The homestead No. 15 is a part of the housing on the left side of the village green in Nová Lhota. It belonged to the farmsteads measured at the village foundation, in the mid-16th century. The 18th century sources mention this homestead as a half-quarter, thus a divided one owned by the Beňa family. From fragmentary reports we can experience that the homestead was large enough to support two families – those of Martin and Jan Beňa (1775). Martin represented the homestead before the lord and revenue offi cers. His death forced the widow to get married again and Martin Saitz – Zajitz (1789- 1827) is mentioned as the owner. Jan Beňo with his family stayed at the homestead. He possessed a piece of fi eld and his children Alžběta, Tomáš and Kateřina are registered as to be entitled to an annuity when retired and to an heir’s share.
The presence of another family with a separate household, living here in addition to the farmer’s family, was documented repeatedly in the course of the entire 19th century. Since 1857, here lived the owner Václav Kubík with his family and – in the other household – widow Anna Ševečková with daughters and son Martin, a veteran of the 3rd infantry regiment in the town of Kroměříž. The farm with 5 ha fields, meadows and pastures, a pair of horses, cows, calves and some sheep probably required a higher number of workforces. The family of hofers (agricultural workers) helped cope with fi tful works, like ploughing, haymaking, harvest or potato harvesting. For that, they could use a small room, a piece of land and sometimes their own cattle, however, always in dependence on the farmer’s will.
In 1872, Jan and Kateřina Malár, young farmers with little children, acquired the homestead. The family of agricultural workers may have stayed here in the beginning; in 1880, however, it did not live here more. The adolescent children Josef, Jiří, Anton, Martin and the oldest Anna had to manage plenty of duties. According to the local measures, a 13-years-old girl was a nearly grown-up – the most desirable brides were fifteen years old. The men were significantly older when entering the estate of matrimony – they got married at the age of 29 - 30 years, which related to eight long years spent in the army. Jan Malár got married at thirty-one, his sons Josef and Jiří at twenty-nine. Their young wives had lived in the house since 1900 as they helped in household and on farm.
Soon after that, in 1904, both of them got her own household because father-in-law Jan Malár divided the old homestead between his two sons. Younger brothers Antonín and Martin got a fi nancial share of 800 crowns, one cow and three sheep. The inheritance, however, was not divided evenly. Older Josef received nearly 4 ha farmland and the old house, he remained a halfquarter- section farmer. Jiří got only one hectare and ranked among the half-plot peasants – půlzáhončář – the smallest one among the peasants in Lhota. The next development of the new homesteads reflected the farmland size. The old homestead No. 15 adhered to the farmer’s traditions – the farmer raised a gelding and a mare, an ox, two cows, two heifers, a ram, 6 sheep and 7 hens. The new number 265 had only one ox, two cows, one heifer and ten hens.
In 1921, Josef Malár with his wife and the older daughter lived in the front house. The daughter brought her husband to the homestead and both helped the father on farm. In the rear house lived Jiří Malár with his wife and five children whereby the older daughter and son had to help on farm. In 1931, sixty-years-old Josef Malár retired, handing over his front house to his daughter Marie Fojtíková with her husband. In the following year, Jiří Malár with his wife retired, handing over the rear house to their only son. Both houses in the common yard were owned by cousins. Brothers Josef and Jiří Malárs lived in their retirement rooms thirty years until 1960 when they died at the age of 89 and 86 years respectively.
The dwelling house of the homestead No. 15 represents a developed constructional type built on the wide lots of half-quarter section homesteads. This house type replaced the older gable-oriented houses gradually. The new type distinguished itself by its gutter-oriented L-shaped ground plan with a remarkable trend to roof the passage to the yard – návratí – and to form a compact street line. Typical is the rectangular layout of the basic units. The habitable room – jizba - is located in the corner; the adjoining chamber is on the street side. The hall is on the rear side towards the yard. The farm sheds and the retirement house are attached in the longitudinal axis. Therefore, we speak about a so-called “long house” with two dwelling possibilities – in the front and at the back, or in the front house and in the back house.
In our case, the basic layout is extended by the isolated building of the smallholding Nr. 265. It is a usual house with two rooms (habitable room + hall with open-hearth kitchen) with attached cowsheds. Its location in the yard, behind the front house, removed some prestigious social aspects of the building. The house has plain plaster, smaller window, and simple entrance door. The lower demands were refl ected in the smaller dimensions of the room and the hall whereby the chamber does not exist here at all.
