Featuring over 20 homes selected by architect Jane Gitlin, Capes is a unique combination of outstanding designs and proven ideas for updating the classic Cape style.

From the Introduction
When our family renovated a post-war Cape a couple of years ago, we removed the drywall in one room to discover a yellowed 1947 newspaper that had been tucked between the studs. No doubt some carpenter had thought of the paper as a time capsule of sorts. I don't know that he expected it to be uncovered just 50-odd years later. It seems most of us think that our homes are eternal, that their style won't ever seem dowdy, that their roofs will stay straight and true.

We Cape owners, especially, can be excused for thinking of our houses as permanent parts of the landscape. After all, Cape Cod­-style homes have been around nearly forever. Their simple one-and-a-half-story form remains a part of our architectural vocabulary - even though most Capes were built within the last century and their construction and room functions have changed dramatically. If Mayflower Puritans were to visit a new Cape Cod­-style house, whether in Massachusetts or in California, chances are they would find it comfortingly familiar.

As the renovations proceeded on our own Cape and it was time to resheathe the rooms with new drywall, we returned the 1947 newspaper to its niche and added a current issue. Reluctantly, we had to acknowledge that no matter how splendid our modifications seem right now, only 50 years or so will pass before another family feels the need to breathe new life into this home. The Cape style lends itself to being reinvented, which is one of the main reasons for its remarkable longevity.

Like a dish of vanilla ice cream, a Cape gracefully accepts just about any flavor you might want to add. The homes in this book illustrate many ways in which the basic form has been embellished, stretched, and altered. I hope these examples will inspire you to craft a Cape that goes beyond the ordinary, in both its beauty and in its function.

Table of Contents
Introduction. 1. An American Archetype: The Cape Makes a Comeback, Updating a Classic Cape, A Contemporary Twist on Tradition, Moving toward the Light, The Hallmarks of Cape Style, Cape Renaissance, Choosing a Strategy; 2. Modest Remodels: Big Plans for a Small Area, Modernizing at the Core, Working with What You've Got, Modest Isn't Mundane, Underfoot and Overhead, When Dowdy Won't Do, Room at the Top, Instant Tradition, Southern Comfort, Perfectly Architectural; 3. Ambitious Additions: A Marriage of New and Old, Stretching Out and Up, The Morphed Cape, Opening a Cape to the Outdoors, From Cape to Colonial, From Cape to Bungalow, A Spirited Transformation, Trial Size to Family Size, A Cape Compound, A Cape for the Generations, Stone Sprawler; 4. New Homes from an Old Pattern: An Architecture of Substance, Cape Shape, The Benefit of a Budget, Little "a" Architecture, A Cape with a New Twist, A Cape Reborn, To the Edge and Back; 5. New Directions: In the Image of a Cape, Upside-Down Cape, The Essence of Home; Sources; Index.