# Beehive house

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Beehive_house
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Beehive_house.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive_house
> Source revision: 1356394299
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Building made from a circle of stones topped with a domed roof

This article is about a type of human dwelling. For other uses, see [Beehive (disambiguation)](/source/Beehive_(disambiguation)).

For Brigham Young's house in Salt Lake City, see [Beehive House](/source/Beehive_House).

Village of beehive houses in [Harran](/source/Harran), [Turkey](/source/Turkey).

A **beehive house** is a building made from a circle of stones or mud topped with a cone-shaped roof. The name comes from the similarity in shape to a straw [beehive](/source/Beehive).

## Occurrences

The ancient [Bantu](/source/Bantu_peoples) used this type of house, which was made with mud, poles, and [cow dung](/source/Cow_dung). Early European settlers in the Karoo region of South Africa built similar structures known as [corbelled](/source/Corbel_arch) houses. These white-washed structures[1] are described as coursed rubble on a circular plan, with each successive course smaller and slightly corbelled over the course below so that a conical shape is achieved as each course is completed.[2]

Beehive houses are some of the oldest known structures in [Ireland](/source/Ireland) and [Scotland](/source/Scotland),[3]. Beehive houses have also been built in the [Italian Peninsula](/source/Italian_Peninsula), with some still being built as late as the 19th century in [Apulia](/source/Apulia) (south-eastern [Italy](/source/Italy)). and going by the name of *[trulli](/source/Trullo)*.[2]

A town called [Harran](/source/Harran) in Turkey is also the location of houses that mimic the beehive architecture and they are still in existence today. The structures, which are clustered together like a termite colony, were said to have been constructed as windowless cones because it is the only way to achieve a roof without timber.[4]

## Gallery

		- Another view of beehive houses in Harran.

		- Village of beehive houses near [Aleppo](/source/Aleppo), Syria, in 1927

		- Row of [trullo](/source/Trullo) beehive houses in Monte Pertica street in [Alberobello](/source/Alberobello), [Bari Province](/source/Bari_Province), [Italy](/source/Italy).

## See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Beehive houses](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Beehive_houses).

- [Beehive tomb](/source/Beehive_tomb)

- [Clochán](/source/Cloch%C3%A1n), Irish stone huts, often beehive shaped

- [Musgum mud huts](/source/Musgum_mud_huts), huts of the [Musgum people](/source/Musgum_people) in Cameroon

- [Nuraghe](/source/Nuraghe), large, round, neolithic, stone structures in [Sardinia](/source/Sardinia)

- [Trullo](/source/Trullo), a southern Italian and northern Israel type of beehive house

- [Dovecote](/source/Dovecote) also called doocot (Scots), buildings to house doves, some are beehive shaped, stone structures

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Pinchuck, Tony; McCrea, Barbara; Reid, Donald; Mthembu-Salter, Greg (2002). *South Africa*. Rough Guides. p. 338. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781858288536](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781858288536).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_2-1) Curl, James; Wilson, Susan (2015). *The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 75. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780199674985](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780199674985).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Chamber's Encyclopaedia: Volume I"](https://books.google.com/books?id=jRAiAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22beehive+houses%22&pg=PA806), J. B. Lippincott & Co. (1870), p.806.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Darke, Diana (2011). *Eastern Turkey*. Guilford, CT: Bradt Travel Guides. p. 229. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781841623399](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781841623399).

v t e Hut dwelling designs and semi-permanent human shelters Traditional immobile Bahay kubo (Nipa hut) Barabara Beehive house Bothy Bunong Burdei Bure Cleit Clochán (beehive hut) Crotto Dugout Earth lodge Funco Girna Goahti Hogan Humpy Icelandic turf house Igloo Jacal Kapar Log cabin Maloca Menstruation Mitato Musgum mud huts Oca Orri Palloza Pit-house Qargi Qarmaq Quiggly hole Quinzhee Rondavel Roundhouse Ruka Sassi di Matera Shieling Sod house Sukkah Tongkonan Trullo Tukul Wigwam, wickiup and wetu Zemlyanka Housing portal Traditional mobile Chum Lavvu Shepherd's hut Tipi Yaranga Yurt and ger Ger district Open-air Beach fale Cabana Chickee Gazebo Lean-to Palapa Pergola Ramada Toguna Modern Beach hut Hopper hut Iris hut Logging camp Nissen hut Quonset hut Jamesway hut Romney hut Rondavel Slab hut Twynham hut Wilderness hut Alpine club hut Mountain hut Winter room Related topics Cabanes du Breuil Circular linhay Earth sheltering Shack Shed Skellig Michael Stilt house Tent Thatching Transhumance Tree house Vernacular architecture Village des Bories Category Portal

This article about a building or structure type is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

- [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Struct-type-stub)
- [t](/source/Template_talk%3AStruct-type-stub)
- [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Struct-type-stub)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Beehive house](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive_house) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive_house?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.