Gulf house

They were distributed across the North Sea coastal regions from West Flanders through the Netherlands, East Frisia and Oldenburg as far as Schleswig-Holstein (as a variant called the Haubarg).

As drainage technology improved with the use of windmills and watermills the fertile marshy areas could be dried out and used extensively for grain farming.

The typical East-Frisian Gulf house consisted of a living space (fööeräen) and an adjoining working area (achteräen) with stable and barn.

The centre of the stable and barn section formed the Gulf, a storage area for hay, harvest products and tools, which gave this type of house its name.

The front part of the middle section, at the gable end, in which the horse stable (pêrstâl) was housed, was surrounded by a dividing wall and was given a cover, so that an additional floor (a so-called hiel, plural: hillen) was created on which extra hay for winter feeding was stored.

The hip is often surmounted, even today, by a decorative staff or Malljan, a device that echoes the mystical beliefs of earlier times.

The conservation society, NABU, runs an educational establishment for 'near-natural' farming in a Gulf house in Wiegboldsbur (municipality of Südbrookmerland, Aurich).