Term: half-timber (architecture)
Definition:
a construction method employed on houses, barns, churches, and commercial structures. It is characterized by heavy timbers, which were mortised, tenoned, and pegged together. The panels between the timbers were filled with various materials, including bricks laid in mud mortar, rubble masonry coated with plaster, or wood staves covered with a mixture of straw and mud, pargetted with plaster. Clapboarding was sometimes applied over the half-timber work, either at the time of contruction or later. Half-timber was introduced into the U.S. by immigrants from Britain, France, and Germany, and much utilized by German settlers in Ohio, Missouri, Texas, and Wisconsin. Most Wisconsin examples are located in the southeastern portion of the state, particularly Dodge, Washington, and Ozaukee counties, and are almost exclusively of German provenance. An outstanding surviving example of a German half-timber house is the Koepsel House (NRHP 1973), originally located near Kirchhayn, but now located at Old World Wisconsin. View more information elsewhere at wisconsinhistory.org
View pictures relating to architecture at Wisconsin Historical Images.
[Source: Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986).]
