This Is the House That Jack Built was printed in numerous collections in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Randolph Caldecott produced an illustrated version in 1878. Cherrington Manor, a handsome timber-framed house in North East Shropshire, England, is reputed to be the actual house that Jack built. There is a former malt house in the grounds. Each sentence in the story is an example of an increasingly deeply nested relative clause. The last version, "This is the horse...", would be quite difficult to untangle if the previous ones were not present. See the Noun Phrase for more details about postmodification of the noun phrase in
The House That Built Me Blake Boldt of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs up, favoring Lambert's preference in "organic storytelling instead of contrived commercial jingles." He described the song itself as "a gorgeous piece of melancholy country without getting squishy or sentimental" and called it an "early favorite for single of the year." Dan Milliken of Country Universe gave the song an A rating, describing it favorably as "the best on the album" and a standout for radio, because of "its grace and intelligence, not because it happens to be more disposably catchy than the others surrounding it." "The House That Built Me"