What is a House?
House (sometimes shortened to home) is the place where people live. It is a private, usually rectangular building with windows and a roof to protect against rain, wind and sunlight. Houses may be built of wood, brick, adobe, rammed earth or other materials. In some areas, houses are made of prefabricated sections, such as the “modular” homes popular in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Houses are often designed with a central living area, surrounded by rooms for sleeping, eating and working. Houses may have a garden or yard for recreation. Animals are sometimes kept in houses, for meat or eggs or as pets.
In some countries, people own their houses, which is called “home ownership”. Ownership may also be shared by a family, such as in a joint-ownership arrangement. A house is often located in a village, town or city, near shops and transport links. Houses may be connected to each other or separated by walls, roads or other features such as rivers or lakes. Some houses are detached, meaning they stand alone on a piece of land with surrounding gardens or yards. People may decorate and furnish their houses with furniture and artworks, and may have pets or livestock.
Whether large or small, simple or elaborate, a house is the repository of personal history and a place where memories are made. It is the place where a person feels safe and secure, and where they are loved. People often describe their homes with emotional phrases like: “there’s no place like home,” or “home is where the heart is.”
The house is a center of social life. It is where children are raised and educated, and where people spend most of their free time. In a household, there are usually several members of a family, including children, parents, siblings and other relatives. People may also have close friends, whom they invite to their homes for parties and other events. Houses are also where many social services agencies operate, helping those who cannot care for themselves or live without a family.
People may give their houses proper names, and these names can carry a great deal of emotional significance for the owners. The name of a house may reflect its location, such as a seaside cottage or a mountain retreat, or it may commemorate someone. Especially in towns with a heritage of buildings, some houses become significant and are designated as landmarks or listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
People may refer to their work as “the office”, or to their social lives as “going out”, “coming in from the cold” or “getting out of the house”. They may also express their desire for a separate working and living space by saying: “I’m going home to get ready for the office”. The word house is used in many idioms, such as “behind the times”; “behind the eight ball”; and “out of the house”. Companies that publish books, lend money or design clothes are often called houses, too.