The Cape Cod Cottage [Paperback]

William Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2006

The Cape Cod cottage has been one of America's most popular home styles for almost four hundred years. While a perennial domestic favorite, historians have long ignored the modest Cape Cod, relegating it to a vernacular footnote along with barns and mills. In The Cape Cod Cottage architectural historian and photographer William Morgan places this uniquely American housea remarkable combination of necessity and traditionin its historical context and makes a compellingargument for the reassessment of its place in the history of American architecture.

The Cape Cod Cottage follows the uniquely American house type from its earliest beginnings in the colonial period, through its spread across New England, to its embrace as a suburban ideal in the twentieth century, and its reinterpretation by contemporary architects. Historical images oflost Capes augment beautiful new photographs taken specifically for the book. As a tribute to a special house, The Cape Cod Cottage is an appeal to preserve the Cape's legacy and an essential document of this unique architectural icon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Architects and builders should hand this book to clients who are seeking creative ways to build modestly. -- Period Homes, July 2006

Captivating. . . . In anyone who lingers over its pages, Morgan's little paperback will stimulate new affection for the Cape Cod cottage and its subtle variations. -- New Urban News, November 2006

In telling the story of the Cape, Morgan does not avoid a connoisseur's passion... but he does it with a grace that is consistent with the Cape itself. -- Maine Sunday Telegram, Oct. 15, 2006

It's a great story, an American story. . . and its telling is authoritatively done in this cordial, handsomely produced book. -- Maine Sunday Telegram, October 15, 2006

The story it tells is New England's story-the story of creating a sense of place and a sense of home. . . . A fine visual survey of this enduring form. -- Architecture Boston, November 2006

About the Author

William Morgan is an architectural historian and a photographer based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (May 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568985754
• ISBN-13: 978-1568985756
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Less is more?, July 19, 2006

By 

Charles S. Houser (Binghamton, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cape Cod Cottage (Paperback)

The text in this book (called simply "Essay" by Professor Morgan) is only ten pages! The photographs, half archival and half taken by the author, are exquisite in their simplicity, though I craved a little more information than just location and date. (I wanted to know why Professor Morgan chose to include a particular house or show a particular detail: was it typical? atypical? a good example of what can be done with a Cape Cod cottage to improve it? an example of how the ideal has been corrupted?). While the Essay is clearly an appreciation of the Cape Cod cottage (with an occassional delicious dig on the current popularity of mega-mansions and hard-to-heat great halls), Morgan doesn't oversell us on the Cape's merits. There is enough discussion of history, philosophy (including references to Zen Buddhism), and social influences to be provocative, but not so much as to be cloying, "soap-boxy," or patronizing. And he does provide a bibliography for anyone who wants to explore this topic more deeply. This book will appeal to people with a general interest in architecture or the concept of "home," and to people who grew up in a Cape Cod style house or who own one (and might be thinking of expanding or altering it in some way). The photographs reward repeated viewing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A living musuem of the American dream, February 21, 2007

By 

Jesper S. Christensen "art historian" (kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cape Cod Cottage (Paperback)

The author returns to his origins, geographically and aesthetically; he knows the hype about "the new" and "the old," he's neither cynical nor sentimental. Just the facts and the photos: the worn stepping stone at the door, the picket fence like the hem of a dress, the decorative pane reserved for the entrance door, the low doorways, wood that resembles trees. A threatened species, these cottages, remnants of a modest past, pre-vulgar. This plain beauty, seized by these gentle photos--like catching a butterfly without rubbing the dust off its wings.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkably concise and compelling, July 18, 2006

By 

Matt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cape Cod Cottage (Paperback)

This is an amazing study, highly recommended. A North American will quickly recognize the houses of his/her childhood in this study. By discussing the influence of the Cape Cod Cottege in North American architecture, Professor Morgan covers allot of ground - within the US and to to some extent within the psyche of the nomadic American. One sees in this history (as written and photographed) evidence of an innate American desire for community togetherness and for the cozy, simple, independent lifestyle of the 'American Dream'. This book is as much about the 'Cape Cod Cottege' as it is about the independent lifestyle that has been part of the typically enthusiastic, positivistic, and pragmatic American outlook. Many readers will associate these buildings with their grandparents' homes, with childhood, with their roots - wherever they have lived in the US.