A Frame

I have always enjoyed A-Frame style houses, they just seem to fit in so well in the wilderness. The floor plans may not be the most practical, and many may skips stairs and have only a ladder to a sleeping loft. I always liked the idea of owning a small A-Frame in the woods. Maybe its just that they seem to dig themselves out of the snow for you.

In the booming post WWII economy of the late 1950's through the 70's thousands of A-Frame homes were built. For one of the first times in America people had enough disposable income to to build vacation homes, and the qualities of the A-Frame made it one of the most popular designs. The cost of construction was very low due to the minimal amount of framing required, this also meant that they were relatively easy to build. Maintenance costs were low as almost the entire structure was roof, and very little of the home actually needed to be painted. They fared well in snowy regions, the steep roof lines shedding snow immediately. Another plus is that A-Frame homes were different, even though the design had been around for some time, they were relatively uncommon. This gave them a modern look and appeal. The boom in A-Frame construction has been partially attributed to Andrew Geller, an architect who built an A-Frame on the New York coast that was then featured in the real estate section of The Times.