Shadrach Standish House

Timber-frame Houses in the Historic American Buildings Survey A Select List Page 1: Introduction, Connecticut through Massachusetts

Shadrach Standish House

Introduction

In colonial America, and particularly New England, the abundance of wood and the English tradition of building made the timber frame house popular. Until balloon frame construction began to supersede it in the mid-1800s, timber frame construction was the construction method for all frame houses in 17th and 18th century America. Timber framing, often called post-and-beam construction, is a form of carpentry which involves taking large pieces of wood and joining them together with woodworking joints, using mortise-and-tenon construction, without metal construction such as nails. Wooden pegs, bents, braces, and sometimes trusses are employed. Many types of colonial houses can be considered to be timber-frame houses, including saltbox houses.

Since the 1970s the timber frame house has grown in favor following a revival of interest in traditional methods of construction. The Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record has documented timber frame houses since its inception in 1933 and continues to do so.

This select list includes examples of HABS-documented timber-frame buildings where the documentation in its entirety provides a good picture of the building and shows some aspect of framing. All examples include drawing documentation (except for Sarum in Maryland, which has extensive photos of framing). Saltbox houses are included in this list when their framing is particularly featured; see the separate Saltbox Houses reference aid for a fuller selection of HABS-documented sites that are especially good examples of that house type.

Select the Call Number of the structure to retrieve, via the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC), a bibliographic record for the entire group of documentation. The bibliographic record will provide fuller information about the house in question (such as owners' names) and will link to all digitized documentation for the site.

The Library of Congress cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections, but a rights statement for the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record is available. Photographic and other types of copies can also be ordered from the Library of Congress Duplication Services by selecting the "Obtaining Copies" tab and following the instructions given there.

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