1950s Cape Cod House Plans

Cranberry Cape Cod House Plan

The name of this house plan, “Cranberry,” describes the intent of the designers—the cranberry is found throughout the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts. The house plan’s living area, or floor space, is 1,064 square feet.

Why Is This a Cape Cod Design?

• Rectangular shape, with added porch
• Center chimney, similar to the “Hearth” plan
• Front door placed at the center
• Steep pitch to the roof
• Side gables
• Shutters
• Eight-over-eight multi-paned, double-hung windows
• Center-hall floor plan

One-And-A-Half Stories

Some would call this a two-story house, because of the second-floor bedroom area. However, the designers call this a “one-and-a-half story home.” Why? When second-floor interior rooms are box-like, an attic creates the square shape. When second-floor ceilings take the sloped shape of the roof, the story is often considered “half.” The slant of the roof becomes part of the upstairs ceilings. The ceiling height for both the first and second floors is 7 1/2 feet. On the second floor, this height must be at the roof peak, which is the highest point of a very steeply pitched roof.

An Unseen Rear Dormer?

Notice the upstairs storage in the home’s front, spatially equivalent to the closets and bathroom in the back. The upstairs rear windows, which provide “cross ventilation,” would have to be small, narrow basement-type windows through the sloping roof, unless dormers were part of the design. Dormers are often built to create additional space and are sometimes added after a small house is built. This plan, however, may have an unseen rear dormer to accommodate the rear windows—not to mention for the comfort of guests to the second floor rear bathroom. Other house plans in this series, such as “Jewel,” show a rear dormer more clearly on the floor plan, although not in its illustration.

Marketing This House Plan

The interior sketches of the kitchen, utility, and dining areas seem to have no basis in reality when compared with the floor plans. What is called the “Acme of Convenience” and inviting areas of “Work-Saving Informality” appear to be pure marketing.