I am a purist, architecturally speaking.
When the subject of style comes up people usually have very firm ideas in their heads. For years it seemed that everyone building their house in Vermont wanted a “cape”…with big windows and lots of light and an open floor plan. Talk about contradicting ones self. People tend to be as conservative architecturally in Vermont as they are socially liberal. Clapboard capes and Greek revivals are certainly not the most economical houses to construct either. I have done my share and I’ve done them well without too much compromising of my purist sensibilities. What I mean by this is that I like a lot of house styles but in reviewing houses that I really responded to emotionally over the years the common theme was that they were not trying to be something they weren’t. Capes trying to live like ranches, neo-victorians with cutesy plastic trim, developer subdivision type houses with layered gables on the front façade for no other reason than to attempt to reduce the scale of the house. I despise fakery of that sort. This reaction of mine applies to other things architectural as well. Concrete trying to look like stone, vinyl trying to look like wood, ceramic tile trying to look like stone or clay tiles, and (sound of “Psycho” violins) distressed wood cabinetry. Legitimacy of materials as well as style is important.
