The Mushroom Factor

When we purchased our property more than 20 years ago, we had no idea of the architectural gem we were acquiring. Call it unobserved naivety on our part, but we lived here several months before noticing bricks and timber-framing beneath the white siding covering one of our barns.

Because May is Historic Preservation Month, it’s important to pay tribute to this barn and its noteworthy architectural style known as fachwerk.

Fachwerk, or framework, is the German name for timber-frame architecture found throughout Europe, particularly in areas where timber was in short supply. Builders used hewed-lumber for the skeletal framework and then filled in the remainder of the wall with burned or dried brick.

According to William Tischler, in his article Fachwerk Construction in the German Settlements of Wisconsin¹, fachwerk was popular among German Lutherans who emigrated during the 1800’s from Germany’s northern areas of Brandenburg and Pomerania and then settled in Dodge, Jefferson, Washington and Osaukee Counties of Wisconsin. They built houses, threshing barns, stables, woodsheds, granaries and even churches in the fachwerk style of construction.

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Now that we have a child living in Washington D.C., we enjoy regular visits to what is probably our nation’s most fascinating city. We’ve hit the monuments, the museums and, oh, the restaurants! Thankfully, D.C. is a walking town and we’re able to work off what usually is some majorly excessive, good eating. (Note-to-self: function rather than fashionable form is a necessity in the clothing and shoe department.)

So, while we’re doing all this walking, my favorite thing to see is the architecture. As a lover of old houses, I find the rowhouse especially intriguing, partly because of its historical representation and partly because its not a common style here in the Midwest.

When I accompanied my daughter on her housing hunt a few years ago, I had the opportunity to see the interiors of several rowhouses. Like most old houses, they had architectural elements you just don’t find in newly built homes and apartments—parquet floors, beautiful woodwork and bow-front windows. And like many old houses, these particular buildings needed lots of work and money!

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Fan of Prairie School architecture? Planning to visit the Purcell-Cutts House and other architectural gems in Minneapolis, MN? Yes or no, you’ve got to check out “Unified Vision: The Architecture and Design of the Prairie School.”

Published by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, this web site showcases the work of architects Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie. It also features the Institutes’ collection of Prairie School furniture and home décor.

If you’re planning to tour the Purcell-Cutts House—a classic example of Prairie Style and designed by William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie in 1913—this web site is great preparatory research. The site’s linear tour offers 360 degree views of each room, together with detailed commentaries. The photos are stunning.

The site also takes you on a personal “walking tour” of notable Prairie School buildings in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Complete with audio narration and printable tour guides, it’s the next best thing to actually walking through the city streets (and considerably warmer at this time of year!)

Check it out—it’s a cool site!