Cape Cod style houses: features and examples

Our tips site continues to introduce you to interesting styles of architecture and private home interiors popular around the world. Let’s talk about a style like Cape Cod, which immigrants from England brought to the United States. There it became widespread. Understanding the features of Cape Cod houses.

This style of architecture and interiors got its name from the Cape Cod Peninsula. It was here that the first settlers who arrived in North America from England began to settle. Cape Cod houses were actively built in the United States from the 1690s to the 1950s. And today such buildings are considered something very patriotic, a real American way of life..

If houses in the style of ranches and bungalows, the features of which Our website sovetov.ru already wrote, are more popular in the western and southern parts of the United States, then the Cape Cod is the style of the northern and central regions.

Let’s list the main architectural features of Cape Cod houses:

• Most often they are one-story, with a residential attic.
• Skylights are always very noticeable, protrude, are part of the facade and roof decor.
• Shutters are still often installed on the windows, which can be used to cover the glass in the event of an autumn storm or a strong snowstorm..
• The windows themselves are small, rectangular.
• The roof is always steeply sloped so that snow does not linger.
• A brick chimney occupies a prominent place on the roof. Previously, when wood heating was the main one, the chimney was installed in the center so that one stove or fireplace would heat several rooms. Now this is an optional condition, the chimney can be located at the edge of the roof. Or two of them – on the sides.
• The shape of the house is traditionally strictly rectangular..
• Now it is customary to attach a garage to the side of the house..
• The facade can be asymmetrical due to the gable protruding in one part of the house.
• Tiled roof. Traditionally, wooden tiles were used, now there are more modern options: polymer or ceramic.
• Facade cladding with siding, wood shingle or brick.

According to the architects, Cape Cod houses are very practical and are designed specifically for the northern climate. The ceilings are relatively low, the roof is steep, the central fireplace, shutters, double glazing are all designed to provide warmth and energy efficiency to the home.

Around the traditional Cape Cod house, it is customary to equip a picket fence made of white painted picket fence. A front garden with flowers is also located in the central part of the building, and the backyard, where the family usually gathers in summer, is reliably hidden behind the house. An open veranda can be arranged here.

As for the interior, inside the house, the Cape Cod is simple, with minimal decor. The interior is light, in white, blue, pastel colors. It is customary to place bedrooms on the attic floor, and the space below becomes common, here the family spends most of their time, in particular, in front of the fireplace on long winter evenings.

It is thanks to their simplicity and practicality that we are sure that Cape Cod houses are perfect for Russian regions. These are solid, traditional, family houses designed to provide coziness and comfort to all residents. They may not be as prominent and stylish as colonial cottages or classic pillar mansions. But this is the beauty of Cape Cod style, which will be easy to translate into reality.!