (Little League World Series), one of the United States geographic divisions of the ...

and Southern United States at an early date,Gamble, Robert ''Historic Architecture in Alabama: A Guide to Styles and Types, 1810-1930'', pages 29-32. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1990. . but can be found throughout most of the country in areas that were settled by the mid-19th century. It is especially prevalent through the culturally mixed midland, an area through central Pennsylvania and through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois (or approximate to the old

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, and now paralleled by Interstate 70). I-houses generally feature

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s to the side and are at least two rooms in length, one room deep, and two full stories in height. They also often have a rear wing or

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", an ...

for a kitchen or additional space. The facade of an I-house tends to be symmetrical. They were constructed in a variety of materials, including logs, wood frame, brick or stone. In his book on folk architecture in north-central

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Marshall devotes nine pages to the I-house after investigation of close to 100 old houses in the “ Little Dixie” region of Missouri. He calls the I-house the “Farmer’s Mansion.” It is the Southern-style house sought by a middle-class planter, a symbol of his success. (DW Meinig introduces the I-house and the

dogtrot The dogtrot, also known as a breezeway house, dog-run, or possum-trot, is a style of house that was common throughout the Southeastern United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some theories place its origins in the southern Appal ...

as symbols of Southern influence in his ''Shaping of America.'') In Little Dixie, originally settled primarily by migrants from the Upper South, settlers were so eager to build an I-house that many lived in tents until they completed their new buildings. Marshall classifies folk houses by type using rules developed by

Henry Glassie Henry Glassie (born 24 March 1941) College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, has done fieldwork on five continents and written books on the full range of folkloristic interest, from drama, song, and story to craft, art, and archi ...

in the late 20th century. The basic unit is a sixteen by sixteen foot “hall”, called a pen. A

single pen house Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

might be a typical

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...

. Combinations define other types. A two-story, single pen house is known as a

stack house Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

. Pens can also be extended side by side to create a two-pen house, which with a central hall becomes a

. A two-story, two-pen house is the basic I-house. The house may by modified by additions, but the pen system provides a classification. These nineteenth-century houses lacked indoor plumbing and central heating. The classical I-house has fireplaces in each room. In Missouri I-houses were built from about 1820 to 1890. The style was brought to the US by the Scots-Irish. Because of the popularity and simple form of the I-house, decorative elements of popular architectural styles were often used. Through the 1840s, front porches and any decoration were primarily designed in the restrained Federal manner. The

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style was also used during the 1840s and 1850s. The I-house was also adapted to

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

styles during the mid-19th century. Late 19th-century I-houses often featured Queen Anne and Eastlake-

Stick style The Stick style was a late-19th-century American architectural style, transitional between the Carpenter Gothic style of the mid-19th century, and the Queen Anne style that it had evolved into by the 1890s. It is named after its use of linear " ...

details.

I-house with sheds (Plantation Plain)

In the South a variation of the I-house, with one-story, rear shed rooms and usually a full-width front porch, is often referred to as the Plantation Plain house type. It is more directly described as an I-house with sheds.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - I-House
{{DEFAULTSORT:I-House * * House types

History and defining characteristics

I-house with sheds (Plantation Plain)

See also

References

External links