Saltbox

A Saltbox (English salt box ) refers to a building of colonial architecture in North America. In the front part of the building of the wooden half-timbered house are two - part, three - floors; in the rear only one. The resulting asymmetry of the gable roof that is steep drops on the longer back, a typical feature of the saltbox. The name goes back to the visual similarity of the Salt Box with a hinged lid wooden box that was common for the storage of salt.

Origins

The origin of the saltbox is located in New England and is an example of colonial architecture in North America. The construction of the Saltbox should go back to the land tax, which was introduced under Queen Anne in the American colonies. However, the tax only applied to multi-storey houses. The Saltbox was the erection after a bungalow, since the roof down enough to first floor. Owners had therefore do not pay taxes.

More likely, however, that the shape of the house was built in an extension of the living space; an extension is the easiest way to create additional space for a growing family. This could have been extended to the rear side with an add a two-story house, the roof was extended to less than two meters above the ground. Provides clues for example the Ephraim Hawley House in Nichols, Connecticut. Under the extended roof, the weather boarding, a horizontal wood cladding, the original rear wall is visible. The oak used is typically older than the rest of the cladding of the house. It was probably the simplicity and functionality, which is why you copied the style of the Saltbox about the colonial period in addition to the young republic. The Saltbox also occurs in parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Construction

The Saltbox has been like many other buildings of the colonial period, built in the style of half-timbered house. It is the backbone of long pieces of wood that are assembled with mortise and tenon joints. Metal nails rarely found there because of their price use. Typical is the facing of the exterior walls with wooden slats ( weatherboarding ). The Joshua Day House in West Springfield, Massachusetts is built of bricks.