The urban fabric of many provincial towns of Latvia, including Aizpute, is mostly made up of old small-size wooden houses. In many areas they form culturally and historically important architectural ensembles. Wooden architecture of towns is a unique phenomenon of material culture. The old wooden houses have withstood fi res, natural disasters, wars, technically erroneous repair works and badly planned rebuilding. Many wooden houses have perished, thus diminishing the architectural quality of provincial towns. The awareness of tendencies in development of wooden construction and local peculiarities is a pre-condition for preservation of cultural heritage values and successful development of towns in future.