“Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn”...This catchy
little children’s rhyme ties into some of the research of
architectural historian, Thomas Hubka, whose specialty
is vernacular architecture and its cultural meaning. A
program of the same name begins at 2PM, Saturday,
July 7, at the Tuck Museum. Hubka will talk about this
19th century New England farm-building style, how it
fit into that way of life, and point out some examples
throughout the region.
Vernacular architecture is the study of buildings that
were constructed using local building traditions and
construction materials, and how those buildings reflect
the environmental, cultural, technological, and
historical context of an area. Examples familiar to us
would be farms, bungalows, ranch houses, and worker’s
cottages. These were the “common man” type of
buildings, built without the benefit of an architect.
Hubka wrote the book Big House Little House Back
House Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New
England (The University Press of New England), for
which he received the Abbott Lowell Cummings Award
in 1984 for the best book in American vernacular
architecture. He has also studied the wooden
synagogues of Europe, for which he won the Henry
Glasse Award in 2006, and has received the 2009-2010
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)
Distinguished Professor Award. Now retired, Professor
Hubka taught architecture at the University of
Wisconsin?Milwaukee for over twenty years and the
University of Oregon for fifteen years.
This program is sponsored by the New Hampshire
Humanities Council. It is free and open to the public.
We hope that you can join us for a most informative and
interesting afternoon.
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