Dwellings vs. Houses — a Matter of Distinction
One speaks to mobility; the other, permanence. See how the differences in these homes play out in materials, siting and construction
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning degrees, and over ten years experience in architectural practice, split between Chicago and NYC. Currently I'm focused on writing and online pursuits. My daily blog can be found at http://archidose.blogspot.com
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City.... More »
| Share: |
|
John Brinckerhoff Jackson (J.B. Jackson) was a pioneer in landscape studies whose essays and books traced the history of the United States by looking at its landscapes, both past and present. A great collection of his lectures and essays is Discovering the Vernacular Landscape (Yale University Press, 1984), which includes "The Movable Dwelling and How It Came to America," an essay he wrote in 1982.
In the essay Jackson makes a distinction between dwellings and houses; the former are temporary and often movable, and the latter are rooted in place and span generations. He further distinguishes these two types through their prevailing construction materials: dwellings are constructed from wood, while houses are built of masonry, often stone.
This ideabook presents some houses at these two poles as a way to discuss Jackson's essay, in which he endeavors, as he puts it, to "understand the new kind of home we are all making in America."
In the essay Jackson makes a distinction between dwellings and houses; the former are temporary and often movable, and the latter are rooted in place and span generations. He further distinguishes these two types through their prevailing construction materials: dwellings are constructed from wood, while houses are built of masonry, often stone.
This ideabook presents some houses at these two poles as a way to discuss Jackson's essay, in which he endeavors, as he puts it, to "understand the new kind of home we are all making in America."
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| In "The Movable Dwelling," Jackson traces dwellings and houses, wood and stone, from Western Europe to America. Unlike dwellings, houses in Europe were identified with a family over generations; consider the House of Windsor and other such dynasties as explicit examples of this semantic distinction between the two types. Size was also important, and Jackson writes that town and city authorities actually prescribed large houses, so as to express a certain grandeur. The stone covering this large house in Austin, Texas, is entirely appropriate in this sense. Imagine the same massing in wood — it would reduce the impressiveness of the house. |
|
by Wright Design
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Jackson also talks about the class distinctions that made wood dwellings appropriate for those who might have to move on short notice to follow work (or, for farmers, when the land was exhausted), and those that made stone buildings appropriate for families with money who could remain in one place for generations. In another essay in Discovering the Vernacular Landscape, "Stone and Its Substitutes", he asserts that stone "was noble because it had been extracted from the depths of the earth and was timeless." On the other hand, felling a tree is relatively easy and cheap, reinforcing Jackson's distinctions. This cottage in the Blue Ridge Mountains shows how stone can be used for walls and roofs. Together they give the house a solidity that roots it in its place. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Like the previous example, this house in Seattle illustrates how stone anchors a building to the landscape and creates a sense of belonging. The special place that the material creates, in this case a path, is undeniable, stemming from both the walls of the house and the parallel site walls built from the same stone. The stepping stones in between are done in a wholly appropriate manner, fitting well between the walls. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This contemporary house shows how stone imparts a sense of solidity regardless of style. The wing walls at the entrance and the garage also give the impression that the stone is of a certain thickness; this may actually be the case, but it's also possible that the stone is cut thin and is a facing material, along the same lines as the metal panels that slide between the stone walls. Learn about stone veneers |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Jackson not only traces wood dwellings in Europe (specifically England and northern Europe) to a particular class of people who were mobile, but he finds that a legal distinction also existed. Dwellings of wood were typically not tied to land, such that when the land was handed down to the next generation, it did not include those structures, which could then be moved off the land. One manner in which this has been carried through to the United States is that wood is appropriate for secondary buildings, in this case a studio. It's less about class distinctions and the building's ability to be moved than the impression of lightness and temporariness. The corrugated metal can be seen as a contemporary update of the board and batten wood siding, a perfect complement to it. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The biggest distinction that Jackson draws between the dwellings of Europe and those of America is how the latter "were built, occupied and eventually disposed of as commodities, merchandise designed and produced to satisfy a definite market," he writes. Of course, this trait continues to this day, yet certain constructions recall frontier dwellings, in particular board and batten. This house is billed by the architect as a "custom agrarian style residence," a description that taps into the early farm buildings built of wood from the abundant forests. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Wood dwellings are also appropriate for cabins, which ideally make as small an impact on the land as possible, and that can be removed to return the land to its state before occupation. In the case of this Pacific Northwest cabin, it's easy to see from the view why it's sited where it is, yet the way the dwelling is propped upon slender footings above the ground means it sits lightly upon the landscape. The foundation required to hold up a masonry building, on the other hand, would have been much more substantial. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The single illustration accompanying Jackson's essay is a mobile house being pulled by a truck trailer emblazoned with a "Wide Load" sign. This sort of dwelling, one designed to be moved, is the 20th-century American version of the movable dwelling that Jackson examines. It's not the most endearing dwelling in the United States, but for many people it is a way to own a house without being tied down to one place. The manufactured house, as the style is sometimes called, shown here is designed to be "off the grid," tapping into today's sustainability concerns. Propane and solar are used for power, and it has no sewer or septic toilet. |
|
by GPPhotographers
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This tiny house in Portland takes mobile dwelling to the extreme without being what we think of as a mobile home. Its form recalls a dwelling sitting on the land, but it's mounted on a trailer frame that can be hooked up to a truck and pulled wherever the residents like. |
|
by Louise Lakier
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| By the end of Jackson's essay, he writes that he's "convinced that the trailer or an improved version of it is, for better or worse, the low-cost dwelling of the future," due to its being "inexpensive, convenient, and mobile." This future may yet come to fruition, but it appears that something else has taken hold in America in the decades since Jackson's essay. Instead of a rise in mobile dwellings and their having an impact on planning, we have seen houses get bigger as the suburbs have sprawled. |
|
by Louise Lakier
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| The mobile dwelling might not have caught on because Americans want both a dwelling and a house — they want the ability to move in response to family, work and other issues, while giving the appearance of solidity and roots in their house designs. Mobility has come about by treating the house as a commodity. People buy, sell and move into houses that express solidity for whoever lives in them. |
Ideabook published on Nov. 6, 2012.
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
Find Local Pros by Category:
Architects & Designers · Carpet and Flooring · Closet & Home Storage Designers · Design-build Firms · Fireplaces · General Contractors · Home Media Design & Installation · Interior Designers & Decorators · Kitchen & Bath Designers · Landscape Architects & Designers · Landscape Contractors · Specialty Contractors · Tile, Stone & Countertops
Find Local Pros by Metro Area:
Atlanta · Austin · Baltimore · Boston · Chicago · Dallas · Dc Metro · Denver · Detroit · Hawaii · Houston · Las Vegas · Los Angeles · Miami · Minneapolis · Nashville · New Orleans · New York · Philadelphia · Phoenix · Portland · Salt Lake City · San Diego · San Francisco · Seattle · St Louis
bill - It's the previous photo: