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Part 3 From the Ground Up
• Garrison. A later design built by
the English settlers in New England
was the
Garrison
house, which is
named after early garrisons, or
forts. Like the old forts, Garrisons
have an overhanging second story,
6-4C. The overhang allows extra space
on the second fl oor without widen- fl
ing the foundation. It also has a
supporting effect, which prevents
the second-story floor from sagging fl
in the middle. This supporting effect
is created when beams extending
out from the first floor fi support the fl
second floor. The farther the beams fl
extend out, the greater is the support
in the center.
The overhang is always on the
front of the house and sometimes
extends to the sides and rear. Carved
drops or pendants below the over-
hang provide ornamentation. Other
characteristics of the Garrison house
are symmetrical design, a steep
gable roof, and windows that have
small panes of glass. Originally, the
siding was made of wood shingles
or unpainted clapboards.
Spanish
The fi rst Europeans to establish fi
colonies in North America were Span-
iards. These colonies were mostly in
Florida and the Southwest beginning
in the 1500s. Florida’s Spanish-colonial
city of St. Augustine was begun in 1565,
making it the oldest continuing perma-
nent European settlement. Between
1565 and 1821, Florida was mostly under
Spanish control.
A large portion of what is now the
southwestern United States was under
Spanish, then Mexican, control from
the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth
century. Spanish Texas gained its inde-
pendence from Mexico in 1836.
The
Spanish
style developed in
these areas where the climate was warm
and dry. Early Spanish style was char-
acterized by one-story structures with
fl at or low-pitched red tile roofs. The fl
houses were masonry construction of
adobe brick or stone covered in stucco.
Stucco
is a type of plaster applied to the
exterior walls of a house. The interior
was usually simple with earthen floors, fl
beamed ceilings, and whitewashed plas-
ter walls.
The overall design of Spanish-style
housing is asymmetrical. This means that
one side of the center point is different
from the other. During the seventeenth
century, Spanish settlers in California
and parts of the southwest built more
elaborate styles. A Spanish-style house is
pictured in 6-5. Specific features include fi
courtyards, enclosed patios, wrought
iron exterior decor, and arched windows
and doors. This style of housing is still
widely used today in the Southwest.
Scandinavian
Immigrants from Sweden, Finland,
Norway, and Denmark were known as
Scandinavians. Of this group of immi-
grants, the Swedish settlers are credited
with introducing the log cabin to North
6-5
This house
includes many of
the traits of the
traditional Spanish
style house.