Hello World! Welcome Friends! Shingle-style houses are signature for the charm of New England and the East Coast, especially the luxurious seaside vacation homes in Nantucket, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, coastal Maine, and Newport.
This typical American architectural style began gaining popularity after the American Centennial in 1876. It was a giant leap away from the fussy Victorian design with a lot of details that had been predominant until then.
The shingle-style houses are based on elements from the Colonial Revival and Queen Anne styles from before.
The shingle-style homes are meant to be informal and are typical of the beach retreats and country homes of the rich and famous.
Of course, the most typical feature is the shingle sidings made of natural wood and can be painted or left to weather naturally from the ocean breeze and weather.
In Nantucket, the shingle-style houses are all a natural weathered gray color, which has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the island.
Other typical features of these New England coastal houses are the welcoming verandas and the gambrel pitched roofs, diamond-shaped windows, asymmetrical forms, and very few decorations or ornamentations.
They were a nod back to the first several decades of Colonial America, especially the wood and distinctive materials which were used and the forms of the houses built back in the 17th century by the Old Colony in Massachusetts Bay. This change in the American home design was one of the first steps towards the Colonial Revival and the movement for preserving the history of the country.
The name “shingle-style” was first used to name this type of architectural style by Vincent Scully, a Yale professor, in 1955.
But the architect William Ralph Emerson is the person believed to be the originator of this style. His first house designed and built in this style is the Redwood House in Bar Harbor, built in 1879.
Through the years, many famous architects were inspired by this style and produced their own unique takes on the shingle-style design. Some of them include Stanford White, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles McKim, Hobson Richardson, and more.
One of the best examples of a shingle-style inspired house is President George Bush’s summer residence in Walker’s Point Estate (or Bush’s Compound) in Maine. It was built in 1903.
One of the most famous shingle-style houses in the USA was the 1882 Kragsyde summer home which was commissioned by G.Nixon Black and was built on a rocky coastal shore by Manchester-By-The-Sea, Massachusetts. It had all of the features of the shingle style and was iconic of American architecture.
Unfortunately, it has been long demolished.
The ideal shingle-style house is supposed to meld into its natural surroundings rather than standing out like a palace. Most of these houses were built with very soft transitioning from the ground they are standing on, making them look like a natural continuation of the environment.
Today, Nantucket Island has some of the best-preserved examples of the old single-style houses, as well as newer ones built in this style.
The island’s authorities and the Historic District Commission of Nantucket have set stringent rules for building and renovating these houses. They need to be up to a certain height, have unpainted wood shingle sidings, pitched roofs, and meet other requirements.
Thanks to these rules, this island is a magical and picturesque place which is a dream come true for architects and appreciators of the shingle style.
If you plan to visit Nantucket, you can take tours around the Town and the surrounding neighborhoods and villages to see all of these charming soft gray colored shingle-style cottages with trellis crawling pink roses and blossoming old fashioned gardens.
If you are lucky, you can book and rent short-term one of these houses for your stay from a local residential rental company.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
Ways for Young Adults to Build Their Savings
How To Do More With Your Garden Spaces
Garage Options to Save You Money
Mattress Toppers vs. Mattress Protectors
Home Repairs That Require a Professional
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Toodles,
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