like those of a Zweiständerhaus. Often the lower part of the roof is attached on both sides. Vierständerhaus The design of the Vierständerhaus or four-post farmhouse is a more comfortable evolutionary development of the Zweiständerhaus built by well-to-do farmers. The building is supported by four rows of uprights arranged longitudinally, of which two form the sides of the Deele and two form the outer walls. So the outsider walls have a load-bearing function. In farmhouses of more affluent farmers there is also a clearer separation between living quarters and animal stalls. Durchgangshaus In addition to the normal floor plan there are also farmhouses with a large gateway at both gable ends of the building in order to enable carts to be driven through from end to end. In such a Durchgangshaus or "through house" the layout of the rooms was necessarily different. Even the hearth was not located in the usual place. This variant of the Low German house is often found in Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, but also occasionally in Westphalia too. Roof shapes In Westphalia all these farmhouses have a gable roof. In parts of Lower Saxony and in Holstein there is a mix of farmhouses with gable and hipped-gable roofs, and in Mecklenburg almost all have hipped-gables. A pure hipped roof is rare. Gable shapes The original location of the living accommodation in part of the Deele explains the very unusual layout of the Low German house. Whilst other 'all-in-one' farmhouses have their living quarters at the front, the Low German house across most of its native region has its main gateway at the front. The large gateway gable (colloquially: Grotdörgiebel) was very carefully made. The frame and especially the lintel of the Grote Dör (great door) were adorned with inscriptions and decorations. On simple houses the gable above is just filled in with vertical timber laths; on more complicated buildings the timber-framing of the steep gable extends almost to the roof ridge. In the Altes Land projecting gables are preferred. In Schaumburg Land and the area around Hanover the gable is topped by a roof section sloping at about 80°. The stepped gable on the living room side was only decorated in a few cases, for example, in the Vierlande where it was on the road-facing side. Internal layout In the 18th century the Low German house was built ever larger, with a length of up to