20 Forgotten Home Designs That Stayed Cool Before Air Conditioning

Comments · 181

• KE

  @Kel-d7v · 1 month ago (edited)

  I don't think that these things are forgotten as much as they are ignored by the housing industry. They only care about the bottom line, not the people who will live there.

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• PA

  @paulspudman · 1 month ago

  Imagine how much electricity could be saved if new construction would use these forgotten technologies.

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• TH

  @theroyalwhisper1 · 1 month ago

  Grandma wasn’t “old-fashioned” — she was running passive cooling on a zero-dollar subscription plan. 😂🌳💨

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• AN

  @anyonecansee4601 · 1 month ago

  20. transome windows<br>19. deep roof overhangs<br>18. whitewashed walls and roofs<br>17. canvas window awnings<br>16. raised pier foundations<br>15. double hung windows<br>14. summer kitchen outdoors<br>13. louvered shutters<br>12. high ceilings 10-14 ft<br>11. living in the cellar<br>10. the shotgun house<br>9. cupolas<br>8. sleeping porch<br>7. thick masonry and adobe walls<br>6. dog trot house<br>5. wrap around porch<br>4. planted shade<br>3. evap cooling<br>2. siding for wind<br>1. night flush ritual

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• HE

  @herbtarlic892 · 1 month ago

  We purchased an older 1930s &nbsp;house in the 1970s, &nbsp;in the downtown of a small Ontario city, &nbsp;that had many of those features. It was double brick, creating suitable mass to protect us from the heat, a wide verandah, with double hung windows that l had to scrape 50 years of pait off. &nbsp;Main floor had 12&apos; ceilings where l installed two-season fans for summer and winter. We raised 5 kids there. Now we have moved to a condo, but my daughter is raising her children there.Home Sweet Home.

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• HE

  @helgabruin2261 · 1 month ago

  At night, I open the attic access door and open windows. &nbsp; This draws in the cool night air and the hot attic air vents out. &nbsp;A cool attic to start the next day off makes a big difference in the house temperature.

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• AG

  @AgnesSehgal · 1 month ago

  When I was at the University of Alabama we had sleeping porches.

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• AG

  @AgnesSehgal · 1 month ago

  My great grandmother told me of the dogs being killed at night in the dog trot. There were mountain lions in Alabama in those days. So happy I had great grandparents and aunts when I grew up. We didn’t sit in front of TV’s.Children today miss the wisdom of the elderly.

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• AG

  @AgnesSehgal · 1 month ago

  I grew up in houses in Alabama that were built like these.My school had them too. I built a house in the 1990’s …I had to fight the builder over my 3 Ft. roof overhang and the steep roof. &nbsp;The house was in the woods. I sat on a bucket in the woods to see which way the wind blew. The front of the house was 6 feet high.

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• AG

  @AgnesSehgal · 1 month ago

  Some of the houses I grew up near had them too kitchen separate from the house…there was a covered walkway between which had the well.I am so happy I was born in the 1930’s!

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• PA

  @PatSika · 1 month ago (edited)

  I’m a 77 year old Aussie, and have lived in three different houses that had many of these elements, although Aussies describe them differently. The farm house I grew up in, in the tropics, had most, but not the roof vent; the second was further north in Cairns, on a suburban block, and the third was in inner city Brisbane; transome windows both internally, and especially over the front door. &nbsp;One main difference is the use of metal awnings over the windows, rather than canvas. However, I only learned about the dog trot house recently on a YouTube presentation. We also had/have central hallways from front to back of house but we don’t call that a shotgun design. We also, in the tropics, never planted deciduous trees for shade…no need and much better to have shade all year round in the tropics….however, more deciduous trees in the southern states. &nbsp;thanks for this presentation.

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• MF

  @mffmoniz2948 · 1 month ago

  I grew up with louvered shutters. Awesome. Close the shutters and open the glass window and you could sleep in a cool bedroom with your window still protected.

  11