Indian Apache Houses

Apache Houses

Hogans were made with a frame of logs and sticks and usually covered with mud. 

Hogan

Outside view of a mud hogan


Inside view of a hogan

Hogans are the name of one of the styles of homes that the Apache people lived in. Hogans were made with a frame of logs and sticks and usually covered with mud. Hogans were one room dwellings that were unique in the fact that they were classified as male or female dwelling according to their shape. A male Hogan was cone shaped, while a female Hogan was a six or eight sided dwelling. The door of a Hogan always faced east. The floor of the Hogan represented Mother Earth and the roof, Father Sky.

Kowa

Another Apache dwelling consisted of a dome shaped frame of cottonwood or other poles, thatched with grass. The house itself was called a Kowa and the grass thatch, "Pi". Sometimes these thatch houses are incorrectly referred to as just pi houses.

In another variation, the thatched house was built into the side of a hill or a mound of dirt. This style house was later adopted by white settlers who homesteaded on the plains, until a more permanent house could be built. The settlers called them sod houses.

Apache Wickiup

 
Apache Indians Building Wickiup Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed   MountedThe wickiup was the most commonly used style for apache houses. The frame of the wickiup was made from thicker branches and covered in brush. Sometimes the brush was also covered with a buffalo hide. Wickiups were small dwellings, often the size of a modern camp tent, and an Apache woman could build a new wickiup in two hours if there was enough brush available.

Apache Tipi

The Plains Apache and many of the Lipan Apache tribes adopted the buffalo hide tipi style house. Tipis were easier to keep warm than wickiups and usually had more room inside than a wickiup