The Razzett Building The farmhouse developed the way it did due to a number of factors. Protection was certainly what prompted the security aspects, but the climate, building materials and other factors also played a part.
The only building material available in abundance in Malta is limestone, which has its own physical limitations, which presented structural problems to be overcome. Malta’s climate required a building which was cool in summer and warm in winter. Centuries of building demonstrated the central courtyard model as ideally suited for Malta’s climate.
The location and orientation of the farmhouse were also considerations – if possible the house was built on solid stone which had been excavated to provide a water reservoir which collected rainwater run off from roof and yard and which would feed both the house and the fields. In order for the farmhouse to be suitable to the climate which is hot and humid in summer and chilly and rainy in winter, the orientation was important, with the front of the house facing south. Clever positioning of windows, grapevines, trees and upper floors all served to help keep the house cool in summer.
A Persjana (louvred shutter) and cane curtains (ħasira) also helped in this, and it is interesting to note that glass was very seldom used, and its presence is almost certainly an indication that the house has been refurbished.
The paucity of natural water made flat roofs a necessity for water conservation, and an elaborate system of aqueducts and waterspouts was created to retain as much rainwater as possible. Farmhouses were built on solid rock. A well would be dug into the stone to collect run off rainwater from the roofs and courtyard.
In order to conserve arable land, the farmer would build on as small a footprint as possible, but rooms were added on as necessary as the family expanded. Indeed sometimes a whole new farmhouse was built, linked to the old one via a passage or bridge.
Many smaller farmhouses only occupied the ground floor in order to avoid the more complex structure required for upper floors. External walls are almost always tad-dobblu (doubled) with two layers of stone and an infill of rubble and stone chips. These could be up to 130 cm thick. Early farmhouse walls used irregularly shaped stones and a dry rubble construction, but when quarrying came into its own, more precise, cut stone was used.
The commonest roofing system for the ground floor was a series of arches supporting stone slabs, and the distance between the arches was mandated by the span of the slab, which could not be above 1.2m. For the upper floors thick wooden (and later iron) beams were used as these did not exert any sideways thrust.
A variety of flooring was used – early farmhouses had torba (primitive cement) floors. The stables and animal pens were frequently just beaten earth or rough stone slabs. Family rooms were paved with flagstones on a 5cm layer of stone chippings. Several coats of warm linseed oil mixed with prickly pear leaves would then be applied forming a transparent seal and a hardened shiny floor, easy to sweep wash and polish. During the last couple of decades of the 19th century local workers began producing floor tiles which were colourful and could be matched to produce intricate patterns.
The Rażżett generally has certain characteristics – a cart-room, a central courtyard surrounded by tall walls, a stable, an external staircase, arches to support an upper floor, an open corridor reminiscent of a cloister on the upper floor and a barumbara (a pigeon house for raising this important food source).
Windows overlooked the courtyard and not the outside, although later in the farmhouse life, when the threat of slave raids was past, some exterior windows were added. At ground floor level, the rooms only had narrow vertical slits (rewweħiet or muxrabija), high up in the wall, which allowed for ventilation and also to permit the farmer to look out without being observed, or even fire a gun in case of an attack.
The exterior of early farmhouses was generally plain, however in later years, various embellishments were added such as the construction date or a niche to the Madonna or village saint as well as mouldings, sculptures and other ornamentation.
Occasionally the farmhouse grew into a cluster of farmhouses as children grew, married and had families of their own, and these were generally interconnected, or joined by narrow lanes. The lane, although narrow had to be at least wide enough for donkey and cart to pass through and would lead from the farmhouse to the road, with a main gate (xatba) demarking the property boundary. This would generally be left open during the day and closed at night.