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As Wright explains, Cape Cod houses are often imagined as the classic American beach house. Traditionally, they’re small, single- or one-and-a-half-story homes with steeply pitched, side-gabled roofs, central chimneys, dormer windows, and clad in shingles. “It’s got either shingle siding or white clabbered siding, a single story in the front, a central front door, and a big roof sometimes with dormers,” Wright says. Often built around simple, rectangular floor plans, their shape is nearly identical to the silhouette a child might come up with if prompted to draw a house.
A Photo Tour of Cape Cod Architecture
This is such a great summer home exterior design for when a couple sought a nice summer house over the beach for family and friends. With a full-width front porch, a new two-story garage, and a fresh color palette, architect Jeff Troyer gives a 1953 Cape the upgraded look and function it deserves. Officially a type of Colonial home, Cape Cod style houses display noticeable differences from others built in the same era.
What Is A Cape Cod Style House And What Does One Look Like?
This allowed for a fireplace in each room that connected to a single chimney stack. Over time, as other methods of heating were introduced, the fireplaces were often relegated to the gable ends. “The house needs some New England charm,” says architect Jeff Troyer, who gives it a style boost with a blue-and-white color scheme, a caged entry light, detailed garage doors, and more. They’re named after the hook-shaped peninsula in Massachusetts, where they were originally built by Puritan settlers. For many, this architectural style is reminiscent of New England, though Cape Cod homes (also known as ‘Capes’) have made their way across the country. A Book of Cape Cod HousesBy Doris Doane (David R. Godine, 2007).The history of the Cape from wind-beaten shingled dwellings in New England to the mainstay of the postwar building boom.
#8 // Updating a Traditional, Grand Cape Cod Home
In the small, simple design of the original single Capes, the kitchen and family room were located at the center of the home with an open floor plan. These gabled roofs are one of the most popular roof styles, owing to their simple, unornamental style and practical, weather-friendly pitch. The pitch (or angle) of the sections can be customized for climates that experience a lot of snow or rain. It's also common for many modern Cape Cods to have an attached or detached garage, front walkway, and back patio or porch. Cape Cod-style houses can come in many shapes and sizes—the charming, modest dimensions of a half Cape make ideal starter homes for many people, while others may aspire to the grander proportions of a full Cape.
And that’s exactly what Cape Cod homes did in the pre-war and post-war eras. These modest and practical homes have been around for more than 3 centuries without having lost their appeal. Share your thoughts about how you’ve overcome the drawbacks in the comments box below. The term “Cape Cod House” was used as early as 1800, in a comment by Yale College president Timothy Dwight on a visit to Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Even by then, the type had spread; by 1740, such houses had been built throughout most of New England, and also on New York’s Long Island. By 1790, Cape Cod design had made its way into southern New York State.
Designer Lauren Nelson Recast This Cape Cod–Style Home for a Couple of Empty Nesters - House Beautiful
Designer Lauren Nelson Recast This Cape Cod–Style Home for a Couple of Empty Nesters.
Posted: Thu, 04 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
What are the different types of Cape Cod houses?
Simple and functional, Saltbox homes are primarily found in the Northeast, where their distinctive rooflines help melt snow to fall off of roofs during cold winters. This style has been updated for more contemporary-looking homes found in beach towns, where simple designs allow the environment to take center stage. Shingle shakes and wood clapboards are additional distinguishing features of Cape Cod-style homes. Wood was a plentiful local material for those just settling on the East Coast. Before pre-milled lumber, cedar shakes were hand-split from blocks of wood using a mallet. A half-story on a second floor was a way for Cape Cod homeowners to gain square footage but save on building costs.
Despite having a timeless style, Capes have evolved over the years to a few different subcategories, says My Move. This style has become a quintessential American home whose practicality is outweighed only by its charm. This old home in Chatham on Cape Cod must have had its share of roof drips over the front door. More formal homeowners may take a Classical approach and install a pediment over the front door—and maybe some pilasters — not this New Englander. Pilasters, sidelights, fanlights and other Georgian and Federal or Adam style refinements decorate this historic Cape Cod home in Sandwich, New Hampshire.
