ADOBE

ADOBE (corrupted to "dobie" by Anglo-Americans), a type of construction used principally in the Rocky Mountain plateau and the southwestern United States. The method came from North Africa via Spain and was introduced into the Southwest by the Spanish conquerors in the sixteenth century. Most of the Spanish mission buildings were made of this material. Wet clay and chopped hay or other fibrous material were mixed together and then tramped with bare feet. This was molded into bricks and sun dried. Mud was used as mortar. Adobe was widely used to build forts and trading posts as far east

and north as Nebraska. In the twentieth century, the adobe look emerged as a popular residential building style in southwestern cities and suburbs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Spears, Beverly. American Adobes: Rural Houses of Northern New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986.

Everett Dick/A. R.

See also Building Materials; New Mexico; Pueblo.