American architecture: Cape Cod

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Monday, October 31. 2011

American architecture: Cape Cod

I usually get my identifications wrong, but I think Sipp would say that this old house in Wellfleet, MA is not so much an architectural style as a local New England vernacular. Tell me why I am wrong.

Like so many homes of its era (I would date this one 1850-80), they put expensive clapboard on the front, and cheaper cedar shakes elsewhere. Wish I had done that with my house because painting is so damn expensive if you hire it out.

My plan for the future is either that new semi-fake impermeable artificial, pigment-infused "wood", or natural cedar shakes. Can't afford continual painting. Just cannot win against the laws of entropy.

I love homey houses like this one, right there on the street so you can say "Howdy" to your neighbors on their evening stroll, and invite them up on the porch for a lemonade or a beer if you are in the mood for a chat.

Posted by Bird Dog at 05:00 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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Doesn't look like a Cape Cod style house to me, but I could be wrong. What it looks like (IMHO) is a building originally constructed as a village inn, or perhaps a bed-and-breakfast. Many windows on that middle story, suggesting many small rooms behind them. If I'm right, then the ground floor would have been the common room and kitchen, the middle floor would be guest rooms, and the upper floor would be living quarters for the innkeeper and his family.

Sadly, it may be "right there on the street" only because the house was there before the street was, and it had a bit more of a set-back from the wagon road that was there when the house was built.

#1 wolfwalker on 2011-10-31 06:36 (Reply)

Could be. Not sure.

#1.1 Bird Dog on 2011-10-31 06:59 (Reply)

Brother in law used the genuine cedar wood siding--it is now full of wood pecker holes--they love that wood because it is soft. Folks down the highway used cedar ship lap style--now have it covered in metal siding. Cedar is lovely to look at, but very short lived in some places.

#2 apple pie on 2011-10-31 08:44 (Reply)

A village inn probably - I see two front entrances. What's with the 'star' where a window should be? Next house further down is lower, so the road slopes; the double-yellow suggests a curve ahead - on a downgrade perhaps. Since there doesn't appear to be a sidewalk, you're hope for neighbors to chin wag with may be few and far between.

#3 Bob in VA on 2011-10-31 11:08 (Reply)

We are in the process of replacing ALL of the cedar siding on our house in "woodpecker woods" with CertainTeed Weather Boards. I liked the way it looked before I realized it was fiber cement. We are painting ours because I am kind of persnickety about color, but you don't have to paint it. It comes in shingles of many shapes, different lap sidings and sheets. It is a bit tricky to cut and nail, though, because, blessedly, it is not wood.

#4 MissyW on 2011-10-31 12:32 (Reply)

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Monday, October 31. 2011

American architecture: Cape Cod