A-frame building

A-frame buildings are an ancient form in Europe (e.g. cruck frame construction or grubenhaus), China, and the South Pacific islands. Sometimes called a roof hut, these were simple structures used for utilitarian purposes until the 1950s.Randl, Chad. A-frame. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Print. In 1934, R. M. Schindler built the first modern A-frame house, for owner Gisela Bennati, in Lake Arrowhead, California.{{Cite web |title=The (R.M.) Schindler List |url=http://thermschindlerlist.blogspot.com//p/la-1930s.html/ |access-date=2017-12-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926093802/http://thermschindlerlist.blogspot.com/p/la-1930s.html |archive-date=2016-09-26}} Architects Walter Reemelin, John Campbell, George Rockrise, Henrik H. Bull, and Andrew Geller helped to popularize Schindler's idea in the early 1950s, designing A-frame vacation homes. In 1955, Andrew Geller built an A-frame house on the beach in Long Island, New York, known as the Elizabeth Reese House. Geller's design won international attention when it was featured in The New York Times on May 5, 1957.{{Cite web |last=Bernstein |first=Fred A. |date=December 27, 2011 |title=Andrew Geller, 87, Modernist Architect, Dies |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E1D8173CF934A15751C1A9679D8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320233846/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E1D8173CF934A15751C1A9679D8B63 |archive-date=March 20, 2017 |work=The New York Times |page=B63 |access-date=26 January 2014}} Before long, thousands of A-frame homes were being built around the world.{{cite web |url=https://roofingredbank.com/start-a-roofing-business/ |title=Starting a Roofing Business | access-date=2021-04-29 |archive-date=2021-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429223300/https://roofingredbank.com/start-a-roofing-business/ |date=29 April 2021 | url-status=live }}

The Abbey Resort in Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, claims to have the world's tallest wooden A-frame.

The post–World War II popularity of the A-frame has been attributed to a combination of factors including Americans' extra disposable income, the inexpensiveness of building an A-frame structure, and a new interest in acquiring a second home for vacationing.

Another factor contributing to the rise of the A-frame included the adaptability of the structure itself, which enabled architects to experiment with more modern designs. A-frames were a useful medium in which architects could explore their creative side since they were relatively cheap to build.

Additionally, many people preferred the idea of a "modern-style" vacation home to that of a "modern-style" primary home. A-frames became available as prefabricated kits, lowering the cost even more, and were sold by Macy's department stores.

After the rise of the archetypal A-frame, architects soon began experimenting with new designs, which led to what became known as the modified A-frame style.

• Bennati House (1934), Lake Arrowhead, California, designed by Rudolph Schindler
• Elizabeth Reese House, Sagoponack, New York, designed by Andrew Geller
• Numerous examples in Washington state.{{cite web |url=https://dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/historic-buildings/architectural-style-guide/a-frame |title=A-frame / 1950 - 1990 / Washington State Examples |date=8 July 2014 |accessdate=October 14, 2019 |archive-date=14 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014234155/https://dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/historic-buildings/architectural-style-guide/a-frame |url-status=live }}
• Numerous examples, including historic kits and (recent?) "Yosemite-adjacent" ones, in Curbed{{cite web |url=https://www.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture-rudolf-schindler |title=The A-frame effect: Not just another house, but a way of life |author=Alexandra Lange |date=September 22, 2017 |access-date=October 14, 2019 |archive-date=October 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014235320/https://www.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture-rudolf-schindler |url-status=live }}
• Twelve A-frame houses in Northcrest Historic District, Atlanta, Georgia{{cite web |url=https://georgiashpo.org/hpdrelease-northcrest |title=Northcrest Historic District Listed in National Register of Historic Places |date=May 5, 2017 |access-date=October 15, 2019 |archive-date=August 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814085611/https://georgiashpo.org/hpdrelease-northcrest |url-status=usurped }}
• Ranger cabin, Oregon, in Zig-zag Ranger District{{cite web |title=OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_036521.doc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128051707/https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev3_036521.doc |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 28, 2020 |date=18 April 2006}}
• Park City, Utah, ski houses{{Cite web |url=http://www.parkcity.org/home/showdocument?id=11905 |title=Agenda |date=October 16, 2013 |website=Park City Municipal Corporation |access-date=2019-10-15 |archive-date=2021-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416205557/http://www.parkcity.org/home/showdocument?id=11905 |url-status=live }}

A-frame buildings which had been made popular since 1955 by Andrew Geller were built for churches across the world. The modern shape was reinterpreted spiritually as representing "hands at prayer" since 1961 and the design of the Holy Cross Anglican Church in Tokyo by the Czech-born American architect Antonin Raymond. His use of interlaced pillars was inspired by the traditional Japanese traditional country minka houses known as gasshō-zukuri (合掌造り), literally "clasped-hands style".{{Cite web |title=Tokyo Sei Juji Kyokai: Holy Cross Church, Tokyo |url=http://www.nskk.org/tokyo-wp/english/church/seijuji.html |access-date=20 August 2022 |publisher=Nippon Sei Ko Kai: Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan}}

