Shingle Style

Spruce Point Inn // c.1892

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Spruce Point Inn sits amongst acres of pristine pine forests on the shore of the rugged coastline in Boothbay Harbor, in Mid-Coast Maine. The Inn had its beginnings in the 1890s as a hunting and fishing lodge when the peninsula was an undeveloped and remote point on the outer edge of Boothbay Harbor. The enchanting location off the beaten path attracted rusticators, who sought to escape the hot and polluted air of Boston and other cities, for the coastal breezes on Spruce Point. Private cottages were built nearby the old lodge, and frequented by summer rusticators year-after-year. By the 1940s the lodge was converted to an inn and many of the private summer cottages surrounding were acquired and rented out for summers. The buildings exhibit the warm, natural materials typical of the region, with weathered shingles and expansive porches that invite guests to take in the ocean breeze. Inside, the beadboard walls, wood floors, and fireplaces paired with period-appropriate furnishings really provide an authentic historic feeling. The resort’s first saltwater pool was constructed in a rocky outcropping right at the coastline and was recently restored, providing visitors a unique experience to swim in a historic saltwater pool just over the ocean! Over the years, the inn has undergone several renovations and expansions, ensuring that it continues to meet the needs of modern travelers while preserving its historical significance. The Spruce Point Inn is more than just a place to stay; it is a part of the rich history of Boothbay Harbor and ongoing legacy, a historic getaway that blends both luxury and history in a setting unlike any other.

Boxcroft // 1883

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“Boxcroft” (also known as “Whileaway”) is a historic Shingle style summer “cottage” on Red Cross Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. While it is surrounded by vegetation and tucked away, not facing the road, the house is a landmark example of the architecture style and very significant. The house was completed in 1883 from plans by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White a white shoe firm who designed many summer cottages in Newport for social elite. The original owner was Samuel Colman (1832-1920), a well-known landscape artist, the first President of the American Water Color Society, a connoisseur of Oriental art and an interior designer in business with Louis Comfort Tiffany specializing in fabrics and wallpaper. Colman lived here with his first wife, Ann Lawrence Dunham until her death in 1902. The property was later owned by Mary Appleton, an unmarried daughter of publisher William Henry Appleton. She would sell Boxcroft to lawyer and socialite J. Coleman Drayton, years following his bitter (and very public) divorce from Charlotte Augusta Astor, a member of the prominent New York Astor family, following a cheating scandal by Charlotte. Mr. Drayton died in Newport in 1934. Boxcroft remains an architecturally and historically significant piece of Newport’s Gilded Age.

“Villino” // 1882

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“Villino” was built in 1882 for $7,553, as a summer residence for Ms. Frances L. Skinner, a widow of the late Reverend Thomas Skinner. “Villino” was the work of the young firm of McKim, Mead & White, and it is one of the firm’s many Shingle style buildings, but one of the most compact. The asymmetrical 2½-story Shingle Style cottage sits atop a granite foundation with continuous shingles above. The entrance porch is tucked into the building mass on the side and its prominent tower with conical roof. The house is sited well into the landscape and unlike many other summer “cottages” the name Villino which is Italian for cottage, actually fits!


Frederick & Arabella Holden House // 1893

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The Frederick & Arabella Holden House sits on Aspinwall Avenue in the Brookline Village neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts. Built in 1893, the excellently designed Shingle style dwelling was actually built on speculation by developers, and sold upon completion to the couple. Fred G. Holden (1858-1927) was a marble dealer who managed the Boston Marble Company and had connections in his home state, Vermont for the highest quality marble to sell around Boston, largely for building products and grave memorials. Arabella Proctor Holden (1859-1905) was born in Cavendish, Vermont, as the eldest daughter of Redfield Proctor, 37th Governor of Vermont and the founder of the Vermont Marble Company, the largest such company in the world. I could not find the architect of the house, so any more information, let me know. I’d love to solve the mystery!

