Chapter Four Looking at Properties –Architectural Styles
Cape The Cape Cod is one of America’s oldest house styles. It was a popular style through the 1840s and later experienced a revival when mass production techniques allowed builders to fill developments with capes after World War II. The cape is usually symmetrical in design. The roof is a steep gable type covered with shingles. Originally, capes were small in scale. Now, there are many large capes with additional wings and dormers to increase their useable space. New England Colonial The colonial is the most popular architectural style in the United States. It was developed in the 18th century which is considered the “Colonial” period. The original colonials were symmetrical with four equal sized rooms on the first floor and four rooms above. The basic colonial still has two windows on either side of a central doorway and five windows across the second floor. The floor plan for the standard colonial is a central hall with stairs, a living room to the left that is two rooms deep, a dining room on the opposite side with the kitchen behind it. All bedrooms are located upstairs. Colonial with Farmer’s Porch Colonial with Hip Roof, Portico and Palladian Window The portico is the covered, balconied entrance with columns on either side. Porticos were taken from Greek architecture and were characteristic of the Georgian houses that were fashionable in the English colonies throughout most of the 18th Century. The Palladian window is named for Andrea Palladio, a Renaissance Italian architect whose work revolutionized Western architecture. The modern look of this style encompasses a triple window effect with a circle head window above. Gambrel The gambrel has a ridged roof with two slopes on each side, the lower slope having the steeper pitch. The shape of the structure allows for a maximum of attic storage while still providing a weather tight roof. Because of the efficiency of storage the gambrel roof is often found on agricultural buildings as well as residential. The gambrel is thought to be attributable to the Dutch since Dutch colonials have a similar roof style.
