Every chattel house on this island follows the same proportion — twelve feet wide, sixteen feet deep, gable roof pitched to shed the June rains. These dimensions were never written in any manual. They passed hand to hand across generations of free workers who knew a house need not be permanent to be true.
The Twelve-by-Sixteen Rule
Twelve by sixteen feet is the largest rectangle two people can prefabricate in wall sections, carry by cart, and reassemble before sundown. Coral-stone blocks, never mortared, let the house sit lightly on the earth — ready to move when a tenant's contract ended.
A chattel house tells you nothing about ambition and everything about judgment. Every joint is tight. Every shutter fits. The restraint is the point.