Dr. Thomas J. Shanahan House // 1892

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Dr. Thomas Joseph Shanahan (1873-1929) was born in Lawrence and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1896. He practiced medicine in Brookline and Boston and was engaged in local organizations. He purchased this 1892 house on Aspinwall Avenue in Brookline in 1911, which had previously been rented to families. Two generations of Shanahans would own the house until the 1970s. After Dr. Shanahan’s death in 1929, the widowed Margaret Shanahan remained in this house with their daughter, Mary Margaret Shanahan, who was employed in 1940 as a medical secretary for a hospital. Mrs. Shanahan transferred title to the property in 1947 to her daughter, who converted the house to a two-family dwelling in 1953 for supplemental income. Architecturally, the house is Queen Anne and Shingle styles with continuous shingle siding, complex form with bays and oriels, and a unique arched opening in the gable over the entrance filled with a spindle screen. Architects were William Langley Morrison and Peter J. McEwen.

Levi T. Lyon Two-Family House // 1895

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When Brookline Village filled in with multi-family housing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many speculative real estate developments sprouted up from larger residential estates. As so many were built on speculation, high-quality designs and construction were a necessity to bring in picky buyers. This two-family house was built on the corner of Brook and Toxeth streets by Levi T. Lyon, a builder and developer, who lived on Brook Street. This house was designed by F. Manton Wakefield, a relatively unknown architect who apprenticed under Shingle-style maestro William Ralph Emerson, before opening his own firm. Buildings like this are great as they provide much-needed housing, while being built of a good scale that allows residents to know their neighbors, not as easy in a high-rise.

Dr. Ralph Fogg House // 1893

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Built in 1893, this house in Norwood, Massachusetts, was built for Dr. Ralph Fogg, a leading dentist in the Boston area with offices in Boston, Norwood, and Quincy. Dr. Fogg was dissatisfied with nitrous oxide gas as an anesthetic, as it failed to protect the patient against pain; and, in trying to find some harmless compound to accomplish the desired results, he produced the “Boston Vegetable Vapor,” an anesthetic to compete with nitrous oxide in markets. In 1885, the Boston Vegetable Anesthetic Company was formed for the purpose of placing the vapor in the market, and it was used by leading dentists across the country. With his dental practice growth and success of his new invention, Dr. Fogg and his new wife, Anna Saville, hired architect, Herbert Mosely, to design a stately home for their family. The Queen Anne/Shingle style house features a sophisticated use of stone, clapboard and wood shingle materials. It’s main facade is dominated by a broad gambrel gable with the main entrance set within a rusticated stone arch which is edged with large voussoir blocks.

Oliver J. Barr House // 1908

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Built in 1908 as a late example of the Queen Anne and Shingle styles, the Oliver J. Barr House is one of the finest Victorian buildings in Norwood, Massachusetts. The residence was built for Oliver J. Barr (1863-1935), who served as the General Manager of the Norwood Press in town, following his company from Boston to Norwood. The house was designed by Eugene Clark a Boston-area architect who specialized in suburban houses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The dwelling is noteworthy for its distinctive form, intact and rough textured wood shingle siding, and complex roof configuration. Particularly noteworthy is the verandah which encircles its northeast corner and rounded conically capped tower.

Wildwood Baptist Chapel // 1910

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Tucked away on a wooded lot, away from the main villages of Kennebunkport, Maine, the Wildwood Baptist Chapel sits on the side of the road looking like a scene from a storybook. The chapel was built in 1910 for Baptists residing in the Wildes District of town, between the busier Kennebunkport Village and Cape Porpoise. The stone used in the construction of the chapel was taken from nearby properties and assembled on site by a skilled mason who built the walls with a Shingle style roof. Services here were limited and eventually ceased in earnest in 1935, as personal automobile allowed residents to travel to the church in the village for services. The poorly insulated chapel and small fireplace made the sanctuary inside difficult to heat in the cold winter months. The chapel is maintained well to this day, and is primarily used for summer services and special events.

