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Ukrainian Houses (1896-1920)

History

Like other immigrant groups who settled the rural areas of Manitoba, Ukrainian pioneers arriving in the last years of the 19th century relied on traditional building designs for the construction of their early homes. Two distinct regional variations have been identified in Manitoba. Settlers from Galicia, then a province of Austria, built houses that were typically small and unpretentious. Settlers from the neighbouring Austrian province of Bukovyna relied on traditional house designs that were often larger and more elaborate. Traditional house architecture was used until the 1930s, by which time most settlers had adapted their homes to Canadian building technologies and current North American architectural styles.

Characteristics

  • buildings are typically small, single-storey structures built on a south-facing rectangular plan; houses were oriented to face south with a small room on the west side and a larger room on the east side; a large clay oven at the centre of the house was used for cooking during the day and, because it retained heat at night, as a sleeping area for children
  • Galician houses are distinguished by a gable roof and plan consisting of two rooms
  • Bukovynian houses are identified by a hipped roof and three-roomed plan
  • in both cases the log walls are covered with a thick mud plaster coating on both sides
  • exterior and interior walls are often whitewashed and occasionally decorated with painted designs
  • early buildings are covered with thatched roofs