Colonial homes in Connecticut
Learning from Architecture and Material Culture
Outline
• Notes on what has survived…
• Key styles of colonial houses
• Chimneys and windows
• Early forms: Cape Cod
• Saltbox
• New England Large House
• Center Hall House
• Garrison house
Colonial era houses & structures
What survives
What doesn’t
• Homes originally built by the MC &
wealthy
• Houses
• Stone walls & foundations
• Churches
• Homes originally built by or for the
lower classes – especially in town
• Commercial structures
• Out buildings
Restoration & maintenance
• Also boils down to
MEANS & USES
• Communities go
through regional
cycles of poverty
and prosperity
• Renovation is very
costly
• To what use?
Starting point: the postmedieval English style
• First colonists built mainly houses
that were one room deep with one
and ½ or two stories and a central
chimney.
• Used medieval designs
combined with new features
• This mixed design was called
post-medieval English style.
Key features of early colonial homes
• BIG central chimneys!!
• Both structural and
provide heat
Windows
• Five-window fronts (in the 1600s)
• Nine-window fronts (in the 1700s)
Double-hung
windows
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•
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•
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Small diamonds
12 over 12
9 over 9
9 over 6
6 over 6
2 or 4
Windows over the doors
Early colonial homes
• First colonists built mainly
houses that were one
room deep with two
stories and a central
chimney.
• Added more to the back of
the house for more interior
space
• Result: a one and a half
room deep saltbox.
Hall and Parlor House
• A one floor long parlor house.
The “basic” house: Cape Cod
• Smaller than other types
but much more stable.
• Lower to the ground
• Only having one and a half
stories.
• Built to withstand the harsh
Atlantic winds and storms
• Made of vertically planked
exterior walls
Cape Cod
• Cape Cod cottages were made
of simpler materials
• Allowed small crews of less
skilled men to manage
construction quickly.
• Even today Cape Cod Cottages
are built,
• Modified to include modern
inventions.
• Usually balloon frame
Beyond the “basics” (1): The saltbox
• Design was thought of in 1630
• It looked like the box the colonists
used for storing salt.
• The salt box house has two floors
in the front and one floor in the
back, with a huge chimney in the
center of the house
• The second floor would hang right
over the first floor and the
windows were very small.
• The door
Beyond the “basics” (2):
New England Large
House
• 1700s
• New larger houses were
made with five windows
on the 2nd floor and four
windows on the 1st.
• Often had Georgian style
decoration with classical
borders to the windows
and the door.
• Doors often had small
windows above them
Beyond the “basics” (3):
Center Hall house
• 1700s
• Another Georgian-style home
• A center hall with a
staircase coming from the
front to the back of the
house.
• Two large chimneys on top
of both the left and right
side of the house
• Often had large gambrel roofs.
Variants
Beyond the “basics” (4): Garrison Houses
• The only difference between the
garrison and the saltbox is that the
garrison was built with a second
story overhang that covers the first
floor doorway.
• Originally an urban design in
England
• Made more interior space on the
second floor
• Covered shop entrances and people
walking on the streets below
Summary
• Colonial homes were a jumble of medieval
styles mixed with “new world”
functionality
• The “bones” were specific to the 17th and
18th centuries
• Connecticut has an ABUNDANCE of
historical homes
• That abundance has, at times, been a
problem
• Houses and other structures are being
torn down ALL the time
• Their number is ALWAYS getting smaller
Questions and answers