Maryland Daily Photo

3 responses so far ↓

• 1 Jess // Jun 27, 2008 at 7:49 am

  I’m guessing that off to the right there is the kitchen area? I was thinking about how in the new housing developments around here, they often try to copy this style, but that area off to the right would be the garage instead. Although I guess that sort of makes sense–back in the day the kitchen was the smelliest, least pleasant room of the house, and now that would be the garage.

• 2 Jeff // Jun 27, 2008 at 8:58 am

  If I remember correctly, the kitchens were also isolated from the rest of the house to prevent fires from spreading.

• 3 bryan // Jun 27, 2008 at 9:44 am

  Kitchens were not isolated because of any unpleasant smells - think about it - even in the 18th century would you want your food prep area to stink? They were kept away from the main house because of risk of fire and the sheer heat that was generated by the constant presence of cooking fires and later, ovens. What you see here is a variant of a typical “Palladian” plan house - a main structure connected to two dependencies via a hyphen.

  If you want to know more about mid-atlantic architecture, read this book:
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801853257

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