Rural House Forms

The early village of St. Louis was not, generally speaking, urban in appearance: density was low, and most blocks held only one or two residences with associated outbuildings, gardens and orchards.1 By the second decade of the 19th century, St. Louis was beginning to take on the character of a city. The size of its population increased dramatically in the late territorial period, as had its manufacturing and marketing capacity. Immigrants from the east and south arrived, and brought with them American house forms, which gradually replaced the earlier French style. The town's founders began subdividing the original blocks into narrow lots, thus accommodating many more buildings. The physical size of St. Louis, however, remained small. We refer to this period of St. Louis history as The Walking City, because the entire town could be traversed on foot in a short time.

St. Louis' physical development, like most cities, began with a compact urban core of residential, commercial and industrial buildings, with dependent rural farming activities in the surrounding countryside. Prominent city families had country houses in the outlying areas near the common fields, in addition to their homes in the town. Urban and rural housing are distinct in form and character, and evolve from different architectural roots. It is important to understand that most of the City which today appears to be very urban, was farmland until the later 19th century. As St. Louis expanded, existing rural housing types were absorbed into denser urban fabric. Occasionally an older building would influence the alignment of a street or the setback of a block, but most often the City and its new buildings simply flowed around them.

The I-House was perhaps the most popular rural house form in the 19th and early 20th century. It was a symbol of economic achievement for rural midwesterners, and appeared in various sizes, proportions and architectural styles everywhere in Missouri. This house form is called an "I-house," because the type was first identified in the states of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa; it was popular, however, throughout the central United States. The I-house is similar in plan to the central passage house, but two stories in height. The entry hall contained an open stair leading to the second floor, which allowed the bedroom area to be completely separated from the living space below.
 

The house at 6002 Eitman, in Clifton Park, is an example of the traditional I-House. It was constructed when this neighborhood was far outside urban St. Louis. The frame house has a central entry, with two windows at each side of the door. Above the porch, the second story has smaller paired windows and a central door which once opened onto a second story porch. The door is set in a steeply-pitched dormer in the center of the front facade. This particular element comes from the Gothic Revival architectural style and hints that considerable "gingerbread" detail once may have adorned the house. The existing one-story porch is a later alteration.

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