![Thomas Lee House, East Lyme (New London County, Connecticut)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Thomas_Lee_House%2C_East_Lyme_%28New_London_County%2C_Connecticut%29.jpg)
A saltbox house is a
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
-roofed residential structure that is typically two
stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
style of home, originally
timber framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
, which takes its name from its resemblance to a wooden lidded box in which salt was once kept.
The structure's unequal sides and long, low rear
roofline
Roofline is used to describe the fascia, soffits, bargeboards, antefixes and cladding that forms the frontage immediately below the roof and the eaves of many homes and buildings. These are traditionally made from wood, but can be made of ...
are its most distinctive features. A flat front and central
chimney are also recognizable traits.
Origins
![Nehemiah Royce House, Wallingford, Connecticut](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Nehemiah_Royce_House%2C_Wallingford%2C_Connecticut.JPG)
The saltbox originated in New England and is an example of
American colonial architecture. Its shape evolved organically as an economical way to enlarge a house by adding a
shed to a home's rear.
Original hand-riven oak
clapboard
Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.
''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...
s are still in place on some of the earliest New England saltboxes, such as the
Comfort Starr House
The Comfort Starr House, located at 138 State St., Guilford, Connecticut, is a classic saltbox house with an added lean-to. According to a dendrochronology study, completed in 2014, the house was built in 1695.
About
The house derives its nam ...
and
Ephraim Hawley House
The Ephraim Hawley House is a privately owned Colonial American wooden post-and-beam timber-frame saltbox house situated on the ''Farm Highway'', Route 108, on the south side of ''Mischa Hill'', in Nichols, a village located within Trumbull, C ...
. Once part of their exteriors, they are preserved in place in attics that were created when
shed-roofed additions were added onto the homes.
The style was popular for structures throughout the
colonial period and into the
early Republic for its ability to enlarge the footprint of an existing structure at a minimum of cost. It was most common in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, the
Connecticut Valley
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
, and in the
Western Reserve
The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...
of
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
in the period from 1620 to mid 1700s, but continued to be built until around 1820.
Saltbox homes can also be found in parts of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...
.
Catslide
The roof style is also known as a catslide roof – any roof that, in part, extends down below the main
eave
The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...
height, providing greater area under the roof. If the roof continues at the same pitch, it is considered a "continuous catslide".
In the United States, the term is applied to roofs on houses in the Southeast, especially stretching from
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
south and west through
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, and from early colonial times to around 1910. The term was borrowed from 17th century England where it referred to a secondary roof, often at the side of a building. In the southern US, a catslide roof was usually covering a front or rear porch, often with a less steep pitch than the main roof.
The term is applied to any roof with different eave heights, such as a house with one and a half stories above ground in the front and one story in the rear. The catslide could cover an open patio with a lower ceiling than the house, or could continue almost to the ground, creating a limited height storage area. A front
vestibule could have a small catslide roof perpendicular to the main roof. A
dormer could be designed with a catslide.
Construction
Characteristic of most early New England colonial houses, saltboxes were
timber framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
. Also known as post-and-beam construction, the technique
joins Join may refer to:
* Join (law), to include additional counts or additional defendants on an indictment
*In mathematics:
** Join (mathematics), a least upper bound of sets orders in lattice theory
** Join (topology), an operation combining two topo ...
large pieces of wood with
mortise and tenon joints, wooden pegs, braces, or trusses. Metal nails were sparingly used, as they were an expensive commodity at the time. The exterior of a saltbox was often finished with clapboard or another wooden
siding. The
Josiah Day House in
West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was ...
, is constructed of brick.
Images
File:Thomas Hawley House Monroe, Connecticut rear view.jpg, Multiple-pitched catslide roof Thomas Hawley House
File:EdmundRiceHome1643.jpg, c. 1643 Edmund Rice homestead in Sudbury (now Wayland, Massachusetts
Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1638, and incorporated in 1780 and was originally part of neighboring Sudbury (incorporated 1639). As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was ...
), destroyed by fire c. 1912
File:Macy-Colby House (front) - Amesbury, Massachusetts.JPG, c. 1651 Macy–Colby House, Amesbury, Massachusetts
Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the left bank of the Merrimack River near its mouth, upstream from Salisbury and across the river from Newburyport and West Newbury. The population was 17,366 at the 202 ...
File:John Adams birthplace, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG, c. 1681 John Adams Birthplace
The John Adams Birthplace is a historic house at 133 Franklin Street in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is the saltbox home in which Founding Father and second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in 1735. The house was designated a N ...
, Quincy, Massachusetts
File:Ephraim Hawley House Jan 2011.JPG, c. 1683 Ephraim Hawley House
The Ephraim Hawley House is a privately owned Colonial American wooden post-and-beam timber-frame saltbox house situated on the ''Farm Highway'', Route 108, on the south side of ''Mischa Hill'', in Nichols, a village located within Trumbull, C ...
, Nichols, Connecticut
Nichols, a historic village in southeastern Trumbull in Fairfield County, Connecticut, is named after the family who maintained a large farm in its center for almost 300 years. The Nichols Farms Historic District, which encompasses part of t ...
File:Comfort_Starr_House.jpg, c. 1695 Comfort Starr House
The Comfort Starr House, located at 138 State St., Guilford, Connecticut, is a classic saltbox house with an added lean-to. According to a dendrochronology study, completed in 2014, the house was built in 1695.
About
The house derives its nam ...
, Guilford, Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
File:Saltbox_side_elevation.png, Side elevation of c. 1695 Comfort Starr House
The Comfort Starr House, located at 138 State St., Guilford, Connecticut, is a classic saltbox house with an added lean-to. According to a dendrochronology study, completed in 2014, the house was built in 1695.
About
The house derives its nam ...
illustrating the multiple-pitched roof line
File:Josiah Day House.jpg, c. 1754 Brick Josiah Day House West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was ...
File:Sturgeon House 2.jpg, c. 1838, Sturgeon House, Fairview, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
See also
*
List of house types
This is a list of house types. Houses can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or single-family detached homes and various types of attached or multi-family residential dwellings. Both may va ...
*
Cape Cod (house)
A Cape Cod house is a low, broad, single or double-story frame building with a moderately-steep-pitched gabled roof, a large central chimney, and very little ornamentation. Originating in New England in the 17th century, the simple symmetrical de ...
References
External links
Saltbox Houses in the Historic American Buildings Survey*
ttps://books.google.com/books?id=xW1NAAAAMAAJ ''Early Connecticut Houses: An Historical and Architectural Study'' By Norman Morrison Isham, Albert Frederic Brown
{{Architecture in the United States
American architectural styles
House styles
18th-century architecture
19th-century architecture
Housing in the United States
Vernacular architecture