Cape Cod Houses

I grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, an area I adore to this day. I love the scrub pines and beaches, the history, the sensibilities of its people, and the architecture. The house I grew up in was a three-quarter Cape and still had a "borning room" as well as the brick fireplace and bread oven which was central to houses of its time. It was Timothy Dwight, President of Yale University, who coined the term "Cape Cod house" after a visit in 1800 when he saw the houses of the Cape in a "class" all their own.

Early Cape houses were an adaptation of the English cottages of Cornwall and Devon, the areas from which the first Cape settlers had come. Generally they were 1 to 1 1/2 stories, made of wood and finished with shingles, with a steep roof and side gables. There are three variations of the typical Cape Cod house: the half house, the three-quarter house, and the full house. 

During colonial times, for economic reasons, a newly married couple would build a half house with a door, two windows to one side of the door and a single fireplace heating multiple rooms. It was expected that they would expand the house to either a three-quarter house by adding a single window on the other side of the door   or to a full house by adding two windows as their family grew.

 These are originals "Capes". 

Over time the meaning of the term "Cape Cod house" defined by Timothy Dwight has morphed. Architects rediscovered the "Cape Cod house" in the 1930's when a Colonial Revival and the Depression gave rise to a desire for small, economical yet old-fashioned houses. The new "Cape" came in to its own in the 1940s and 50s when GIs were encouraged to buy homes for their families. Planned estates like Long Island's Levittown featured "Cape Cod" houses. These "Capes" are far less rigidly structured than their forebearers.

Comments

[Claudia]

Mary, So glad yo're enjoying the blog.

[Mary]

Very interesting post and beautiful homes, Claudia.
Thanks, Mary

[Barbara Andolsek Paintings]

Cape Cod is a great place, even now. Tons of areas are feeling the crunch of the dollar and not faring very well, but the Cape is still going strong. Thank goodness!