The Outer Banks - The Nags Head Cottage

 Last month my family went down to the Outer Banks for a week. The Outer Banks is one of my favorite beaches, the Kitty Hawk to Nags Head area in particular. Driving down the beach road there are many reminders of the small beach town it used to be, and still somewhat is. There has been a lot of new construction in the 1990s - 2000s and most of it, sad to say, ruins the character of the Outer Banks. The construction of the earlier decades is not as offensive because it is more modest in size and was constructed with a natural, unpainted wood siding, instead of the brightly colored vinyl (and possibly some fiber cement siding) that is more commonly built today. And while the houses of the 1970s and 1980s aren't terrible, the historic cottages of the late 19th and early 20th century are my personal favorites.

The Nags Head Cottage was one of the predominant vernacular building types in the area, and now there are not many left. These houses were built with broad overhanging eaves over wrap around porches to take advantage of the sea breezes, but protect itself from the harsh sun. The houses were all sided in a natural cedar shingle. Keep in mind these houses were built before the advent of the air conditioner, when houses were built specifically to their surroundings. The hurricane shutters provide protection from hurricane winds when necessary, but shade the windows from the sun, while still allowing light into the rooms. The beach houses of today, with the ridiculous amount of windows (without hurricane shutters) and decks (not porches because there is no roof) are built knowing there will be two or more air conditioning units in the house, so there is no need to worry about allowing for a good breeze through the house.


Below is a classic Nags Head cottage. Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of a row of them, it's a bit difficult to stop along the beach road.

 

Other vernacular cottages:

A good row except for the obvious one that stands out..

 

One of my favorites

We drove past some newer construction that was built in the historic style, it's too bad more people don't build this way...

Notice the depth of the porch and the roof?

Another good example of newer construction:

These are all some good examples of the vernacular style of the area. It's sad to say I found it easier to take pictures of houses I hated than houses I liked....which I'll save for next time.

A look back at the blizzard...

Tropical Storm Nicole just pounded the east coast with rain, and Baltimore received it's fair share and had some flooding. I'm glad I wasn't in Wilmington, NC - they got 21 inches of rain! Can you imagine if that rain was snow? The blizzards last winter were bad enough. But taking a look back at the last set of blizzards (two in one week), I have to say that I'm incredibly glad I was in the city. Restaurants, bars, Royal Farms and the corner stores were all pretty much open and I could walk to all of them. It sounds like this winter might be just as bad...but lets take a look back at this past winter....

Check out the picture below - there was too much snow and nowhere for the plows to put it...so they made a wall in the street....

Another wall of snow in the middle of the street...

Streets they didn't bother plowing for a few days...

The only way out....

Ending at my destination that night...

It was fun the first couple of day, but I could go several years without a repeat...

More to Come Soon...

I recently adopted a kitten so that my dog, Audrey, would have a friend to play with. They get along great and are constantly playing and chasing each other. However, I haven't been able to post in a few weeks because the kitten, Jackson, chewed my laptop cord and it is no longer functioning. I finally bought a new cord this past weekend and left it in my mom's car. So I'm still without power. Keep checking back in the next week or two, I eventually to have hope more than 40 minutes of battery time left and get some new posts up. I've never had a dog that chewed and it never occurred to me that a cat would...

The troublemaker

My girl who needed a friend...

Factory Rehab and New Construction

Check out the two buildings below - one is new construction and the other is a historic rehab. Can you tell which is which?

The first picture is a historic rehab. However, this project has been in the works for the three years that I've lived near it. I don't think they are ever going to finish, but they did finally get the new windows in. It's supposed to be condos...

The new construction is the second picture - townhouses in the Brewer's Hill neighborhood next to the Natty Boh Tower. These were built a few years ago and finished as the recession hit...I don't think any have sold. They were originally priced too high and although they've come down some, I guess not enough - they're still listed in the $475,000 to $500,000 range. And that's a bit too much when you can get a rehabbed house around the corner for $250,000 or less. But they do have two-car garages! And I checked out the online listing, the interior looks awesome!

I love that the new construction looks like it could have been an old industrial building. I think it helps it to blend into the neighborhood. You can see from the picture above that it is larger than the existing rowhouses, but so is the old factory historic rehab below (see the rowhouse on the left).

The other reason I think the new townhouses work well in their setting is that the Natty Boh Tower complex is just across the street, and the scale and massing of the buildings increase substantially. If anything, the townhouses create an intermediary zone and the height gradually changes instead of more drastically changing. Below is a picture of the Natty Boh buildings on Conkling Street. You can see how the buildings gradually get taller and take up the entire block.

My favorite part about the exterior of the new construction - the windows, which remind me of the windows on an old factory just down the street!

The Cornice

The cornice, in my opinion, can be one of the most striking elements of a building. At whatever point when siding and formstone became the thing to do, so many cornices were removed or covered. In this instance, they did it all.  

Wouldn't you be jealous if your neighbor had this beautiful painted cornice and you the large mass of  vinyl?

They come in all colors, shapes and sizes...but they're all better than not having one, or having one covered!

Some of the more plain variety, but still great!

I love these!

I love these too!

This whole row is awesome!

These owners should have agreed upon a color...

I could keep going with this, maybe more another day. I just happened to take these on a walk this beautiful afternoon! Which one is your favorite?

New England Vacation!

This past spring I went to visit one of my good friends in the Providence area.  I love New England, and if they didn't typically have worse winters that we do, I think I could easily live there! I fell in love with Newport, RI over this vacation, it reminded me a lot of Charleston, SC (where I went to college).  We also drove up to Boston for a few hours, had lunch with an old friend, and then walked around some. The parking situation in Boston almost makes me never want to complain about the parking in Baltimore...almost.

First up, Newport - a charming coastal town with a quaint, but lively, downtown, great vernacular architecture and the most ridiculously beautiful mansions...

Why I did not grow up in a house like this is beyond me...mom, care to answer?

and to have a view like this?

If I was a photographer, this stone wall would look a lot cooler...

I think this building is part of Salve Regina University's campus

I didn't take enough pictures of Newport, the houses we drove past were insane, but it was hard to photograph from the car...looks like I'll be planning another trip!


Now to Boston, Commonwealth Ave in particular, another street I wish I'd grown up on...any one of these houses will do...

Although I love a good mansard roof, so the house below would be nice, plus it looks like they have a little side yard to garden in!