Early Summer 2016

Imagination Captured

Cape Cod Home  /  Early Summer 2016 / ,

Writer: Kate Bavelock / Photographer: Brian Vanden Brink 

Imagination Captured

Early Summer 2016

Cape Cod Home  /  Early Summer 2016 / ,

Writer: Kate Bavelock / Photographer: Brian Vanden Brink 

A classic shingle-style house

Imagination Captured , Cape Cod HOME | capecodlife.com

Photograph by Brian Vanden Brink

The first major design decision was to use the one style most reminiscent of leisurely New England seaside living. John DaSilva says the shingle style popular of the late 19th century (circa 1880-1910) is the first truly American architecture. He says that all buildings constructed previously used designs and methods adopted from Europe. Prominent architects of the day took classic American colonial designs and reinterpreted them with eclectic influences from the English Arts and Crafts movement or French Norman castles. “One key characteristic is that the houses were wrapped in cedar shingles, which tie together the disparate elements into a unified whole,” DaSilva says. “The result was both romantic and evocative.” In the Cabot’s Corner home, the gambrel roof and tower are tied together with a simple shingle finish to evoke the seaside cottages of the leisure class from a century ago.

The home’s gambrel roof—an umbrella gambrel in this case, with a flared bottom at the eaves—is not only important to the shingle-style cottage feel, but it also maximizes second-floor headroom. “It permits more headroom in the second floor within the same height,” says DaSilva. “It also has a more gentle appearance than a straight gable roof.” On the front side the gambrel shape is broken up by an entry porch and tower; on the back one can clearly see the full gambrel contour. Generous dormers punctuate the gambrel roof on both sides, allowing for larger bedrooms, more light, and more views to the ocean.

The design diverges from tradition in a few key areas. The original seaside retreats had deep eaves and many porches to provide relief from summer’s heat in an era before air conditioning. Today, views and light are much more important to homeowners. “Traditional shingle-style houses were more inward-focused,” DaSilva says. “Their interiors were darker.” This house retains the charm of the style, including a porch and deep roof overhangs, but it is updated with large and abundant windows for an outward focus on the views.

Indeed, the owners of Cabot’s Corner—a couple with three young children—were drawn to this design because it was bright, and the open floor plan made it great for entertaining. “We throw open the doors to the patio, and people go in and out,” the homeowner says. “There are great smells coming from the grill and kids racing around in circles. It is a family-friendly place, a kid-friendly place, a great place to have people over.”

In addition, many traditional shingle-style houses ramble, but here PSD was working with a compact site, so the design needed to evoke rather than copy the genre. For example, the entry door and porch needed to be minimal in footprint, but large in impact. “The small site necessitated an interpretation of a traditional shingle-style porch, which still gives you a sense of a porch, and adds character but in a minimal space,” DaSilva says of the straight-sided arch design in the porch opening at the front door. Such attention to detail and charm distinguishes the entryway by announcing its presence and creating a welcoming feeling.

A final touch on the front façade, which adds to the happy, dreamy cottage appearance, is the blue shutters. “They are, like the house as a whole, symbolic of coastal architecture but not overdone,” DaSilva says. “Just enough to put that image in your mind, but not so much as to be clichéd.”

Kate Bavelock

Kate Bavelock is passionately committed to the local food movement and grows most of her own produce, fruit, herbs and keeps hens for eggs. Formerly the executive director of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce, Kate is looking forward to seeing what the next chapter of her life will hold and exploring all kinds of interesting options. She loves gardening, cooking, and boating with her husband in Cape Cod Bay. In 2016 Kate wrote a fascinating article for Cape Cod HOME about local furniture builders and woodworkers who discussed their furniture restoration suggestions and services.