Salt box house

A comprehensive look at the New England house style that is a slice of American antiquity.

And why is it called a saltbox to begin with?

Find out what makes the historic saltbox houses of the upper East Coast unique and discover the story behind the unusual name.

The superinsulated home that I designed and built for my family of three in Greenfield, Massachusetts has been comfortable for the entire year and serves as an example of successful design for our climate. We moved in to our new home in February 2012. Modest in size, our home measures 26 feet by 32 feet and has 1,500 square feet of living space, with two full floors plus a partial third floor tucked into the slopes of the cathedral ceiling. In order to decrease the overall volume while…

Popular in 17th- and 18th-century America for its ability to accommodate large families, the saltbox house features a catslide roof that extends below the eaves, creating one story that juts out on the back of the home and two or more on the front. The genius of the design is that any ordinary colonial home could be quickly and affordably upgraded to a saltbox simply by adding a leaning rafter to the rear. Specimens of this type of residence still stand to this day. Scroll through to see…

Birdy on Instagram: “Contrast... Summer or Winter? Home sweet old home... looking as she always did since the 1740s ..no additions, original Saltbox...has…”