Middle German house

The Middle German house is a style of traditional farmhouse found predominantly in central Germany, combining living quarters and livestock stalls under a single roof as a byre-dwelling. The type first emerged in the Middle Ages, built in either timber framing or stone, and became increasingly common from the fifteenth century onward, when two-story construction became standard. The plan is organized into three zones, a living area called the Stube, a central hallway and cooking area called the Flur or Ern, and a working area for livestock, and the house had two fireplaces from its earliest form, one for the living room and one for cooking. A distinguishing structural feature is that the roof is supported by the house's outer walls rather than by internal posts. The style is concentrated in central and southern Germany, with its northern limit roughly following the line where the Central Uplands give way to the North German Plain, beyond which the Low German house becomes the dominant farmhouse form.