Post-and-plank
wooden building technique
The method of building wooden buildings with a traditional timber frame with horizontal plank or log infill has many names, the most common of which are piece sur piece (French. Also used to describe log building), corner post construction, post-and-plank, ständerbohlenbau (German) and skiftesverk (Swedish). This traditional building method is believed to be the predecessor to half-timber construction widely known by its German name fachwerkbau which has wall infill of wattle and daub, brick, or stone. This carpentry was used from parts of Scandinavia to Switzerland to western Russia. Though relatively rare now, two types are found in a number of regions in North America, more common are the walls with planks or timbers which slide in a groove in the posts and less common is a type where horizontal logs are tenoned into individual mortises in the posts. This method is not the same as the plank-frame buildings in North America with vertical plank walls.
Other names
French: pièce sur pièce poteaux et pièce coulissante (piece on piece sliding in a groove), pièce sur pièce en coulisse, poteaux et piece coulissante, pieces sur pieces, poiteau cannale, and poteaux sur soles.
German (including southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria): blockstanderbau (log frame construction), standerblockbau (frame log construction), ständerbohlenbau (post plank construction), bohlenständerbau (plank post construction), and sometimes bohlenwand
Polish: sumikowo-łątkowa (planks—sumiki, sumikami, palcami; post—łątki)
English: section plank wall, corner-post log construction, corner posting technique, corner posting, post cornering, vertical-post log construction, post and log, post and panel, Red River frame, Hudson's Bay style, Hudson's Bay corners, Rocky Mountain frame, Manitoba Frame, "Métis" style, "French" style, slotted post construction, grooved post, post and fill, panel construction, section panel, and running mortise and tenon (or tongue).
Danish: bulhus (bole house which means plank house)
Italian: a ritti e panconi
European history
The support of horizontal timbers by corner posts is an old form of construction in Europe. It was apparently carried across much of the continent from Silesia by the Lausitz urnfield culture in the late Bronze Age.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Post-and-plank” as wooden building technique. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as wooden building technique. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1246379.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Post-and-plank”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Post-and-plank primary sources, Post-and-plank archive and Post-and-plank research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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This entry incorporates text from “Post-and-plank” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.