PAGE 2 
THE NEW BEDFORD SUNDAY STANDARD-TIMES 
AUGUST 21, 1960 
by Frances Troy Schwab 
—-r- 
V. Summer Places 
The boom prosperity of post-Civil War America which saw the expansion of 
cities, the growth of industrial power and the steady march of mechanization, had 
little to offer the tastes or talents of Cape Cod. Cape economy, which had been par¬ 
ticularly flourishing during the past 50 years, was based on a native affinity for adven¬ 
turous world trading and upon the extraordinary aptitude of so many Cape Codders for 
navigating sailing ships of all types under any conditions—an aptitude displayed with 
conspicuous brilliance in their cool handling of the speedy but capricious clipper ships 
(circa 1850-70). With the final eclipse of the clipper ships by steam power, most 
Cape Codders stepped scornfully ashore. Since the only land industries of any conse¬ 
quence—the salt works in various places and the glass works at Sandwich had also 
bowed, or were about to bow, before the progress of mechanization—the prospects for 
Cape Cod's bread and butter looked unpromising indeed. 
Fortunately, the charms and uses of the Cape itself came to the rescue. Its cli¬ 
mate and its beaches, the moderate temperature of the surrounding waters, the 
stretches of unspoiled woods, the lovely fresh water lakes, salt marshes and dunes at¬ 
tracted the attention of city dwellers who sought escape not only from heat, but from 
the fatiguing effects of noise and crowds. Thus the Cape embarked on its career as 
a Summer paradise and an antidote to the ills of city pressures. 
Following the pattern established elsewhere earlier in the century—by the ante¬ 
bellum southerners who came all the way up to Newport, or the northerners who sel¬ 
dom journeyed farther than the nearest water or mountain—the first Summer visitors 
to Cape Cod rented quarters from resident owners, most of which were situated natur¬ 
ally on village streets. Soon inns and hotels built especially for vacationers arose upon 
the shoreline to take full advantage of the beaches and the sea. Then, those who loved 
the life enough and could afford to do so, bought property and built houses of their 
own where views of the ocean and a close proximity to it, were the prime considera¬ 
tions. 
The architectural characteristics of most of the Summer places built from the 
late 1870s through the early years of the 20th Century, reflected the powerful influ¬ 
ence of Henry Hobson Richardson and his heirs—McKim, Mead and White. Respond¬ 
ing to an initial impetus from exhibits at the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876, they 
reintroduced rough-textured unpainted shingles and the undulating roof lines of 
Colonial times, combining them with sweeping openness of interior and exterior plan, 
a generous distribution of windows and porches and the frequent use of towers inte 
grated into, rather than added onto, the structure, thus maintaining an over all hori¬ 
zontal effect. 
Once again, even the grandest Summer places on the Cape remained relatively 
simple compared to many in other seacoast resorts. 
ARCHITECTURE ON CAPE COD 
TOWER HOTEL, Falmouth Heights, an early hotel for vacationers, sporting the pointed 
gables and dainty scrolls of the Gothic style in an attractively simple structure. 
NORCROSS HOTEL, Monument Beach, another early seaside hotel with interesting arcaded 
balconies supplying linear rhythms as well as plenty of room for rocking. 
Photos by Lou LaPrade 
ARCHITECT'S SKETCH of the Hotel 
Chatham built in 1889 and since burned 
down, shows Summer resort architecture 
at its most undaunted. Says the bro¬ 
chure, "The quaint gambrel roof and 
shingled sides of the hotel identify it 
with the Colonial in architecture." 
* NOW THE WIANNO CLUB, this 
rippling edifice highly typical of its peri¬ 
od, was built as a hotel in 1881 after its 
earlier namesake burned down. 
VERY RICHARDSONIAN, this house 
with its towers, broken roof lines, tri¬ 
angles and squares shows a master hand 
at work, keeping them all related in a 
coherent, flowing, rich design. 
LESS BRILLIANT, but also flowing 
and well organized, this house with its 
dramatic chimney display, also typifies 
Richardson influence. 
LATER, softer and undramatic, the 
gracefully double-sloped roof is the 
principal feature here. 
IN SPITE of its height, this interest¬ 
ing house with its severe horizontal 
blades and purity of line suggests the 
approach of contemporary discipline. 
Article VI will appear next week 
V 
m 
L lb V . 
1 
nr 
ini! 
j. i 
A? 
L. — 
ilL? 
1 
‘tail jji 
kjflLi 
*' - ;! 
t 
j*— 
L2 '! 
» • 
