Cape Cod Architecture

The Cape Cod house is a low, broad single or double story frame building with a moderately steep pitched gabled roof, a large central chimney and very little exterior ornamentation. It typically has a central front door flanked by multipaned windows, with the space above the first floor often left as unfinished attic. The form originated in New England in the seventeenth century, when its steep, cedar shingled roof and simple symmetrical plan, built of local materials, were suited to withstanding the stormy weather of the Cape Cod region. The style saw a major revival in the 1930s through the 1950s, when it was often built with Colonial Revival detailing.