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09 · American Vernacular & Regional

Saltbox

c. 1650–1800

A gabled house with one long rear roof slope sweeping nearly to the ground.

Look for

Catslide roof Prominent chimney Clapboard siding
Hoxie House, Sandwich, Massachusetts: an example of Saltbox architecture
Hoxie House, Sandwich, Massachusetts. Photo: Swampyank at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0
Ephraim Hawley House, Trumbull, Connecticut
Ephraim Hawley House Trumbull, Connecticut · Tomticker5, Public domain
Hyland House, Guilford, Connecticut
Hyland House Guilford, Connecticut · Versageek, CC BY-SA 3.0
Boardman House, Saugus, Massachusetts
Boardman House Saugus, Massachusetts · Daderot at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
John Adams Birthplace, Quincy, Massachusetts
John Adams Birthplace Quincy, Massachusetts · Daderot at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

what it is

A saltbox is a wood-framed house with a gable roof of unequal slopes. It has two full stories at the front and one at the back, and the rear roof slope is much longer than the front one, coming down close to the ground. The front is flat, with a large central chimney and usually clapboard siding. The name comes from the lidded wooden boxes with slanted tops in which salt was once kept.

Surviving New England examples include the Thomas Lee House in East Lyme, Connecticut (about 1660), the John Adams Birthplace in Quincy, Massachusetts (about 1681), and the Comfort Starr House in Guilford, Connecticut (about 1695). The Cape Cod house, built in the same region, is lower, with one or one and a half stories under a roof whose two slopes are equal.

how to spot one

Catslide roof A roof with one side extended much lower than the other, often covering a row of ground-floor rooms at the back. It gives New England saltbox houses of the 1600s and 1700s their shape. Prominent chimney A large chimney built on an exterior wall, often of patterned brick or grouped into clusters of stacks (shafts above the roof). It is common on Tudor Revival and Queen Anne houses. Clapboard siding Long, narrow horizontal wooden boards called clapboards, each overlapping the one below, nailed over a wood frame. It is the standard wall covering of New England Colonial houses.

Also look for

Sash windowSteep gableShingle siding

history

The saltbox developed in 17th-century New England as an economical way to enlarge a house. Owners added a one-story shed, called a lean-to, along the back wall and carried the main roof down over it. Early examples include the Macy-Colby House in Amesbury, Massachusetts (about 1651), and the Timothy Knapp House in Rye, New York (about 1667-1670). The John Adams Birthplace, where the second U.S. president was born in 1735, is now part of Adams National Historical Park.

Saltboxes were most common from the 1600s to the mid-1700s, and some were still being built around 1800. The Josiah Day House in West Springfield, Massachusetts (about 1754), is a later example. In the 20th century, Colonial Revival architects designed new saltboxes for suburban clients. The Boston architect Royal Barry Wills (1895-1962), best known for his Cape Cod houses, also designed saltboxes and garrison houses, a related type whose second story overhangs the first.

where to find it

Historic New England towns like Ipswich and Guilford, the museum villages at Sturbridge, and colonial revival suburbs.

easy to confuse with

Sturgis Library, an example of Cape Cod Cape Cod A compact story-and-a-half cottage: steep gable roof, central chimney, dormers, and minimal fuss. Dyckman Farmhouse, an example of Dutch Colonial Dutch Colonial A barn-profile gambrel roof, often flared at the eaves, sometimes with a split Dutch door.