Early examples of A-frame religious buildings are the Frank Lloyd Wright designed First Unitarian Society of Madison, built 1949–1951, as well as the Lutheran Church of the Atonement, designed by Harris Armstrong and built in 1949 in Florissant, Missouri.{{cite web |title=Mid-Century Modern Church Survey Religious Structures 1940 – 1970 in St. Louis County |url=https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/STLC%20Modern%20Church%20Report.pdf |publisher=Missouri State Parks |access-date=31 August 2023}} Charles E. Stade designed dozens of A-frame church buildings in the United States throughout the 1950s and 1960s,{{cite web |title=Charles E. Stade |url=https://achicagosojourn.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/charles-e-stade-architect/ |website=A Chicago Sojourn |access-date=31 August 2023}} along with Edward D. Dart and Edward Sövik.{{cite web |title=The Quietly Dangerous Suburban Church |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/126778/quietly-dangerous-suburban-church |website=The New Republic |access-date=31 August 2023}} The style was in 1960 used by the Catholic Church to build Saint Joseph Church, Lynden, Washington just before the Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church in 1961. It was used most impressively for the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel inaugurated in 1962.

File:Yaddlethorpe Methodist Church - geograph.org.uk - 181813.jpg

At the same time, the A-frame used was in Europe as early 1959 for Bakkehaugen Church in Norway by architect Ove Bang who was an advocate of functionalism. When the Arctic Cathedral in 1965, the A-frame church had become a new identity of religious architecture in Scandinavia. It spread to Europe and was used in 1967 to build the Yaddlethorpe Methodist Church in Yaddlethorpe.

The A-shape religious building made it across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand with the Whiteley Memorial Methodist Church dedicated on 19 October 1963 considered as "Taranaki's most beautiful building".{{Cite web |last=Palmert |first=Harriet |date=2009-08-26 |title=Taranaki's most beautiful building |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/2777200/Taranakis-most-beautiful-building |access-date=2022-08-20 |website=Stuff |language=en}}

File:路思義的理念.jpg

Christian religious buildings have also adopted the A-style architecture mainly in South East Asia. The first example after Japan might be the Luce Memorial Chapel in Taiwan in 1963, followed by Saint Michael's Church in Sihanoukville in 1965, Xavier Hall Catholic Church in Bangkok in 1972, or the Church of the Pastoral Center in Da Lat in 2010 are some examples of a similar architectural style.

This style is still popular in Europe also, as in Henry's Ecumenical Art Chapel in Finland in 2005.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-28 |title=St Henry's Ecumenical Art Chapel by Sanaksenaho Architcets |url=https://architizer.com/projects/st-henrys-ecumenical-art-chapel/ |access-date=2022-08-20 |website=Architizer |language=en-us}}

image:Wienerschnitzel Hot Dogs in Whittier, California.jpg]]

• Numerous older Wienerschnitzel stores are A-frames
• Whataburger stores
• IHOP restaurants
• Tastee-Freez stores
• Nickerson Farms stores (e.g., see :File:Abandoned Nickerson Farms, Picacho, AZ.jpg)
• Travelers Rest Motel, near Everett, Pennsylvania{{cite web |url=https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-BD23 |title=Travelers Rest Motel |date=17 July 2018 |publisher=SAH Archipedia |access-date=14 October 2019 |archive-date=17 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017174126/https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-BD23 |url-status=live }}
• Dick Lewis Pontiac-Cadillac (1964), Olympia, Washington
• The main building of Florida's Disney's Contemporary Resort, in which the Walt Disney World monorail has a station
• Lake Easton Resort (c.1963), Easton, Washington
• Tiki Lodge (c.1964), Spokane, Washington

File:Main facade Wakefield Country Day School.jpg

• Wakefield Country Day School, Flint Hill, Virginia

• Minka
• Vernacular architecture
• {{portal-inline|Housing}}

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• {{Cite book |last=Randl |first=Chad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snd3mdgwgxcC&dq=a-frame+restaurant&pg=PA129 |title=A-frame |date=2004 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=978-1-56898-410-0 |language=en}}

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• [http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/A-frame-Style.htm A-frame Style] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104045208/http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/A-frame-Style.htm |date=2007-01-04 }} from Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond on About.com, by Jackie Craven
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nomx7rICB4k/ A-frame Home] - An A-frame home in the Hollywood Hills owned and restored by Nicky Panicci
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150704042253/http://www.a-framehouse.com/ A-frame House] Website (archive) about an a-frame house located in Phoenix, AZ.

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Category:Vernacular architecture