Institut grand-ducal

Luxembourg traditional architecture is based on stone construction, a technique introduced by the Romans. Stone dominates the picture in every town and village in Luxembourg. Not only houses but barns, bake houses, smoke houses were constructed of stone. Gardens had no fences but stone walls, cemeterys had not wooden but stone crosses and monuments. Stone structures were coated in stucco and mortar in a variety of earth tones, whitewashing was a more common practice in the Norther part of Luxembourg. The layout plan of the main buildings is a stretched rectangle

18th century farm-house in Goebelange

with the length of the building being generally 2 or 3 times their width. Typical rural Luxembourg architecture is exemplified by the "Quereinhaus", a combined house and barn

combined house and barn from 1785 in Junglinster

, with house stable and barn in one lenghthy unit lying under one roof. The buildings were one and a half or two stories high. Above the second floor was the "Speicher" (from Latin: spicarium = grainery), used for storing grain and fruits. The floor of the "Speicher" was usually covered with a cement floor, more suitable for storing and supporting weight. It was rodent proof and provided protection in case of fire.
Half hip

Half hip roof in Junglinster

or jerking roofs were common, they were eaveless, which means that there was virtually no overhang where the roof met the walls. Although the original cover of the roof was straw, which meant that a fire in a closely-built village could destroy a large part of the agglomeration, legal precriptions (10 July 1845) prohibited thatching and imposed fireproof material to cover the roof (Although the purpose of this measure was evident, it was not perceived as such by the impoverished population. A slate or tile cover added a significant weight, imposing the reconstruction of the roof framework and sometimes reinforcement or reconstruction of the supporting walls). Black slate was used throughout the country, however the Moselle area had a preference for red half cylindrical tiles. Windows and doors of rectangular shapes were disposed symetrically

combined house and barn from 1785 in Junglinster

and evenly, the upper windows located directly above those of the lower floor. The openings were usually framed with stone beams. The entrance door was place in the middle of the eaves-side of the building. Attic windows, when present, were of small rectangular shape and placed directly under the roof line. Wooden shutters

Bourglinster

were used to cover the windows. Little architectural decoration can be found on the house except for the entrance

Modern wooden door

. The stone lintel over the door bore the date of construction

Bourglinster Todays' youth hostel erected by (J)ean (P)utz

and the initials of the builder(s). A wheel or sunburst

combined house and barn from 1785 in Junglinster

motif is an often-met element ciseled on the wooden entrance door. The entrance quite often led directly into the kitchen. A hallway could only be found in more wealthy homes. On the ground floor was also the parlor (Stuff), whereas the sleeping rooms where upstairs. Through the staircase in a corner of the kitchen one accessed the upper floor and the basement. The cooking stove and baking-oven were located in the kitchen. The central function of the kitchen comes also forth from the fact that from the kitchen you could reach every room in the house.

Luxembourg architecture in the United States

Whereas in the United States the Luxembourgers adopted the American way of building houses (frame houses, brick buildings), a few islands remained where Luxembourgers continued to construct in the traditional way. Such concentrations can be found in St. Donatus, Jackson Co, IA, where the whole village is built the Luxembourg way, and in Ozaukee Co, WI, especially Town Belgium, where stone houses and barns dot the country-side. This occured when some basic conditions were fulfilled: 1) a major concentration of Luxembourg settlers, and as a corollary a larger concentration of building craftsmen, 2) availability of stone. There are no stone houses on the Great Plains, whereas St. Donatus could quarry the stones in the bluffs along the Mississippi. The same goes for Ozaukee County, where, along the shores of Lake Michigan, boulders could be found all over the fields.
The Luxembourg settlement of Rollingstone, unlike St. Donatus, is not built the Luxembourg way, and cannot boast of any Luxembourg stone houses, although it is also located in bluff country along the Mississippi. However close to the neighboring village of Elba, a stone house, the Marnach house, can be found. But there, the builders, the Marnach family from Rambrouch, Luxembourg, were stone masons.

Transposition of the Luxembourg architectural elements suffered of course some adaptations in the United States:

Village structures
Had they lived in Luxembourg grouped in villages, tilling small plots of lands in the near vicinity of their houses, they now arrived in a vast land where through the homestead act they had the possibility to acquire large tracts of land, and where they had to live on the land they homesteaded. In areas where they had arrived in large numbers, they usually put their efforts in common to built churches, school. St. Donatus in Iowa had a grist mill, tavern, general store very early as well as the stone houses for the people who made their living there. This homesteading obligation explains why not every Luxembourg settlement is a stonehouse village. Legal and environmental constraints imply that New World settlements do not always reflect the elaborate and complex social network of Luxembourg villages.

Building materials
There are no elaborate stone window and door frames, which were labor- and cost-intensive at a period where all efforts had to go towards settling down, having a roof above their head and meeting the challenge of clearing land, facing harsh winters. As lumber was available en masse they settlers turned towards this material for the frames. The first constructions anyway were usually not stone structures, which took too much time and effort to erect from the first arrivers. The first buildings were built of logs or grass sods like so many others erected in the Midwest. But very soon they turned away from these temporary dwellings to built permanent stone structures, the early one usually small, later on they were built larger or else smaller ones saw additions made to their structures.
Slate for roof covering was replaced by shingles. The settlers also left aside the rectilign house-barn combination to which they were used in their home land. Availabilty of land and fire hazard consideration made them separate the dwelling structures from the farming structures.

Size
The dimensions of the houses do not compare to the impressive 18th century farm buildings erected at the time of Austrian rule in Luxembourg, a period of relative well-being (Maria-Theresien Haus). The American houses like 19 century dwellings

Bourglinster 19th century

in Luxembourg are smaller than these, an impression which is enhanced by the fact that in Luxembourg dwelling quarters, barns and stables are built in one single row, whereas these units are built separatly in the United States.

Preservation efforts
The value of these architectural witnesses of Luxembourg pioneering days has been recognized a long time ago. The Marnach house near Elba, MN and also the Gehlen house and barn in St. Donatus MN, were on the National Register of Historic Places for years, in 1990 the entire village of St. Donatus got awarded that nomination. Signs of decay alarmed scholars and locals as well, but sometimes lack of funds sometimes lack of proper restoration techniques as well as of Luxembourg building techniques hampered efficient action. The founding of the association with the double name "Lëtzebuerger Kultur and Amerika" -"Luxembourg Heritage in America" (the aim of which is not solely architectural restoration, but generally promoting aspects of Luxembourg cultural preseance in the United States) provided thru intensive fundraising both in Luxembourg and the United States the necessary pecuniary means and allowed the sending of Luxembourg crews of stonemasons and carpenters for restoring the Marnach house in Elba, taking down stone by stone the Sunnen House in Ozaukee County, WI and rebuilding it at Ozaukee County Pioneer village, an open-air museum. In the summer of 1997, work will be done on the stucco plastering of the Gehlen house in St. Donatus.