Architectural Styles in Colonial New Jersey

Dutch Colonial

• While Dutch Colonial style homes might vaguely resemble barns, they were often built of stone or brick. The front door might be a double Dutch door, split horizontally so that the top half could open while the lower half was shut. The Dutch built jambless fireplaces, which were open, lacking the brick side walls common to English fireplaces. Instead, jambless fireplaces had wide back shields and hearths covered with terracotta tiles, perhaps adorned with blue, mulberry or white Dutch tiles. Steep gambrel roofs covered one or two rooms with an upper garret for storage. Leaded glass casement windows were another feature of the Dutch Colonial style.

New England Colonial

• New England Colonial styles homes were made with hand-hewn oak frames covered with clapboard siding, a somewhat medieval style, as that is what the early colonists knew in England. The basic form was a one story, two room (hall and parlor) house with a central chimney. Later this style evolved into a two story, four room building. A symmetrical facade with a central door and two windows on either side provided a handsome if simple appearance to the home.

Saltbox

• The Saltbox Colonial style began with a simple two room, two story house. The saltbox shape came when a one story lean-to shed was added to the rear of the house. The long, sloping roofline of this style helped protect the house from the wind. The shape of these homes resembled the boxes used for storing salt, thus the name. Saltbox homes have a large central chimney and large, double-hung windows with shutters. Exterior walls were often covered with shingles.

Cape Cod

• Cape Cod Colonial homes had one or one-and-a-half story with no dormers. Basically a simple cottage, these were some of the first houses built in the United States. Cape Cods were sided with shingles, and had steeply pitched gabled roofs. Later examples might have dormers and shutters, with clapboard or brick siding rather than shingles.