European Designs.

The structure and size of European houses varied widely throughout North America and changed dramatically as the period wore on. The first settlers brought the construction methods they had known in the Old World and adapted them to the materials and requirements of their New World environment. English builders of the first generations patterned dwellings on the English "hall and parlor" plan, in which each house had two equal-sized main rooms separated by a single fireplace. Dutch and French farmhouses shared this same basic floor plan, though their external appearance differed according to styles preferred by their countrymen. Both rooms had multiple uses. The parlor usually served as a bedroom as well as for various work and family functions. The other room in Dutch dwellings was called a groot kamer, or "best room," and served for social occasions as well as sleeping. In...