Haubarg

A Haubarg, rarely also Hauberg, is the typical farmhouse of the Eiderstedt peninsula on the northwest coast of Germany and is a type of Gulf house.

This method of construction meant, inter alia, that the house was resistant to the forces of nature, especially storms and their associated surges.

Arranged around it are the Loo, where threshing and other activities took place, living rooms (Döns) and sleeping compartments (alcoves or Alkoven) for the farm hands (Hofgesinde) together with the stalls for the horses (Peerboos), cattle (Boos) and small livestock.

The bedchambers of well-to-do farmer and his family were wall bed in alcoves in the so-called Pesel, which could even be heated, whereas the farm labourers were only kept warm by the cattle and the stored straw and hay.

Where coastal defences were inadequate, haubargs were built on artificial mounds, called warfts, to protect them against flooding during storm surges.

The haubargs have mostly been sold to other, non-local owners, who preserve the exterior appearance, but often carry out major conversions of the interior into other uses.