Architecture and Landscape of the Pennsylvania Germans, 1720-1920

CHAPTER THREE: Domestic Outbuildings

  Q Domestic Outbuildings Philip E. Pendleton As one traverses the Pennsylvania German region via its rural byways, one cannot help but notice the suites of picturesque domestic outbuildings, such as bakehouses, springhouses, privies and ancillary houses, that so frequently accompany the main dwelling on an old homestead. Although they have received some casual mention from writers who have looked at this landscape, to date we have learned surprisingly little that is definite about the history of these commonplace auxiliary buildings. This relative ignorance may stem, in part, from an obstacle presented by the buildings themselves. They tend to possess a certain ‘‘unhistorical’’ quality by the standards of many architectural historians, as few of them bear physical date inscriptions, they have largely evaded mention in primary historical documents, and few period travelers or other contemporary commentators found them worthy of mention. In terms of their construction and frequently somewhat rudimentary finish, they appear generally to embody a conservatism in technique that might employ a traditional element like a board-and-batten door decades later than a surveyor would have expected to see a like item incorporated in the construction of an accompanying house. It helps to begin by defining one’s subject. For this essay, a ‘‘domestic outbuilding ’’ is an auxiliary building on a property, and one that is functionally associated with the domestic aspect of the homestead, that is, with the work and other activities that take place in the area of the dwelling. These activities include the processing, storage and cooking of the food and drink to be con- Figure . Adam Brandt house, Cumberland County, Pa., c. , rear view showing summer kitchen. Photograph by Center for Historic Architecture and Design staff. By permission of the Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware. This view shows how the summer kitchen was sited with respect to the house, allowing for efficient but still separate access. sumed by the homestead’s occupants, other housework such as laundering, and the provision of additional living space. Craftwork is the aspect of homestead life where crisp definition of this topic becomes somewhat difficult—I have chosen to exclude not only clearly industrial buildings, but also work sites such as smithies where the craft processes were of a heavy nature, and more closely associated with the agricultural or industrial work of the property. On the other hand, I have chosen to include among ‘‘domestic outbuildings’’ those workshops where somewhat lighter craftwork, such as turning or organ building, was done. The provision of workshop space was evidently a major role for many ancillary houses. Scholars of Pennsylvania German vernacular architecture have had relatively little to say about the various forms of domestic outbuildings and their role in this cultural landscape. As secondary structures, they have generally been treated in a secondary way, as an afterthought if at all. This tendency prevailed among eighteenth-century observers. Historic contemporaries’ travel accounts of the early Pennsylvania German region, including Mittelberger (present –       ), Schoepf (–), Rush (c. ), Cazenove (), and La RochefoucauldLiancourt (–), made no comments on domestic outbuildings, an omission probably reflecting both the secondary nature of these resources and their still relatively limited number in the late eighteenth century. The sole exception among these eighteenth-century travelers’ accounts is that of Lieutenant Thomas Anburey, a British officer held captive in Lancaster County during the late s, who noted that many local dwellings were accompanied by bakehouses situated a short distance away.1 A mere handful of modern monographs have examined the topic to any degree. Small domestic outbuildings built by early German-Americans received brief notice in works published by Henry Glassie and Peter Wacker in . Glassie, in his wide-ranging survey Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States, referred to a form of small building designed with its main entry located in a gable end and sheltered by a projecting roof. Glassie attributed this form’s origins in America to German-speaking immigrants and others coming from Europe, noting that it was commonly employed in the design of Pennsylvania bakehouses, smokehouses, springhouses, summer kitchens and wash houses. He attested to the ‘‘exact’’ resemblance of Pennsylvania German bakehouses incorporating beehive ovens to those of Switzerland.2 The historical geographer Peter Wacker conducted an innovative community study of the Musconetcong Valley, an early settlement area located in northwestern New Jersey, that considered the distribution of building types as well other aspects of the pattern of settlement...