A los hoes is a historic farmhouse type from Twente and the Achterhoek in the eastern Netherlands in which the entire farm consists of one undivided space: living area, byre and harvest storage sit under the same roof without partition walls. Los means open or undivided here, and hoes is the regional word for house.
The los hoes is the earliest form of the hall house and is also called the Saxon farmhouse type. Examples are preserved in open-air museums and in a small number of surviving buildings.
How it is built
- Anchor-beam frame — a timber frame of posts and cross beams carries the roof; the outer walls are not load-bearing
- The threshing floor — the wide central aisle, used for threshing and as a work area
- Side aisles — where the cattle stood, heads facing the centre
- The hearth — the living area, with an open fire directly on the floor
- The loft — grain and hay were stored above the threshing floor
Why no chimney?
The most striking feature: the original los hoes had no chimney. Smoke from the open fire escaped through the thatched roof. That had practical advantages:
- The smoke cured the meat hanging from the beams
- It kept insects and vermin out of the stored grain
- The thatch stayed dry and the soot deposit slowed its decay
The drawback is obvious: a permanently smoky living space. From the nineteenth century onwards chimneys, partitions and eventually a separate front house were built in, and the true los hoes disappeared.
Recognising one in an existing building
- A timber frame standing in the middle of the space, with posts clear of the outer walls
- Blackened, sooted timber on the underside of the roof structure
- A broad, low-sweeping thatched half-hipped roof with a low eaves line
- A large threshing door in the gable, on the axis of the central aisle
In any conversion the frame is structural and usually listed: have it assessed by a structural engineer and the heritage authority before you alter posts or beams.
Related terms
- Hall house
- Farmhouse
- Roof structure
- Truss
- Purlin
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