Cape Courtyard
Cape Courtyard is a vacation house in the Greek Revival tradition so richly characteristic of Cape Cod. A temple-like entry portico in an enigmatic shingled wall is one’s first view on approaching the house.
The view of the water is to the north, but there was a desire for a sunny, wind-sheltered southern courtyard. The house looks inward to the courtyard and outward to the bay. Set behind dunes, preserving indigenous plantings, the house is approached from the south. The wall with the entry portico screens the courtyard from the driveway.
Only after passing through the portico does one discover the courtyard. The house is arrayed around the court like a village of small Greek Revival houses, connected by an intimately-scaled colonnade. The main block of the house is two stories, one room wide, running east–west, open both to the north water view and the southern courtyard. A wing containing service functions and garage defines the east side of the courtyard. The shape of the compact lot gave rise to the angled plan and dynamic courtyard geometry.
Photography by Robert Benson