The Typology of Historic Houses of the Qajar Period in Naraq

For a long time, Naraq plain has been accommodating different types of habitation, such as residential fields to mastery houses.  Based on some evidences, Naraq’s primary core is located in the western half of the town and in the Lower (Paien) neighborhood. In the further development of the town, the Upper (Bala) and Bazaar neighborhoods are formed in the east and north of the older neighborhood. House is the main constituent unit of each urban area, and houses determine the shape and atmosphere of the neighborhoods. Therefore, houses are an important part of the town, and their recognition, not only helps us in being familiar with the architectural features and habitat of a region, but also provides a better understanding of the settlement that includes houses. Nonetheless, houses in Naraq are more likely to be destroyed than the town itself, as many of them have been destroyed in recent decades. Destruction of these houses will lead to the disappearance of patterns of residence and the culture based on it; where houses are closely associated with the natural environment and natural landscape of the town and thus inevitable in the formation of the primary cores and the recent town. Based on this, the paper seeks to identify the most important examples and types of houses in Naraq in the form of a typological study. The research method of this study is based on field studies and survey, and analysis and interpretation of samples based on the main spaces and organs of the house. In this regard, all historic houses of the Qajar period of the town, which were accessible, have been surveyed, their plans have been prepared and their spaces have been identified. In the following, efforts have been made to study the possibility of combining important spaces together and their role in the formation of a particular type of dwelling. During the study of twenty examples of historic samples and based on their spatial organization, houses are categorized into three main types, called "formal", "vernacular" and "semi-formal". Based on the combination of mass and space and the type of yard, the formal type is divided into three sub-categories: "formal with central courtyard", "formal linear" and "formal combinatorial". The commonality of formal houses is their placement in a particular residential neighborhood (Upper neighborhood), and their major difference is the existence or absence of a pattern of terraced gardens around the town in the courtyards. The vernacular type, which has the highest density in the Lower neighborhood, is formed on the basis of the room and their composition, and based on the shape of the courtyards and the social class of the owner or owners can be divided into two sub-categories "family vernacular" and "communal vernacular" types. In the vernacular and the formal houses, the influence of the neighborhood indicator and the concentration of a particular type within one neighborhood are observed. But in the third category, which is socially belonging to the prosperous class living in the Lower neighborhood and it was built in the development period of the town and in accordance with the vernacular pattern, it cannot be identified by relying on the location of the house. The reason for this is indications of the presence of the pattern of formal houses in homes within the range of vernacular types. So in this third category, the patterns are combined.