Modern Cape Cod House Updates
Additional rooms attached to the side or rear created a design that some people have called "Minimal Traditional," a very sparse mashup of the Cape Cod and Ranch style houses. The first style, which was the popular pick among early settlers, is the half Cape. It strays a bit from what we consider a common Cape style home today because it isn't as perfectly symmetrical — instead, it features the front door on one side, with two traditional windows to the other side. These were often the jumping off point for new, middle class homeowners to add on to as their families grew. According to HGTV, Cape homes are two stories, with low ceilings, a small attic up top, and a central, narrow staircase.
“Seasonal homes like many of these are designed for outdoor and beach living. As such, people want houses connected to the outdoors, to porches and decks and to views,” McDonald explains, noting that you’ll often find these indoor-outdoor living spaces in this style of home design. The front doors of Cape Cod houses are commonly centered on the facade. A traditional Cape Cod floor plan includes a living room, kitchen, and bath downstairs with two small bedrooms upstairs. In reality, the history of what we call the Cape Cod style is not a pure and simple revival story, but more of a survival story. European immigrants to the New World brought building skills with them, but their first dwellings were more Primitive Hut than bold, new architectural style.
“The style is so warm and comfortable, and it just says summer,” Wright says. “It just screams summer.” Seen in movies and TV shows, the style is further embedded into pop culture as emblematic of warm weather and easy living. The Cape Cod house style has a rich history that dates back to the early colonial era in America. It originated in the late 17th century when English settlers began building homes in the New England region, specifically along the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Big House, Little House, Back House, BarnBy Thomas C. Hubka (Univ. Press of New England, reissued 2004)Rural houses and farmsteads, many early 19th-century and some with a Cape at center. Overall, the calmness and coziness of these homes draw innumerable homeowners each year. The distinctive character of these homes marks as an important style of design in the history that continues to lead for the generations to come.
This house is very classic in color—gray and beige—and it has a lovely front porch and grass. Do you desire a serene exterior home design that exudes such simplicity and minimalism? Polhemus Savery DaSilva created a really attractive and tidy exterior house design.
Covers 720-square-foot Levittown examples as well as the sprawling Capes of Concord. Wide plank floors might be painted in a reddish-brown or pumpkin orange, and spattered. As the house type was brought west during the early 19th century, builders added popular Greek Revival details, inside and out. Apparently the quintessential Cape Cod house, full Capes were actually rare in the 18th century.
It was decided to build a wraparound porch with columns to an existing 1980s Cape. Owing to the romantic associations of 18th century models and the ubiquity of 20th century Capes, this is arguably the most recognized house style in America. “There can be a very thick layer of aesthetics laid over the function,” Seifter says. “Each generation tried to be true to the original form, but these were more modern houses and they had to accommodate functions that were not in the original versions. But these houses built by the early American settlers were not named after their locale, at least not initially. While the traditional layout had rooms separated by walls and doorways to create a closed floor plan, the flow in a modern Cape can be similar to the traditional layout, where all rooms flow toward the kitchen.
People who live in small Cape Cod styles homes will rarely use the word "cottage" to describe where they live. Inexpensive and mass-produced, these 1,000-square-foot houses filled a need for the rush of soldiers returning from the war. In New York's famous Levittown housing development, factories churned out as many as 30 four-bedroom Cape Cod houses in a single day. Homenish broke down the downsides of owning a Cape house, and they're as minimal as the decor you'd find in one.
'Thanks to its enduring versatility, Cape Cod houses are suitable for an array of regions, types of families, and, of course, materials. Before you dive into all of the nuances and rich history surrounding Cape Cod house style, it’s important to understand how it is defined. When it comes to architecture, Cape Cod house style is as all-American as a fresh slice of apple pie. Although seldom copied in the Cape Cod revivals that would come many decades later, the three-quarter Cape was a mainstay of 18th- and early-19th-century New England. On the three-quarter Cape as well as the half Cape, the entry was offset slightly from the chimney.
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