What is a Adobe House

Adobe houses are found all through Mexico and the Southwest of the United States, western Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of southern Califor­nia. The word adobe simply means sun- dried clay in the Spanish language. It has been used for thousands of years in North Africa, and the Spanish learned how to make bricks of clay from the Mohammedan invaders who conquered Spain for a period of a few hundred years, back in the Middle Ages. The Spaniards brought the word to America, and also the best method of making the clay bricks, when they came over four hundred and more years ago.

 The adobe bricks are made by wetting clay, mixing it with straw or hay, and packing it into wood frames that make it into the shape of a brick. These frames are put out in the sun, where they dry. After the bricks dry, they are used for building a house.

 Adobe houses are usu­ally only one story high. They are very comfortable, cool inside in the summer and warm in winter, and also fireproof. Because they are made of clay, which is This adobe building is a Taos Indian house, in New Mexico. There are 110 stairways in­side, the ladders you see being used instead. A Taos Indian wears different-colored blan­kets like this one. When he stands in front of the brown walls of an adobe house, the colors make a beautiful picture. Sew Mexico State Tourist Bureau little more than mud, you might think that they would wash away in a heavy rain, but they do not. An adobe house usually lasts 100 years or more, and some are known to have lasted as long as 300 years.