The Phineas Upham House: The Saltbox Style Home at Its Finest
The first homes built by the European immigrants of the American colonies were very simple and traditional structures. They lacked extensive detail. The style of the homes was known as “folk,” due to their similarity to the homes in the settlers’ homelands.
While all houses that were built in the Colonial Period can be labeled as folk designs, they were typically one of three styles. There was the Cape Cod style, the Georgian style, and the Saltbox style houses. Despite the differences in style, most colonial houses had a similar structure. They were typically made of a wood frame and had two stories. While there was a similar structure to all homes of the Colonial period, there was hardly strict uniformity. The homes in every region within the colonies differed depending on the cultural heritage and nationalities of the settlers living there.
The historic Phineas Upham House is an example of the Saltbox style. This historic landmark dates back all the way to 1703 and is revered by the National Register of Historic Places. The Saltbox style itself began in medieval Europe. It deemed its name “saltbox” due to the fact that it shared its shape to that of a saltbox ornament. They tend to look slightly similar to a shed and are traditionally built with a wooden frame, accompanied by small, simple windows.
The Saltbox style home has a unique architecture with a long, pitched sloping roof. There is a characteristically centralized chimney and one main entry way. The Saltbox style is asymmetrical with a roof line that’s usually long and slopes to the back. Saltbox homes fall under the umbrella of timber-frame houses. A timber-frame home involves joining a large piece of wood to joints or wooden pegs. This style didn’t usually utilize metal nails because they were considered expensive at the time.
Today, there are many great Saltbox-style historical homes still standing, which allow us to observe the architectural landscape of the Colonial era and understand more about how the early settlers lived. The Phineas Upham House of Melrose, Massachusetts is a great time capsule of the early settlers. Other historic homes to visit include The Thomas Lee House of East Lyme, Connecticut and The Thomas Hawley House of Monroe, Connecticut.