Stephen Holt's "Cottage"
  A New Cottage  New House Inspired by
a Gardener's Cottage A Stick-Style Cottage
  Kragsyde 
A Country House   |
A Cottage Manifesto
By Stephen Roberts Holt
A house for the future that resembled the past.
A cottage is a little house, in attitude and intimacy if not in size. It is a retreat, a safe and comfortable place, where, in our hearts we'd all like to be.
I live in a cottage, at least it was originally so. It has grown over the years to become a substantial home, a North Shore retreat rich in the history of American design, but has kept its cottage appeal. Its beams were assembled in 1720, taken from the ruins of a nearby Pilgrim homestead built in 1640. These were combined to form a classic saltbox, constructed around a massive fieldstone chimney. In 1909, a gambrel roof was added, as was a big kitchen, several bedrooms and more sophisticated Colonial detailing.
This last renovation took place at a time not unlike the present. At the turn of the last century, Americans looked to the past in an attempt to recapture many of the values that had been lost during the Industrial Revolution. They were tired of city living and compromised principles. Then as now, they hoped to find a purer life.
As we head toward the year 2000, American architecture has grown, tired of the dry banality of modernism and the false facades of post-modern style.
In searching for a new vocabulary, I suggest we look again at the New England cottage.
These old cottages have a richness of detailing often missing in more modern buildings. A porch and a fireplace, so symbolic of family life, are constants in their design. Those built at the turn of the last century were born of the Arts and Crafts movement, a drive that celebrated the skills of craftsmanship and artistic honesty that evaporated during the machine age.
A perfected form to study is the simple rose-covered Nantucket cottage. It seems impossible that much could go wrong with anything this basic: four walls, a roof, windows and a door. But after World War II, thousand of small cottages were built for returning GIs and, in most cases, the walls were too high, the roof was too low, the windows were too small, and the door was in the wrong place.
Another building type that went wrong was the typical ranch house, a product of our pragmatic, mobile society. It is clearly practical, but it can never be considered a cottage because most of the details and proportions that nurture the human spirit are missing. The "wonder" of central heating eliminated the need for fireplaces. Air conditioning closed the house off from contact with the out-of-doors. Advances in engineering made it possible to prefabricate these buildings, in the process eliminating any semblance of decorative detailing.
"The beautiful is something quite distinct from the useful," said Andrew Jackson Downing in his famous book, "The Architecture of Country Houses." As we approach the 21st century, it is a remark worth remembering. Learn from the past.
Looking over one's shoulder for inspiration is nothing new. "The paradise we hope to gain is often modeled on the one we think we lost," says Arthur Drexler, former director of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art. As architects searched for inspiration 100 years ago, they created buildings that were inspired by the Colonial past. Some of the best of these buildings were constructed on the north shore of Massachusetts during the 1880's. They interpreted rather than imitated what went before, adapting the central fireplace away from its cooking function, incorporating a dining room for the more formal Victorian lifestyle, adding a porch for the purposes of ventilation and leisure. As the decades progressed and the wealthy prospered, the cottage grew to huge dimensions. By the turn of the century, massive Shingle Style mansions dotted the coast, grand testimonials to the marriage of money and craftsmanship.
Today, only a few of the finest Shingle-style houses remain. Most have been torn down or modified beyond recognition. The pervasive influence of modernism as well as the income tax have taken a toll on these magical buildings. But an amazing number of smaller cottages survive. Carriage houses, guest houses and gardener's cottages, once subordinate to larger residences, have been adapted to contemporary family living. It is these smaller, more practically sized houses that can inspire a new version of the American cottage.
A case in point is the carriage house belonging to the legendary "Kragsyde," a grand Shingle-style mansion designed by Peabody and Stearns in 1884 and built in Manchester-by-the-Sea. The main house was destroyed in 1929 but the carriage house survives. A family has recently adapted the structure, enclosing some of the horse stalls for living space. Sheathed in gray shingles, it's Romanesque arches, oriels and Colonial form all unite in a beguiling appearance that speaks to our need for romance and individuality in our buildings.
The cottage has never been a static building form. Since Colonial days it has been a laboratory for technological change. Positive innovation began with the first simple homes erected in Plymouth, where settlers learned to cope with a colder climate. The centrally placed internal chimney, for example, was designed to retain heat and then radiate it into the house. Climatic adaptations continued right through the late 19th century, when houses built for very hot summers were designed as seaside cottages. With the aim of maximizing shade and ventilation, porches were added, along with broad overhanging roofs and open transom windows above interior doors.
An updated cottage style would include a blending of new, energy-efficient technology while maintaining the aesthetic values that post World War II builders left out. Improved insulation and energy-efficient heat-circulating fireplaces can make the symbolic family hearth once again a practical addition. The isolation of the air-conditioned house can be replaced by an energy-efficient and neighborly porch. In fact, with the elimination of environmental spraying, the screened porch is once again a necessity.
The smaller cottage style is less expensive to build than the typical sprawling suburban home. Technological improvements and new building materials can help reduce costs, as can recent advances in the miniaturization and efficiency of heating systems. A greater variety of finish millwork from mouldings to windows is becoming more readily available. Even an emerging crafts industry, one that relies on computers to fashion materials for architectural detailing, can help keep costs low. All of these elements coming together in a house of limited size can make a real difference. A modest, 2,000-square-foot, three bedroom cottage, can be built for approximately $200,000, depending on details and additions.
One of my favorite cottage types that adapts beautifully to a variety of lifestyles is the turn-of-the-century gardener's cottage. These houses are usually built on a near square floor plan, with a long porch running along the length of one side. They often have a prominent roof that dips down over the first story windows so that the house almost appears to be growing out of the ground. Attached to one end is a greenhouse that can adapt to many uses. (The expense of the green house would be in addition to the $200,000 cost suggested above. Some might prefer a two-car garage to a greenhouse, others might prefer a family room. Any of these elements could be added as the family could afford.)
All of the elements for a modern cottage are here: The fireplace and chimney can once again take their central locations; an important, well-detailed front door and ample entry hall would lead to a spacious living area. In contrast to older homes of this type, which usually are made up of a number of tiny rooms, the new cottage would have a more open-plan living area. Living, dining and kitchen areas would flow one into the other.
This feeling of spaciousness would be reinforced by a large bay window overlooking the full-length porch. In addition to providing cooling, the porch would give order and symmetry to he exterior.
A dream cottage? Yes, but it can become real in all sizes and forms. The flexibility and enduring appeal of such buildings makes us understand that they are the kinds of houses we all want to come home to. All they require is a caring partnership between architect and client, and a respect for the talents of the past.
As printed in the Boston Globe Magazine: March 31, 1991. |