TheUthland-Frisian house (German:Uthlandfriesisches Haus orUthländisches Haus[1]Danish:Frisergård or Frisisk gård), a variation of theGeestharden house, is a type offarmhouse that, for centuries, dominated theNorth FrisianUthlande, that is theNorth Frisian Islands, theHalligen and themarshlands of northwest Germany.[1]
The farmhouses have the features of all Frisian houses: the walls are made of red brick and have athatched roof and white or blue window frames and doors. The buildings, which recall the early medievallong houses, were originally relatively small and had an internal wooden frame. This meant that in the event that one of the huge coastal storms, that regularly batter the area, badly damaged the roof and walls, the internal structure continued to provide its occupants with some protection. In the Uthland houses, the livestock stall and living area were combined under one roof, but separated by a narrow cross-passage. The stall has a longitudinal passage with a door at the gable and only a small threshing place.[1]
The farmhouses are built on an east–west axis in order to present the smallest possible surface area to the prevailing westerly winds. The entrances to the stall and living areas are on the leeward southern side. Because the size of the house is necessarily restricted due to its design, there are often adjacent animal sheds. One striking feature is that all buildings of such an ensemble have their entrances on the same side. This is particularly noticeable on theHalligen. Because cattle farming and sailing were the main means of livelihood in the areas concerned, large store rooms for the harvest were not needed. As a result, Uthland-Frisian houses had no space for grain and hay storage apart from the attic.
Unlike theGeestharden houses on the mainland, the so-calledUthland-Frisian houses had a pointed gable over the entrance way which extended to just under the main roof ridge. The Frisian houses on the mainland had a wider, less pointed gable (Backengiebel). This gable (wide or pointed) was designed so that, in the event of fire, burningthatch on the roof did not slide down over the entranceway, but fell to the left and right of the gable. This kept the escape route clear.
Thestructural load of these houses rests on a frame of posts and beams, which means that the load of the roof and the hayloft is born by wooden posts that are positioned inside the non-load bearing outer walls. The outer walls only serve as protection against the weather and can be designed to be relatively weak from a structural loading perspective. Because islands andHalligen were largely treeless,marine debris, such as ships' masts and planks washed up on the shore, was used for the internal timber frame.
The foundation of the houses, which had no cellars as a rule, consisted of field boulders. In several houses, under the kitchen, a low store room was let into the ground and walled with boulders to act as a cold store and storage room.
Another feature of the Uthland-Frisian houses is thehalf door orKlöntür. This door is divided horizontally, so that the upper half can be opened independently, for example, in order to ventilate the room. The closed lower half prevents the small animals, that were often kept around the house, from entering the living room. The half-open door is ideal for chatting to neighbours, an activity known inSylt Frisian asKlöön (Low GermanKlönen); hence the name of this type of door.
Well preserved and typical Uthland houses, such asTadsen (built 1741) andSönnichsen (today housing the local history museum), for example, are found on theHallig ofLangeneß; another one is theÖömrang Hüs on Amrum.Haus Olesen, originally built in 1617, was demolished and rebuilt inWyk auf Föhr, and is now the oldest preserved house of this type. It, too, belongs to a local history museum.
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