Back(stories): A West Virginia Farmhouse

When I am asked to talk about Kentucky architecture, I always stress the importance of recognizing style versus type or plan.  Stylistic architectural details can be applied much later than the date of construction of a house – a “keeping up with the Jones” in architecture. But the type or plan of a house is a bit more set in place – although it too can certainly be changed and altered. A turn-of-the-century farmhouse in West Virginia, abandoned for many years, has a distinct lack of architectural finery on the exterior, but the rambling nature of the floor plan, seen from the backside of the house, is fascinating.

The connected rear additions of a West Virginia farmhouse.

The facade, or front of the house, is very straightforward, with windows flanking a central entry door, and a simple shed roof porch providing some shelter for the family and visitors. The front door opens into a living room, with the hearth on the wall opposite the door (a coal-burning hearth, and the chimney has been taken down below the roofline).

The facade of the farmhouse.

It’s around the side and rear of the house that you begin to see how the family added on to the house over the years. A connected cellar house (given this name for its two levels and likely function) is located at the very rear of the dwelling, accessible through a small mudroom that connects to both the kitchen and a bathroom (see plan below).

First floor plan (not to scale) of the farmhouse. There are two bedrooms on the second floor. The darker-shaded rooms are original to the house, and the room on the left appears to have been divided at a later date. Room functions are based on how they appeared to be used at the time of the survey.

Connected farm buildings are not common in Kentucky (as they are in the more frigid climes of New England) and though I’ve documented many houses with meathouses and root cellars located very, very close to the dwelling, I can’t think of any that are actually connected. I don’t think this cellar house started out connected to the house, but ended up that way as the family expanded the original footprint of the building.

Looking at the side of the house – the cellar house is at left, and the stone coal house is not connected, but right outside the side entry.

It is highly likely that the room marked as the kitchen on the plan was a porch that was enclosed, and perhaps the cellar house was the location of the original kitchen (although any chimney or flue has since been removed). The bathroom was definitely a post-construction addition to the house.

The farmhouse bathroom.

Looking at this house from the backside raises more questions than can be answered by a quick documentation – but sometimes I am fine living with mysteries.