Cape Cod (Style)

A Cape Cod is a style of house originating in New England in the 17th century. It is traditionally characterized by a low, broad frame building, generally a story and a half high, with a steep, perfectly pitched roof with end gables and a large central chimney.

The Cape Cod style (and in turn its Colonial Revival descendant of the 1930-50s) originated with the colonists who came from England to New England. They used the English house with a hall and parlor as a model, adapting this design with local materials to best protect against New England's notoriously stormy weather. Over the next several generations emerged a one to one-and-a-half-story house with wooden shutters and clapboard or shingle exterior.

The Reverend Timothy Dwight IV (1752-1817), president of Yale University from 1795-1817, coined the term "Cape Cod House" after a visit to the Cape in 1800. His observations were published posthumously in Travels in New England and New York (1821-22).

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Brian Serpone can be reached in the Harwich office of Today Real Estate at 508-568-8104.