A saltbox house is an example of early American colonial architecture. It’s wooden frame sports a long, pitched roof that slopes down to the back, with just one story in the back and two stories in the front. Legend has it that the saltbox form was popularized by Queen Anne’s taxation of houses greater than one story. Since the rear of the roof descended to the height of a single-story building, the structure was exempt from the tax.
The flat front and central chimney are recognizable features, but the asymmetry of the unequal sides and the long, low rear roof line are the most distinctive features of a saltbox, which takes its name from its resemblance to a wooden lidded box in which salt was once kept.
-
#massachusetts #capecod #architecture #americana
(at Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts)
