Through architecture unique to northern New England, this illustrated talk focuses on several case studies that show how farmers converted their typical separate house and barns into connected farmsteads. Thomas Hubka's research in his award-winning book, Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England, demonstrates that average farmers were, in fact, motivated by competition with farmers in other regions of America, who had better soils and growing seasons and fewer rocks to clear. The connected farmstead organization, housing equal parts mixed-farming and home-industry, was one of the collective responses to the competitive threat.  Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England is brought to you by a grant from NH Humanities.  

Meet The Presenter

Thomas Hubka earned his Bachelor's in Architecture from Carnegie-Mellon University and Master's from the University of Oregon. His publications include Big House, Little House, Back House Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England; Resplendent Synagogue: Architecture and Worship in an 18th Century Polish Community; Houses without Names: Architecture Nomenclature and the Classification of America's Common Houses. His forthcoming book is entitled The Transformation of Working-Class Houses and Domesticity, 1890-1940: Improved Homes for a New Middle Class. Hubka's research primarily interprets the historic development and relationships between architecture/buildings and culture/people.