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Rural Architecture – Timbered Houses in the Krkonose
The Krkonose is an area characterised by timbered Houses. Two main
types can be seen here – the timbered house of the Pojizeri type (mainly in the
western areas of the Krkonose) and that of the Podkrkonosi type (prevailing in
the eastern areas). The Pojizeri type has a simple ground plan and rich
decoration of the gables in two to four stripes. The Podkrkonosi type is poorer
in decoration, with very simple gables divided into two stripes and a single
roof layout.
Both types are laid out in three basic parts. A hall, occupying the middle
part, is entered from the dooryard. The rear part includes a scullery, often not
separate from the main hall, where the housewife would cook over an open fire or
use a furnace with tiled stove in the living room. The living room as the main
living space is accessible from the hall. It occupies the entire front part of
the house. The storage room, used to store food, as a changing room or even as
a place for the retired owner, is accessible from the hall as well. The storage
room is usually next to a shed, often accessible from the dooryard. The rear
part then serves as a woodshed or barn, to store hay, straw or wood
(image – Simple submontane house with free dooryard and a barn in one structure;
Dolni Branna 84).
The hall was often one window larger, with a partition inside, and was used
as a small hall for the retired owner.
SThe walls are timbered, earlier also using beams of various sections. The
external corners are in a flush bond, except for the upper ring beam heads,
which protrude. This reinforces the entire structure and enables the gable to
protrude from the outer wall surface. The beam joints are filled with compressed
moss or straw and covered in a layer of clay dab, or soil dab with mixed glumes
or cut straw. They used to be painted white with lime. Later, timbered houses
were painted in various colours and decorated with white trims.
A special type of structure is the stack type whose walls are made
up of stacked split as well as round debarked billets, similar to the way wood
is bulk-stacked. All parts are joined with a lime mortar mixed with sawdust.
The corners are cantoned with alternating beams. After plastering, the house
cannot be distinguished from a brick house. (image – Horni Stepanice 3)
The ceiling is usually a slab type with a layer of soil dab serving as fire
prevention.
Windows are two-flap opening outward, often with a vent light. In winter,
interior single-flap non-opening windows were often put up. In some periods,
the timbered houses were built with decorative verge boards often painted in
white.
The roof is usually the saddle type, often with a dormer which was used to
get straw into the house to store in the attic.
The gables are very diverse and can be used to distinguish the type of
timbered house. The oldest gables were shingle or formed with non-slabbed
overlapping boards. Later they were made of wide boards with joints covered with
trims. The gable top is hipped or clinkered. The hip or clinker undercovering is
made of a painted deck board containing the basic information of the house,
namely the owner, master carpenter, date of building and a prayer.
(image – Colour design of timbering, joints, beam ties and formwork of a gable,
Horni Stepanice 28)