House Under Construction

House Under Construction

Carpenters

Story

The house is nearing completion of construction. At least two of the men are wearing carpenter's aprons.  And, the windows have no curtains - you can see through the house.

There are two carpenter's chests on the front porch. One carpenter's chest lid is being propped open with lever and the other with a saw - maybe it was windy and the wind kept blowing the chests closed. I do not think that was the situation. The picture is staged by someone to show how well they can balance carpenter tools.

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Balanced Wooden Planer And Carpenter's Square

Note the wooden plane sitting between and on top of the ends of the two lids with a carpenter's square balanced on top of the plane.  The level and the saw propping the lids were probably necessary to stablize the carpenter's chest's lids so as to be able to balance the plane and carpenter's square long enough to take the picture.

Like many houses built in the period this one might be called a foursquare or box - "a type rather than a style. It is characterized by its cubic form and simple, economical floor plan. ... It is one of the most widely built, early 20th century house types for a variety of reasons. It is an extremely simple form, energy and resource efficient, easily standardized, and economical to build."l1]

Who's Who

These carpenters may well be Brunken relatives as noted from the following newspaper clippings:

The Columbus journal (Columbus, Nebraska) May 3, 1906, page 8

The Columbus journal (Columbus, Nebraska) November 2, 1910, page 1

These Brunkens were my grandfather's younger brothers - Henry Frederick Brunken and Charles "Carl" Henry Brunken.

Date

Unknown. All the dates of items in the album so far identified have been between 1905 and 1919 with most of the dates being between 1911 and 1917.

Location

Probably in Nebraska because this post card was in the first section of my grandmother's album which contained post cards received from relatives in Nebraska.

Notes

1. Foursquare Style — 1895 to 1930. [Antique Home Style] http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/styles/foursquare.htm