The elegant Cape Cod Colonial at 37 Summer Street first appears as the William Jewett house in the 1872 Ipswich map, although the town website lists it as 1825. Like many capes from the Greek Revival and Italianate eras, it features story-and-a-half construction, a balanced façade, a centered door with entablature and corner pilasters, dental molding, and elaborate cornice returns.
This house is a “high post cape,” sometimes referred to as a “kneewall cape,” a style that became popular in the 19th Century. The corner posts extend vertically, which raises the roof, increasing the usable space in the second-floor rooms. The plans for this house may have been from a catalogue.
Historical Narrative
Aaron Cogswell inherited and sold a building lot, next to the old Martin house, to John Jewett, another to James H. Staniford, and the lowest in the Street to William H. Jewett. The 1884 and 1910 maps show the owner as William H. Jewett.
Sources:
Waters, Thomas: Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Vol. 1
Historic Ipswich 
