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The single-building homestead

House types

The Dutch cottage is unique for the area covered by this colonization and does not occur even in the areas bordering this region. Therefore, we can easily determine the range of this colonization in the area where examples of this building style survived to the present day. Most of the time, while writing "a house" or a "Dutch cottage", we have in mind a single-building, multi-element homestead that was so characteristic for the Dutch villages. The majority of preserved buildings were erected at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. However, we can also find buildings that date from the beginning of the 19th century, especially in the vicinity of Płock.

In Mazowsze, we can distinguish three types of houses inhabited by the Dutch colonists. The German type (Langhof, or lined) was the most common, and the greatest number of its examples survived to the present day[1]. In this type of homestead, both the residential and farm sections were situated under one roof, and their components were lined up one after the other, including a cowshed and a barn. Such houses were built in large numbers in the forested areas, especially by the colonists of German origin who dominated the colonization in the 18th and the 19th centuries (also on the other areas covered by this colonization). This is the oldest and, at the same time, the simplest form of building typical of this colonization.

The second type of building, which was very common in Żuławy, occurs in Mazowsze only in small numbers. This type is characteristic for the earliest period of colonization, that is, for the 16th and 17th centuries. It was called either a corner (kątowy) or a Frisian house (Winkelhof and Kreuzhof)[2]. The Frisian homestead consisted of a house that included all buildings under one roof. The buildings were connected to each other at various angles. In the front section of the homestead, the settlers usually built a small residential annex, which was used as accommodation for the family elders. The proper residential building was situated behind the annex; this was followed by a cowshed and stable, and finally, a barn. Between the barn and stable, perpendicular to the building, the settlers added a room for fodder. In the surveyed area, this type of homestead is exemplified by only two buildings: the first one, dating from the beginning of the 19th century, is located in Sady near Płock (no. 17). The second one is in Nowy Kazuń, and dates from the beginning of the 20th century[3].

Homesteads of the Polish type, which were characteristic for Polish colonists inhabiting the Dutch settlements, are much more common than the Frisian ones. In such a homestead, all buildings (a house, a barn, and a cowshed) were detached from each other and were usually arranged in a quadrangle. This type of layout occurs in Secymin, among other places[4].

The distinguished types of homesteads, with the exception of the Frisian homestead, which was typical for Żuławy, were not characteristic for a specific area but occurred simultaneously. Their type was, for the most part, determined by the ethnic origin and the level of affluence of the settler.

It was often the case that the buildings were equipped with arcades. A building, which survived to this day in Nowy Secymin no. 14, until recently had a gable arcade, which was situated on the farming side of the building and facilitated storing hay and straw in the loft. The arcade, which supported a gable roof over a cowshed, had a columnar structure and was reinforced by angle and knee braces. An arcade and a porch of a building (taken down in 2000) in Nowe Sady no. 18 near Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki are also noteworthy. The fact that the structure was attached to a German type building confirms the general hypothesis that the adoption of the arcade by Olęder Żuławy-type architecture happened for presentation reasons: it was an indication of affluence and position of the house owner. In the case of the cottage in Sady, the owner's affluence is also emphasized by additional wood-carved elements and details. Precisely these elements create a timeless and super-regional link between this German-type cottage and its Żuławy counterpart.

[1] O. Kloeppel, Die bauerliche haus- Hof- und Siedlungslanlage im Weischel-Nogat-Delta, Danzig 1965
[2] Ibid.
[3] J. Szałygin, Osadnictwo holenderskie na terenie obecnego województwa płockiego, Mazowsze, 1995, no 6 (2/95).
[4] J. Szałygin, Osadnictwo Olęderskie na terenie województwa stołecznego i jego ochrona, Ochrona i Konserwacja Zabytków, 1997, no 4.


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