positioned inside the non-load bearing outer walls. The outer walls only serve as protection against the weather and can be designed to be relatively weak from a structural loading perspective. Because islands and Halligen were largely treeless, marine debris, such as ships' masts and planks washed up on the shore, was used for the internal timber frame. The foundation of the houses, which had no cellars as a rule, consisted of field boulders. In several houses, under the kitchen, a low store room was let into the ground and walled with boulders to act as a cold store and storage room. Another feature of the Uthland-Frisian houses is the half door or Klöntür. This door is divided horizontally, so that the upper half can be opened independently, for example, in order to ventilate the room. The closed lower half prevents the small animals, that were often kept around the house, from entering the living room. The half-open door is ideal for chatting to neighbours, an activity known in Sylt Frisian as Klöön (Low German Klönen); hence the name of this type of door. Well preserved and typical Uthland houses, such as Tadsen (built 1741) and Sönnichsen (today housing the local history museum), for example, are found on the Hallig of Langeneß; another one is the Öömrang Hüs on Amrum. Haus Olesen, originally built in 1617, was demolished and rebuilt in Wyk auf Föhr, and is now the oldest preserved house of this type. It, too, belongs to a local history museum. References Sources Ellen Bauer, Ludwig Fischer, Hans Joachim Kühn, Matthias Maluck & Dirk Meier: The Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea Region. Lancewad Report 2001 des Wattenmeer-Sekretariats. Download page External links Description of Haus Olesen on the island of Föhr Architecture in Frisia Farmhouses Vernacular architecture