Four-Over-Four House
A double-pile, 2- or 2 1/2—story structure with gable roof, most eighteenth- and nineteenth-century versions have paired rooms on either side of a central hallway on both floors (a). Chimney placement varies with paired gable-end chimneys typical, but flat-hipped roofs with paired interior chimneys are common also. Twentieth—century houses (Builders’ Colonial Houses) only approximate this traditional prototype. Central hallways are reduced or eliminated with the front door often opening directly into the living room which commonly occupies the full depth of the house on one side (b). For eighteenth- and nineteenth-century versions, see Glassie 1968a, 49; Pillsbury and Kardos c. 1970, 56; Glassie 1972, 37; Lewis 1975, 5; Noble 1975, 290; Rifkind 1980, 21. For twentieth-century houses, see Stith and Meyer 1974, 4; Foley 1980, 214; Walker 1981, 75, 96, 173; McAlester and McAlester 1984, 78; Noble 1984, 47, 103. (Jakle, 1989)