What style of house is a saltbox?
Colonial style
Introduction. What is a saltbox house? It is a Colonial style of architecture which originated in New England. Saltboxes are frame houses with two stories in front and one in back, having a pitched roof with unequal sides, being short and high in front and long and low in back.
Why do they call it a saltbox house?
Built during the 17th and 18th centuries, American saltbox houses were named after commonly used wooden salt containers from the colonial period. The style originated as a quick, economical way to add living space to the back of an existing two-story home.
Is saltbox a traditional architectural style?
A saltbox house is a gable roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a wooden lidded box in which salt was once kept.
What is a saltbox farmhouse?
A saltbox home (which takes its name from the resemblance to a wooden lidded box in which salt was once kept) is identified by its asymmetrically long, rear roof line. The pitched roof that slopes down to the first floor was first created to cover a lean-to addition at the rear of the original house.
What is a biscuit box house?
Biscuit box houses came later. Named after the rectangular boxes used to ship hard biscuits, they are two-storey houses with gentle sloped roofs. The name saltbox may be commonly used, but finding an actual saltbox home is becoming more rare.
Why is it called a Cape Cod house?
The term “Cape Cod house” wasn’t given to these cottages until the 1800s. The Reverend Timothy Dwight IV, President of Yale University, named them after a visit to Cape Cod. His work saw another boom after World War II, when the Cape’s simplistic layout made it a good fit to house returning soldiers.
What is a salt box garage?
The Salt Box is a structure with a loft or a second story on the front portion of the building, and a single story toward the rear. The salt box’s rear roof line descends to the height of a single story structure thus making it exempt from taxation.
What is a salt box design?
saltbox, in architecture, type of residential building popular in colonial New England, having two stories in front and a single story in the rear and a double-sloped roof that is longer over the rear section. The original clapboard houses of the New England settlers were constructed around a great central chimney.
Where are saltbox houses most common?
New England
Saltbox houses are common in New England, and back in the 18th century, housed many famous pioneers and patriots, including the second U.S. president, John Adams. Sturdy and understated, they are found by the bushel in historic registers and are very popular today.
What is a Normandy style house?
For the main portion of the home, most French Norman style dwellings rely on a side gable or steeply pitched hip roof. Some examples employ clipped gables, while others simulate thatched roofs with upturned ridges and/or rolled eaves. Exterior walls are clad in brick, stone, stucco, shingle, or any combination thereof.
Where are saltbox houses most popular?
Who invented the saltbox house?
farmer Ephraim Hawley
Built by farmer Ephraim Hawley in 1690, the house was expanded with the addition of two lean-tos (one in 1840 and another around the time of the Civil War) across the back of the house, giving the structure its current saltbox silhouette.