The Middle German house (german: mitteldeutsches Haus, Ernhaus) is a style of traditional German farmhouse which is predominantly found in Central Germany. It is known by a variety of other names, many of which indicate its regional distribution: * ''Ernhaus'' (hall house, hall kitchen house) * ''Oberdeutsches Haus'' (Upper German house) * ''Thüringisches Haus'' (Thuringian house) * ''Fränkisches Haus'' (Franconian house) The Middle German house first emerged in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

as a type of farmhouse built either using

timber framing Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

or stone. It is an 'all-in-one' house (''Einhaus'') with living quarters and livestock stalls under one roof. This rural type of farmstead still forms part of the scene in many villages in the central and southern areas of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The northern boundary of its distribution area is roughly where the

Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...

merge into the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balt ...

. There, its place is gradually taken by the

Low German house The Low German house or ''Fachhallenhaus'' is a type of timber-framed farmhouse found in northern Germany and the easternmost Netherlands, which combines living quarters, byre and barn under one roof. It is built as a large hall with bays on the ...

(''Fachhallenhaus''), known colloquially as the ''Niedersachsenhaus'' ( Low Saxon house). An important distinction between the two types of farmhouse is that the roof of the Middle German house is supported by its outer walls, whereas that of the Low German house is supported by internal, wooden posts.

Construction

The Middle German house is a

byre-dwelling A byre-dwelling ("byre"+ "dwelling") is a farmhouse in which the living quarters are combined with the livestock and/or grain barn under the same roof. In the latter case, the building is mostly called an housebarn. This kind of construction is f ...

(''Wohnstallhaus'') with entrances to the various rooms down one side. The front door is thus at the side of the building and opens into the ''Ern'', a Franconian expression for the central

hallway A hallway or corridor is an interior space in a building that is used to connect other rooms. Hallways are generally long and narrow. Hallways must be sufficiently wide to ensure buildings can be evacuated during a fire, and to allow people i ...

or ''Flur'', and cooking area. The house is divided into three zones: * Living quarters (''Stube'') * Hallway (''Flur'' or ''Ern'') (with the stove or kitchen) * Working area – stalls or stables (''Stall'') The ''Ern'' is the central area of the house and has a stove area (later a kitchen) at the back This developed from the ancient hearth near the main entrance or between the doors if the house had a "crosspassage". On one side of the ''Flur'' there is a doorway to the living area and on the other to the working area. From the outset the house had two fireplaces. In the living room, the ''Stube'', there was a

cocklestove A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature ...

, and in the ''Flur'' was a stove for cooking, which was later partitioned off to form a kitchen. Initially, this type of house only had one storey, but from about the 15th century they were usually built in two storeys with a ground floor and upper floor. From the 17th century the upper storey was built as a

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying some ...

and had artistic features such as beam heads (''Balkenköpfe'') and wall plates (''Schwellen''). In this period, the larger farms were built with several buildings that served as the living accommodation, barn and stable or

byre A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; th ...

of a two-, three- or four-sided farmyard.

Literature

* Karl Baumgarten: ''Das deutsche Bauernhaus - Eine Einführung in seine Geschichte vom 9. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert'', Berlin 1980 * Richard Andree: ''Braunschweiger Volkskunde'', Braunschweig 1901 {{European farmhouse types Houses in Germany Architecture in Germany House styles Vernacular architecture House types Barns

Construction

See also

Literature