Dear stales: A book I used to read to my kids told about a type of house popular in rural south US before electricity became available for air conditioning. The floorplan of the house had three sections lengthwise. The center section had no wall on ends, so any breeze could blow through, making the coolest part of the house, particularly on hot nights.
But the family dogs could trot through, so it was jocularly called the dog trot.

Here's URl to a picture of one:Be patient, it's slow loading
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ourhistory/Autry/PicPage6.html