アジア在住ヨーロッパ人の生活様式の変容とヴェランダ式住宅の誕生(<特集>植民地都市の社会史 : オランダ領東インドの事例)

Abstract

When foreign merchants settled in the treaty ports of China and Japan in the nineteenth century, they constructed houses entirely surrounded by verandahs. This type of building, which may be called the verandah house, was the most popular house-type among Europeans living in tropical Asia. As the verandah house did not originate in Europe, it must have been created in colonial Asia by European colonists as they adjusted their life-style to the colonial environment. This article argues a relationship between the changing European life-style in the colonial environment and the birth of the verandah house, using historical documents and drawings. It concludes that the verandah house was probably first devised in the frontiers-areas remote from the colonial centers-such as plantations, resorts, or military bases, where it was hard to find people skilled in European building techniques and to acquire the necessary materials. Although in the early stage of development, such a house-type was scorned by European newcomers and intellectuals, it was accepted widely by colonial society, where people sought comfort by employing many servants.