They sure aren't trophy homes. But the Cape Cod-style house has stood the test of time, not only on our sandy peninsula, but around the country. In his 2006 book "The Cape Cod Cottage," architectural historian William Morgan put it this way:
"The Cape Cod cottage is nearly the perfect house. A combination of necessity and tradition, the Cape Cod has been a fundamental, iconic, and enduring expression of the American home for almost four hundred years."
What is a Cape-style house?
Cape Codders are likely to see scores of these homes as they tootle along our byways, and they might even live in one. But let's break down the particulars of the style. Here's how the design is defined by the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey:
"The Cape Cod house, also called the Cape-style house, is the simplest of all New England Colonial houses. Generally, a 'Cape' is a rectangular frame house (usually shingled or clapboarded) with a straight unadorned ridge roof, and a massive chimney centrally located in line with the front entrance. The door opens onto a tiny entrance hall. The interior began as two rooms, one room deep, but later Capes often were expanded at sides and back. The type developed from the last quarter of the 17th century to about 1830, and later enjoyed a resurgence in post-World War II America. The wide appeal of the Cape Cod cottage makes it one of the best known forms of traditional American architecture."
The old-school Cape era lasted about 150 years and then the style made a big comeback in the 1900s. The venerable PBS TV series "This Old House" breaks it down on its website:
"There are two Cape Cod styles, really: the originals, modest and practical houses built from 1690 until 1850 or so; and the homey Colonial Revival Capes of the 20th century. The originals were most often half or three-quarter Capes, shingle-clad, sited to take advantage of the sun's rays, their interiors centered on the hearth-warmed kitchen.
Revival houses, neat and nostalgic behind their white picket fences, are most often symmetrical full Capes, often clapboarded and shuttered, painted white, with more formal and flexible floor plans."
Atwood-Higgins House: A famous example of this Cape Cod architecture
My favorite Cape Cod-style home on the Cape is the Atwood-Higgins House on Bound Brook Island in Wellfleet.
Built in 1730, it's the oldest intact structure in the Cape Cod National Seashore. And at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sept. 30, the Seashore offers a guided tour of the house that lasts about an hour.
Reservations are required for this free tour and can be made up to a week in advance by calling the Salt Pond Visitor Center at 508-255-3421, ext. 9.
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But even if you miss the tour, you can always stroll around the property. It's perhaps the best time-travel experience on Cape Cod: a quiet, pristine setting with well-worn outbuildings and open fields.
There's even a couple of lonely outhouses. I often walk out there and think of the days when jerky-tough settlers wrangled a living out of our sandspit, then straggled back to the fireside of their Cape Cod home.
When was the Cape-style house popular?
The Cape Cod-style resurgence of the 20th century appeared in many suburban developments across the country after World War II.
But along came the Ranch-style house and many folks liked the open layout and casual vibe of the homes. Nowadays, folks might choose to combine several architectural styles into one home, sometimes called the Neo-Eclectic approach.
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So perhaps to modern eyes, Cape Cod-style houses look a little old-fashioned and modest. But they seem at home in our little corner of the world. In the foreword to "The Cape Cod Cottage," New Hampshire-based architect Daniel V. Scully puts it his way:
"The Cape is such a simple and direct plan — a central door, hall and stairs, with rooms off to each side. Each room is foursquare with windows on two to three sides. What more do you want?"
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