Kennebunk River Clubhouse // 1889

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A canoe club formed by John B. McMaster, Prosper L. Senat and Henry E. Woods in the early 1880’s grew to a large “Lobster Club” by 1888. In 1889, the club decided to build this Shingle style boat house and the organization changed their name to the ‘Kennebunk River Club’ and hired Lowell, Massachusetts architect, Frederick W. Stickney to design a new boathouse. It opened in August 1890. The club grew quickly as Kennebunkport continued to become a premier summer destination with wealthy residents building summer “cottages” in town. In the building, canoes were built and hired out to club members by members of the Penobscot tribe who came to Kennebunkport from Old Town each summer working here. The clubhouse is one of the finest Shingle style recreational buildings in New England.

Point O’ View Cottage // 1892

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The Point O’ View Cottage in Kennebunkport sits on a large lawn on the rugged Maine coast, with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. Built in 1892 by Burleigh S. Thompson as a rental property (he rented it for $1,500 for the summer) the nine-bedroom “cottage” was designed in a Tudoresque version of the Queen Anne architectural style and originally named Fort Bradford. The cottage (like others built for Mr. Thompson) was designed by Henry Paston Clark, THE architect for the Cape Arundel Summer Colony in the 1890s, who also designed St. Ann’s Episcopal Church and other cottages nearby. The cottage was renovated more in keeping with the Shingle style and was entirely clad in cedar shingles, but it retains its perfect, rustic stone foundation and rounded porch. It is now known as Point O’ View Cottage. What a view it has!

Kewaydin Cottage // 1900

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Every good summer cottage needs a name, and this charmer in the Cape Arundel Summer Colony of Kennebunkport, Maine, is no exception! This is “Kewaydin” a massive summer home built for Eben Caldwell Stanwood Jr. (1856-1906) a merchant and later banker of Boston, Massachusetts. Stanwood hired the Boston firm of Chapman & Frazer to design the cottage, which blends Shingle style and Queen Anne elements in a rustic composition that has such great curb appeal! The use of cedar shingles and rubblestone chimneys, paired with the vergeboards and complex roofline with dormers, makes this one of the gems of Kennebunkport!

Pine Haven Cottage // 1902

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Pine Haven Cottage sits on a rise overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the Cape Arundel summer colony in Kennebunkport, Maine. Built in 1902 for Thomas Brodhead Van Buren, Jr., a silk importer in Manhattan as a summer home, the cottage was designed by Henry Paston Clark and his partner, John W. Russell in an eclectic example of the Shingle style with gable roofs, vergeboards, stone foundation, and a prominent porch that has since been enclosed.

Chester Guild Cottage // 1902

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One of the many stunning summer “cottages” built in the Cape Arundel summer colony of Kennebunkport, Maine, is this turn-of-the-century Shingle style dwelling built for Chester Guild of Boston. Chester Guild III was born into the wealthy Guild Family of Roxbury with his father being a successful leather dealer. Chester Guild spent summers with his family in Kennebunkport beginning in the 1890s, eventually had this cottage built in 1902. The Shingle style dwelling remained in the family for five generations and is very well-preserved, showcasing the hallmark elements of the ubiquitous coastal Maine architectural style.

The Billingsgate Cottage // 1892

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In 1892, this large summer “cottage” was built in the Land’s End section on the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts. The large summer residence was built for the Thatcher sisters of Roxbury and was named “The Billingsgate” after their mother’s maiden name, Billings. Caroline Billings Thatcher would summer here with upwards of her four other sisters, Lillian, Margaret, Mary, and Elizabeth, to escape from the city. The large summer cottage features a rubblestone first floor with stone columns supporting the shingled floor above. A large gambrel roof and dormers punctuate the façade and showcase the simplicity and elegance of the Shingle style.