Circa 1956: two zulu tribesmen weaving branches to create a stable frame for a new hut. photo credit: Three lions/Getty images
Butabu, Sub-Sahara African Architecture published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2003 & Electra, 2004.
Dinka village homestead near Bor, South Sudan, 1910. Two women stand beside pots near the courtyard entrance. Photo by Charles Gabriel Seligman
Dinka homestead near Bor, South Sudan, 1910. A thatched cone marks a likely man's grave near a hut entrance. Photo by Charles Gabriel Seligman.
Created by mystic Serigne Omar Sy (b. 1913), this straw-built compound honors a sacred material revealed to him in a dream. Photo c. early 2000s (Roberts & Roberts, 2003)
A traditional Zulu house in South Africa, photographed in the winter of 1979
Traditional Dinka hut, showcasing vernacular architecture from South Sudan
Traditional Benin Architecture. Image Courtesy of Mathias Agbo, Jr
Interior of an Obu meeting house in Asaga village, showing five life-sized sculptural figures on a raised platform. Each figure is distinct: the nearest holds a stick; next, a female figure adorned with leg rings; followed by two males wearing hats, one holding a rifle. On the back wall, a male figure holds a severed head in one hand and a machete in the other. A central beam supports the roof, and the walls are painted with intricate, colorful designs. Image courtesy of G. I. Jones, sourced via SkyscraperCity by user Arinze.
Carved wooden pillar base from Nri Awka Igbo, early 20th century, featuring a figure with raised axe, patterned torso, and bent knees. Circular and bird motifs decorate the base. Image courtesy of G. I. Jones, sourced via SkyscraperCity by user Arinze.
Central pillar of a ruined Ohafia Obu house. Image courtesy of G. I. Jones, sourced via SkyscraperCity by user Arinze.
![House of Chief Ogbon[n]a. Entrance door with interior balcony. Image courtesy of G. I. Jones, sourced via SkyscraperCity by user Arinze.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65b41067c4042363cf11625f/795c2427-3151-4613-a9b0-5b6522bd2071/tumblr_m7omc84v631qjh37to2_1280.jpg)
House of Chief Ogbon[n]a. Entrance door with interior balcony. Image courtesy of G. I. Jones, sourced via SkyscraperCity by user Arinze.
Ekpe (Leopard Society) meeting house in Umuajatta village, Olokoro, with a tall thatched roof and painted wall by an Annang artist in Ngwomo ghost house style. G.I. Jones, 1932–1938. Image courtesy of G.I. Jones, via SkyscraperCity user Arinze.
Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò: Mbari house built for Chief Ogbua, showcasing traditional ceremonial design. Image credit: Nairaland Forum, July 31, 2012.
Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò: Chief Ogbua, Onitcha house interior. Image credit: Nairaland Forum, July 31, 2012.
Mbari house for Obiala in Ndiama Obube by Nnaji, reflecting sacred Igbo artistic traditions. Image credit: Nairaland Forum, August 02, 2012.
Nkamalo shrine inside Ezi Akputa compound, Mgbom village, Afikpo Village-Group, Ebonyi/Abia State, Nigeria. Simon Ottenberg, 1951–1953. Image credit: Nairaland Forum, August 02, 2012.
Bini Okpabe shrine in front of the Nsi Omomo shrine, Ezi Akputa compound, Mgbom village, Afikpo Village-Group, Ebonyi/Abia State, Nigeria. Simon Ottenberg, 1951–1953. Image credit: Nairaland Forum, August 02, 2012.
Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò: Painted entry wall of a communal shrine in Anambra, adorned with uli designs resembling a galaxy. Image credit: Nairaland Forum, August 02, 2012.
Intricately carved Igbo doors from Nigeria, made of sacred iroko wood, serving as powerful entrance portals to the male obi meeting house. Noted for V-shaped chip carving and symbolic contrasts. Photographs © Hamill Gallery.
The intricately carved doors of the Igbo people of Nigeria are impressive. Carved from sacred iroko hardwood for major patrons, they served as entrance portals to an obi, the male meeting house. Iroko wood is associated with males, power, and certain mysteries, with the tree’s spirit ritually placated before felling. The large planks were extremely difficult to make. The doors are distinguished by careful chip carving into V-shaped grooves and contrasts of plain with densely carved areas. Credited to Photographs © Hamill Gallery.
Entrance gate and relief-decorated walls of a farmer’s compound in Nnewi, northern Igboland, Nigeria. Photo: Edward Duckworth, 1938. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
Entrance of a compound in Agukwu Nri, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
A hand-built bridge in Igbo country, captured by Gustaf Bolinder in 1930–31—a testament to indigenous engineering and the practical artistry of local craftsmanship. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
A sacred Alụsị compound in an unnamed Igbo community—where earth, spirit, and tradition converge in a space of ritual and reverence. Referenced in A.E. Afigbo’s 1970 article, “Sir Ralph Moor and the Economic Development of Southern Nigeria: 1896–1903,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. V, No. 3, pp. 376–377. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr
Winding alleyways of the Ezi Akputa compound in Mgbom village, Afikpo. intimate passages that reveal the spatial use of eastern Igbo domestic life. Photo: Simon Ottenberg, 1952. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
Echoes of elegance in earth - refined traditional architecture from the Lower Guinea region of West Africa, where form, function, and artistry were molded from soil and spirit. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
Sculpted from the ground they stood on these stately earthen structures from Lower Guinea reveal a vernacular sophistication rooted in the rhythms of West African life. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
Ancestral shrine house (Mma obu) standing beside the Ibini Okpabe shrine, guardians of tradition and spirit, captured between 1951 and 1953. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr
Architectural structures from Lower Guinea, these elegant earthen forms reflect the refined building traditions and environmental harmony of West Africa’s past. Credit: Ụkpụrụ̄ – Historical images of the Igbo, their neighbours and beyond via Tumblr.
Entrance to a chief’s compound showcasing traditional 20th-century Igbo architecture (Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò). Photo: G.T. Basen. Credit: Nairaland Forum, January 03, 2014
Compound of Ogidi Kalu, featuring the Ende Agbamazu altar inside the living room and the intricately carved living room door. Photo: Zbigniew Dmochowski, 1960s. Credit: Nairaland Forum, September 11, 2012.
House construction in the forest region, reflecting the traditional architecture of the Igbo people. Photo: G. I. Jones, 1930s. Nigeria. Credit: Nairaland Forum
A weathered pillar from a decayed Obu house, bearing skulls of human, horse, leopard, and antelope—symbols of power and ancestral connection. Two stylized figures, male above and female below, stand with bent knees atop a raised platform, framed by a mud-and-thatch dwelling and onlookers. G. I. Jones, circa 1920s. Credit: Nairaland Forum.