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Cape Cod houses are defined by their simple shapes and limited exterior ornamentation. They are typically built with side-gabled roofs, which feature sloped sides along the front and back and pitched triangular areas on either side of the house. This stripped-down roofline distinguishes them from the cornucopia of roof angles and details often found in Victorian homes. Though Cape Cod homes are known and loved for their simplicity, they were ultimately designed for colder, snowier climates — right down to their steep roofs.
Colonial Cape Cod Homes
These homes were built to help house families and veterans returning from war. A three-quarter Cape also ditches the symmetry a bit, with the front door off center and lined up with the staple chimney. On one side is one window, and on the other is two — it's quite literally the equivalent of adding another window onto the half Cape.
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Some newer builds incorporate brick, but in beach towns, shingles are more common. American Colonial architecture is an umbrella term encompassing Cape Cod homes. The house shown here is a five-bay, with shutters on the windows and the doorway—architectural details that define a homeowner's personal style. The side chimney and one-car attached garage are telling details for the age of this home—a time when the middle class flourished and prospered. The exterior steep roofs are symbolic of a typical cape cod house that is designed solely for the purpose of minimizing the weight of the snow.
Cape Cod House Siding
'Once the full Cape is achieved with four windows in the front, it can grow in the back with an extension or a connection to the barn or today to the garage,' Lichten says. We love how this space uses boat motifs to bring this space back to its coastal roots. Cape Cod residences can be found throughout New England – and various parts of the United States – but the style feels most at home along the sandy beaches of Massachusetts.
Dutch Lap Vs Clapboard Siding
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. A half Cape has its front door on one side of the facade, with two windows on the other side (this is also known as a “single Cape”). A full Cape, on the other hand, has a door in the center with two windows flanking it on each side.
Cape Cod House: Everything You Need to Know About These Quintessential New England Homes
Homey and effortlessly appealing, the Cape Cod house style is the definition of cookie-cutter comfort-food architecture that has stood the test of time. Like the homes at Plimoth Plantation, the landscape of the traditional Cape Cod home often includes the picket fence or gate. Many of the homes of the past have been modified through architectural details or building additions. Exploring the meaning of architectural style can be challenging in a country like the United States with a population of diverse backgrounds. On the colonial East Coast, Cape Cod homes were heated by a single fireplace with a chimney rising from the center of the house.
Cape Cod in Manhattan! Delightfully quirky rooftop penthouse in NYC that resembles a New England fishing town - Daily Mail
Cape Cod in Manhattan! Delightfully quirky rooftop penthouse in NYC that resembles a New England fishing town.
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That penthouse with a cottage atop 1st Street and 1st Avenue is ... back... on... the... market! - EV Grieve
That penthouse with a cottage atop 1st Street and 1st Avenue is ... back... on... the... market!.
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Much like a-frame house plans or chalet house plans, the steep roofline of a Cape Cod house plan lends itself well to shedding snow during bitter winters. Best known for its characteristic symmetrical design, the Cape Cod has a steep roof featuring pitched triangular areas toward the front and back and a large central chimney. Though traditionally built as a single-story house, today’s Cape Cod-style homes can have multiple floors and additional wings. This home style also features a center-placed front door and shuttered windows on either side. The exterior of the Cape Cod house is commonly clad in cedar shingles but newer homes are also built of brick, stucco, and stone. Window boxes and shutters serve as the primary sources of ornamentation, and black is often used as a popular accent color for doors, shutters, and trims in modern Cape Cod homes.
Cape Cod Symmetry
The windows on a Cape Cod play a critical role in creating the charm and curb appeal of this home style. Originally, Cape Cod homes were often built to maximize available sunlight, with the largest and tallest windows facing south. This positioning helped minimize heating costs while taking advantage of natural light. You’ll typically see double-hung windows with shutters on the main floor, and dormers on the second to increase light and air circulation. According to HGTV, Cape homes are two stories, with low ceilings, a small attic up top, and a central, narrow staircase. The exterior of older builds often features wooden, single shingle siding, typically in a distressed brown or gray tone.
Decorative details
The structure of a Cape Cod makes it easy to add to another section of the house or connect to a garage or carriage house without losing the home’s iconic style. In these cases, homeowners have the option to extend the back of the home or add another story for additional space. For a Cape Cod with an attic converted to living space, the attic runs the risk of not being well insulated, making the home more susceptible to ice dams, which can cause interior leaking or mold.
These small changes can update and modernize your Cape Cod from traditional to contemporary. In keeping with a more traditional style, you can find floor plans with the front entry or foyer that opens onto a stairway, with a bedroom, study, or office on the right side and a formal living room on the left. A traditional Cape Cod layout includes one main living space with the common room also used as the family or living room.
The rooms are small and a bit boxy, which makes it easy to grow out of for young families. Adding on rooms isn't all that easy, either, since it's so catered to a specific flow and symmetrical feel. Get ready for a hot summer — Cape Cod homes are notorious for poor airflow, so window air conditioner units are a must (and nothing ruins that gorgeous curb appeal more than an AC hanging out front). The distressed siding lends a hand to the beachside feel, but other common features in Cape Cod homes are shiplap and cedar accents, says Homenish. It's unlikely that you'd find gaudy or ornate decor in one of these homes, aside from a column or two touching upon the traditional theme.
Even though the styles were separated by about a century, they still share several commonalities, including a conspicuous lack of exterior details. A modestly scaled interior meant that original Cape Cod homeowners had to maximize whatever details they included in their homes. To gain sunlight whenever possible, windows were often extended very high, often up to the roofline. A lack of resources, time, and money were some of the factors that originally made the intimate size of Cape Cod-style houses so popular. The style has since been adapted to today's tastes and lifestyles, but many of its simplistic charms remain. A close relative of the Colonial-style homes scattered across the East Coast and the South, Cape Cod houses were an economical answer to Americans' desires to be homeowners.
The relatively low ceilings made it easier to heat the buildings during the winter. Today, the house style's sturdy, practical appearance maintains its simple appeal. As its name suggests, Cape Cod house style is most common in Massachusetts and the greater New England region. While these types of residences are still be found in the Midwest and along the west coast, they might look different from their traditional, New England counterparts.
The architectural style of the first houses near and on Massachusetts' Cape Cod, like what you can see at Plimoth Plantation, 404 has long been the starting point for designing the American home. The architecture defines a people and a culture—unadorned, functional, and practical. Craftsman houses are known for detailed interior woodwork, large front porches, and earthy colors.
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.
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