Sunday, April 28, 2024

17 Cape Cod Houses and Details of This All-American Classic Style

house cape cod style

Most of the Cape Cod houses we see today are not from the Colonial era, so they are technically revivals. Homeowners can also create a backyard living area without interfering with the Cape Cod home’s quaint, historic charm. You can find patios and decks in many Cape Cod backyards with comfortable furniture for entertaining friends and family. Winters can get cold in New England, so a fire pit would be a nice addition to enjoy the fall and winter seasons. With modest square footage that typically ranges from 1,200 to 1,800 square feet, the Cape Cod is smaller than most homes built today, which average around 2,300 square feet. Not only do neutral colors pair nicely with Cape Cod’s simple structure, but they can also act as a blank canvas, ready to evolve as your style does.

house cape cod style

Embrace the outdoor space

Highly identical to the American Vision of a home, these houses master efficiency and aesthetics. This style of home has continuously succeeded in charming us with its frivolous elements and an old-movie look. Meanwhile, its rich history enriches the design of this style and commemorates its century-long existence. 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. After World War II, Capes began to get a little bit bigger and families and their needs grew, too.

Interior characteristics and features of the Cape Cod house style

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"I love the pure geometries of this style, which are almost austere at times," Peter says, "and its connection to the history of early New England." In the 1920s, people began inserting dormer windows into the roofs to increase light and ventilation and create extra bedrooms. Cape Cod revival houses from the mid-20th century are often more embellished than the austere early models.

Cape Cod House Plans

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. According to ThoughtCo, modern-day Cape Cod spaces are often mixed with other architectural styles like Tudor, Ranch, Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman. Meanwhile, the bedrooms are low-height, supplemented with a dormer or a gable window projecting out of the façade to let it ample of natural light.

Practical proportions

According to the United States’ Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, this style was the last type of colonial-era homes to be revived to modern times. Dating back to New England during the 17th century, this classic style proves that keeping it simple is anything but boring. In fact, it’s not too hard to see how Cape Cod homes have deftly surpassed the test of time.

An unusual feature of this home, besides the slate roof and brick exterior, is the small, single window we see to the left of the door. As the symmetry is thrown off by this opening, this one window may be located in a stairway leading to a full second floor. Craftsman houses are known for detailed interior woodwork, large front porches, and earthy colors. They were popular in the Midwest and West, merging with the Bungalow style in California to create a uniquely West Coast look. The modest size of Cape Cod homes often translated into modest use of details.

Windows and Doors in Cape Cod Houses

If you’re looking to update your home or give it a complete facelift, here are a few fresh design ideas that can breathe new life into a Cape Cod house. 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. Traditional Cape Cod homes may also have outdated kitchens, uneven floors, unfinished basements, or attics not suitable for living space. Though the style gets its name from the region where it’s most popular, a home doesn’t need to be in Cape Cod to be considered within the architectural vernacular.

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. While some Cape Cod style homes are only one story tall, other floorplans take advantage of the high-sloping roof to add one or two bonus rooms upstairs or even a complete second floor. If you think you might like to do this at a later date, let your manufacturer know now so they can make the space more renovation-friendly.

They feature similar rectangular floor plans, though they often include at least two stories. Aside from the square footage, colonial homes typically employ gambrel roofs—a main feature of Dutch colonials—while Cape Cod houses traditionally make use of gable roofs. Colonial houses may also include more ornamentation, like the use of columns, which is less common on traditional Cape Cod homes. The appeal of a Cape Cod cottage is in its simplicity and unassuming design—which makes it a great style of home for anyone still refining their personal aesthetic. Unlike a true Colonial, which may suggest a traditional interior design style to match, Cape Cods are highly versatile because of their clean geometric look.

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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. Defining the authentic English style of architecture, these homes became native to New England’s harsh winters.

Some newer builds incorporate brick, but in beach towns, shingles are more common. In true New England fashion, these homes were designed to let the warmth of the kitchen filter into the rest of the home because of the harsh winters in the region. In the small, simple design of the original single Capes, the kitchen and family room were located at the center of the home with an open floor plan. These gabled roofs are one of the most popular roof styles, owing to their simple, unornamental style and practical, weather-friendly pitch.

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