The proper place for settlement depended on the existence of a river or spring, the air currents, the existence of materials for building houses, the possibilities for protecting the settlement preconditioned by the relief, and the like. The foundation of settlements came as a result of deliberate and wise selection by the first settlers, based on the knowledge about dependence on the surrounding environment, the instinct for preservation of the clan and traditions, as well as their idea for the future economic prosperity of the community. A favorable factor for settlement was also considered to be the existence of nearby Christian (or other cult) spiritual places that were honored, proximity of cultural monuments, etc.
Sometimes new settlements were founded near older, abandoned or destroyed settlements, as the constructional materials from the ruins were used to build the new ones. The majority of the settlements formed along the transport and trade routes, but the concrete placement of the settlement was again affected by the geographical and nature factors.
The structure of the settlements formed spontaneously and naturally following the relief of the terrain, up through the second half of the 19th Century.
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The size and character of the settlement centers resulted from the economic condition and the population’s way of life. This community area was an expression of economic and cultural prosperity and the desire for dignified appearance of the local elite. Initially, the main square was formed around the church and school on a place not well built up and extensive in length, suitable for the organization of fests and marketplace. Afterwards, the town square obtained new functions – for trade and different community services and shops and workshops emerged.

When the settlement grew bigger, the number of the town squares also grew. The building of the church at the highest, naturally protected place, thus forming secondary community square was often met as a positive example in the ancient settlements. This was usually a complex of a church, belfry and a school surrounded with stone fence and representative gateway. Such complexes were a dominating accent in the silhouette of the settlement, imposing a sense for freedom, sustainability and hierarchy.
During the second half of the 19th Century, settlements acquired economic and trade centers with numerous street-stands and craftsmen workshops, usually placed at one and the same street in the bigger settlements of the region. Producers and customers from the surrounding region periodically crowded there.
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The local architectural tradition possesses features which connect it with the particularity of the Rhodopean architecture during the Bulgarian Revival. Common typifying features could be found in the building technique, the plan of the house and the existence of inner stair case, the floor plan, the façade and the oriel disclosure of the upper floor, prompted by constructional and functional reasons. The architectural monuments were the charge of skillful builders and carpenters from the Middle Rhodopes and Edirne. Local builders worked and learned from these masters, thus mastering the progressive tendencies of the Rhodopean and Edirne architectural schools.
The warm and mild climate, the mountainous terrain, the local constructional materials, the peculiarity of the traditions and the way of life created a common appearance of the residential houses. In most cases, the house had a balcony which is similar to the Bulgarian field house.
The preserved architectural heritage of the region gives an idea of how the Revival Eastern-Rhodopean house looked. It was practical and harmonic – a synthesis of national creative constructiveness and in symmetrical connection with the land and the nature.
According to the building technique and the materials used, the houses in the region could be divided in three main groups:
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1. First group – stone houses built completely from stone blocks. Examples for such houses can be found everywhere in the region;

2. Second group – stone houses with compound construction: stone masonry with partly or completely half-timbered construction of the second and third floors, with filling of wattle fence, stone or adobe. This manner of house construction was in essence a further development, lightening and elaboration of the stone house, as well as striving towards freedom in architectural and plastic respect;
3. Third group – houses built of sun-dried bricks. These were houses, one to three stories high, some with a huge total ground area, as all of the walls were of adobe or bricks. The ground and the ceiling constructions were wooden, most often covered with tiles. The connecting agent was clay that as the time passed bonded with the bricks and formed monolith solder. Such house were rarely plastered from the outside and, if they were, mellow red clay was used for the purpose. Thus they achieved a unique effect of the exterior – whole complexes of red houses with unusual coloring and impact were formed. An expressive example for the uniqueness of this “red” architecture is the preserved village of Mandrica. This type of houses can also be found in the villages Odrintzi, Siv Kladenetz, Drabishna, Malko Gradishte and Lozen.

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