Wooden House at Hildesheim
H. W. Brewer
c. 1880
Signed lower left
Source: Stevenson’s House Architecture, I, 275
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“Another feature of German house architecture is the frequency, especially in the northern provinces, of houses wholly constructed of wood.” [commentary continued below]
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Commentary by J. J. Stevenson
The house at Hildesheim, of which I give an illustration, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the proprietors of The Builder, is a notable example. It has, I believe, been destroyed by fire, but others similar still exist in that city and in other towns in the neighbour- hood. It was constructed entirely of chestnut not like the usual post-and-pan houses of other parts of Germany, England, and northern France, of a wooden framework filled in with plaster panels It dates probably from about the year 1620, and is similar in its construction and in the ornament of its carved panels to some houses in the Rue de la Grande Horloge at Rouen. But in the tendency the design shows to dwell on the gables and make the most of them, and in the imperfect development of its chimneys it is thoroughly German; the great gable is peculiarly German in character. Except as an ornamental feature, the second small gable round the corner has no raison d’etre.
This house exhibits another feature, which so far as I am aware is not found in houses of the period in any other district. The upper windows, as will be observed, have sliding sashes. These unmullioned windows are so completely part of the design that it is improbable that they are an alteration of later date, especially as sash windows are found in other houses of the date in the same district. Sliding sash windows, which have now become a British institution and an important element of English comfort, came to us, like our broad dining tables, with Dutch William from Holland. But they seem to have been in use in north Germany before the Dutch adopted them.
Bibliography
Stevenson, J. J. House Architecture. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1880.
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Last modified 17 July 2017