Saltbox

A saltbox is a wooden frame house with a long, pitched roof that slopes down to the back. A saltbox has just one storey in the back and two stories in the front. The flat front and central chimney are recognizable features, but the asymmetry of the unequal sides and the long, low rear roof line are the most distinctive features of a saltbox, which takes its name from its resemblance to a wooden lidded box in which salt was once kept.

Origins

The saltbox originated in New England, and is an example of American colonial architecture. It was popularized by Queen Anne's taxation of structures greater than one story. Since the rear of saltboxes descended to the height of a single-story building, the structure was exempt from the tax.cite web| url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01E7D6153DE433A25751C2A9649D946197D6CF| title="The Salt-Box House.; BOOKS OF THE SEASON."|author= New York Times|accessdate=2008-04-27] cite web |url=http://www.insteadofapes.com/taxshelters/index.html |title=Tax Shelters: The Three-Story Bungalow |accessdate=2008-04-27 ]

The style was popular for structures throughout the colonial period and into the early Republic, perhaps because of the simplicity of its design. The earliest saltbox-like houses were created when a lean-to addition was added onto the rear of the house. Old weathered clapboards are still in place on parts of the original rear walls of some of the earliest New England homes. The hand-riven oak clapboards on the Ephraim Hawley House are preserved in place in the attic that was created when the lean-to was added in the 1840s.

Construction

Saltboxes, along with many other types of colonial houses, can be considered to be timber-frame houses. Timber framing, or post-and-beam construction, involves joining large pieces of wood with woodworking joints, such as mortise-and-tenon joints, or with wooden pegs, braces, or trusses. Metal nails were sparingly used, because of their expense. Timber frame construction was the construction method for all frame houses in 17th- and 18th-century America, where the abundance of wood made the timber frame house popular. The exterior of a saltbox was often finished with clapboard or other wooden siding.

ee also

*American colonial architecture
*Cape Cod (house)
*List of house types
*Harry Kennedy

References

External links

* [http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/175_sal1.html Saltbox Houses in the Historic American Buildings Survey]
* [http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/100_tim.html Timber-frame Houses in the Historic American Buildings Survey]