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Renew Blog

Classic Colonial: The earliest settlers’ New England homes

Colonial Lakeside Home in New Hampshire

by Glenn M. Travis, Principal, GMT Home Designs, Inc.

Don't you love the distinct look and feel of New England? We do! Whether you're in a city, suburbs, small town or rural farmlands, there's history, culture, style, and visual interest all around. It never gets dull.

Our iconic home styles, from Colonials to Victorians and more, are a huge part of that New England vibe. Working on home remodels and additions to add modern materials and space, while retaining or enhancing the original look, is one of the parts of residential design that we love best. This is the first post in a series celebrating classic New England home architecture.

Any discussion of New England architectural heritage just has to start with the classic Colonial style home!

In the 17th century, English settlers began building homes in the New England region of the United States. They brought with them the traditional English cottage style, which featured a steeply pitched roof, small windows, and a central chimney. However, the climate in New England was pretty harsh (as we all know!), so they had to make some changes to the design to make the houses more suitable for the region.

And thus, the New England Colonial-style home was born. These houses were known for their simple, symmetrical design, with a central front door flanked by two evenly spaced windows on either side. They were typically two stories high, a fifth window above the front door, with a steeply pitched roof that made it easy for snow and rain to slide off. The exterior was usually made of wood or brick, hardwood being a very available resource to early New England settlers.

The original Colonial style was said to reflect the values of Puritan settlers themselves, who first arrived in Plymouth in 1620: simple and strong, rather than ornate or complicated. However, the features of these homes were unquestionably dictated by practical concerns. Two familiar key aspects of this classic style had to do with the weather: window shutters and a central chimney.

Colonial features for New England's weather

Originally Colonial shutters weren't just decoration. Glass windows were expensive and not very good insulation, so closing shutters let homeowners protect the windows and better insulate the house in cold, windy seasons. But New Englanders know that summer can be hot and muggy, a different weather challenge, and shutters helped manage the amount of light and heat in the house during those months too.

As the quality of windows has improved over the decades, today's Colonial shutters aren't usually functional, but they do help retain the classic look. A winter drive in New Hampshire or Massachusetts through Colonial-style neighborhoods with open shutters and candle-lit windows is pure picturesque New England.

The central placement of a chimney meant one fire could heat multiple surrounding rooms in the house, and the house retained heat better after the fire went out. Later and larger homes often featured a chimney on one or more end of the house instead, but the original Colonials huddled around this central heat source, with a narrow staircase in front of the chimney, in the central entryway.

Video shot via drone reveals many dramatic details of this modern lakeside Colonial-style home
 

A simple style with many variations

After the colonies turned into states, following the American Revolution, new homes were no longer technically 'Colonials', but the building style kept its name. As time went on, the New England Colonial style home became more elaborate, incorporating elements from other, later architectural styles.

Today, you can find all sorts of variations and adaptations of the New England Colonial style house throughout the northeast, from simple saltboxes and Cape Cod Colonials to later evolutions like Georgian and Federal homes. Each state has its own trends and favorites, like the Rhode Island 'stone-ender' and Maine's French Colonials.

We'll look at many of these home styles in upcoming posts — a tour of New England home design. But next, we'll talk about options for remodeling or updating Colonial homes while keeping their style intact.

About the author: GMT Home Designs founder Glenn M. Travis has lived and worked in New England all his life, with 30+ years' experience in architectural design. Learn more about us. 

For project pictured in this article:

Builder: Andrew Adams Construction Consulting
Photographer: David West - Born Imagery

 

More in our series on New England home styles:

Classic colonials | remodeling colonials

Saltbox colonials | updating your saltbox

Cape Cod style | remodeling capes

Shingle-style homes

Modern farmhouses

Dutch Colonials