Capes: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New

Within the architectural syntax of the American homestead, the Cape Cod house stands as one of our most durable and prolific symbols, writes Gitlin, an architect and a Cape-owner herself. With its ""simple one-and-a-half story form"" and its steeply pitched roof, often capped with a few dormers, the Cape has long been accepted as a fundamental unit of middle-class comfort and modesty, especially since its proliferation in the decades following World War II. This volume, the latest in the Updating Classic America series, illustrates the many ways in which the basic Cape form has been modified and embellished over the years. ""Like a dish of vanilla ice cream,"" Gitlin writes, ""a Cape gracefully accepts just about any flavor you might want to add."" In a series of nuts and bolts profiles of successful renovations, Gitlin walks the reader through hidden gardens and storage rooms, along swooping rooflines and angular hallways, always with a competent, conversational tone. Authoritative without being coercive, helpful without nagging, this is a graceful, enlightening handbook for the home redecorator. (Mar.)