|
Historical
Museum of Southern Florida |
|
Traditions:
South Florida Folklife Architecture In folk architecture, there are no blueprints or pre-fabricated buildings; instead, the builder relies upon traditional styles and techniques that are part of his cultural heritage. Folk architecture addresses the specific needs of an environment through the use of available resources and application of the builders' traditional knowledge.
The basic chickee design is rectangular. Four posts set into the ground support a rafter system that is covered with palm thatch. Many chickee roofs have an overhang on three sides that increases the covered area. The chickee is usually open-sided, all owing for maximum exposure to cooling breezes, but in some instances they may be enclosed to create a more protected space. The chickee is constructed of local materials, cypress for posts and rafters and cabbage palm fronds for thatch. The Miami area attracted substantial immigration from the Bahamas in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. These immigrants added a special character to the area and were particularly noted for their building skills. The early Bahamian settlers constructed houses modeled on those of the Bahamas and Key West. The buildings were elevated off the ground on stone piers or wooden posts to allow air circulation and prevent wood rot. They had wooden balloon frames, low gabled roofs, exterior staircases, louvered door and window shutters and were constructed of local materials such as oolitic limestone or the moisture-resistant pine. These features enabled the structures to withstand the area’s violent tropical storms. The houses were also designed with two-story porches equipped with balustrades across the front or around two or three sides. The porches shielded the house from the direct rays of the burning sun. The shotgun house is a distinctive structure built by members of South Florida’s Black community in the early twentieth century. This house type originated in West Africa and is common throughout the Caribbean and the American South. Shotgun houses are wooden frame structures one room wide and three rooms deep, with doors at the gable ends. Their name derives from the saying that you could fire a shotgun through the front door and the bullet would go out the back door without touching any other part of the building.
 
Folk Arts | Arts
& Crafts | Architecture | Foodways
www.historical-museum.org
|
The
chickee used by the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians is a traditional structure
unique to Florida. The chickee was developed in the nineteenth century,
when the Seminole Wars and the migration to South Florida made it impractical
for the Indians to build more permanent dwellings. Families traditionally
built several chickees in a cluster, with each unit intended for a different
purpose — sleeping, dining, cooking, or working.
