“Sweet” is the adjective Douglas Dick, principal of LDa Architects and Interiors of Cambridge and Chatham, often employs when describing the late nineteenth-century Hyannisport cottage he renovated for a world-traveling couple seeking a Cape Cod house to call home. With its semi-arched openings and octagonal tower, the cottage’s front façade was always charming. Despite low ceilings, the original master bedroom was cozy. The entire home was, in fact, “a sweet gem of a structure,” Dick says, and since its renovation, it has only become even more endearing.

A small cottage’s charm comes alive with big architectural and design concepts.

This seaside gem was built during the heyday of Hyannisport’s development as a tourist destination. This village of Barnstable would soon draw the Kennedy clan, making it nationally famous. While others at the time were raising grand inns on this pocket of land sitting where Lewis Bay empties into Nantucket Sound, the builder of this summer compound was designing a colony of Swiss cottages.

Douglas Dick, principal of LDa Architects and Interiors of Cambridge and Chatham renovated a nineteenth-century Hyannisport cottage

Photo by Sean Litchfield

Before working on this cottage, Dick had renovated four or five others in the area and was familiar with the special qualities its residents cherished. “I really enjoy doing contextually inspired homes in unique landscapes,” he says. The opportunity to collaborate was a particular appeal of this project, the architect notes. “Part of the reason the clients selected us is that we are a firm that enjoys the collaborative process. It was appealing to work with the wife, who once worked as an interior designer. We defined the carpentry and the wife defined everything else from the furniture to the décor,” Dick explains.

Douglas Dick, principal of LDa Architects and Interiors of Cambridge and Chatham renovated a nineteenth-century Hyannisport cottage

Photo by Sean Litchfield