Shingle-Style Homes: Not Just Homes with Shingles

Style from the 1800s Nicknamed ‘Architecture of the American Summer’

The Isaac Bell House, Newport, Rhode Island | Credit: Library of Congress

Shingle-style homes were popular in the last couple of decades of the 1800s, but they did not acquire a name until about 1950. American architect Vincent Scully gave this type of home a formal name in his book, The Shingle Style: Architectural Theory and Design from Richardson to the Origins of Wright. He nicknamed the style, “the architecture of the American summer.”

Kragsyde, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts | Credit: Artists Country-Seats, George William Sheldon

These houses, covered in shingles, have a weathered and naturalistic surface. Sometimes, architects dipped the cedar shakes in buttermilk to give them an aged, weathered appearance. One of the key features that distinguish shingle-style homes from other styles that have shingles, is the corners. Shingle-style homes do not have vertical corner boards. Instead, the shingles wrap around the corners. Other characteristics of these homes are:

Spreading, dense horizontal shape
Minimum of architectural details
Frequently used for homes in the country, not often used in urban areas
Interior spaces contain large rooms
An informal feel

Shingle style was most frequently used on homes but was occasionally used for churches or lodges. However, it was not a style commonly used for commercial buildings. Here in Santa Barbara, there are just a handful of Shingle-style homes on the city’s Structures of Merit list.

124 East Arrellaga Street | Credit: Betsy J. Green

340 East Los Olivos Street | Credit: Betsy J. Green

Why was this style, which was often used for massive homes built on seacoasts in New England, lacking a name for so long? Maybe because this style was usually used for vacation homes.

Hillside, Newport Rhode Island | Credit: ‘The Sanitary Engineer’, Volume 14, 1886

Another reason why this style was not given a formal name may have been that despite their massive size, these homes were often referred to as “cottages.” Many of these homes were vacation residences for the upper class on the East Coast. You know, people who use “summer” as a verb, as in, “Where do you summer?” I can imagine the Astors inviting the Vanderbilts by saying, “Oh, but you must visit us at our cottage in Newport this summer!” (Newport, Rhode Island, that is.)

Please do not disturb the residents of these homes.

Betsy J. Green is a Santa Barbara historian, and author of Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, Santa Monica Press, 2002. Her website is betsyjgreen.com.