Wianno Club

Description of the property

The Wianno Club faces northwest on Seaview Avenue in Osterville, a village of Barnstable. Its long, narrow lot has 980'of frontage on Nantucket Sound and consists of a well landscaped lawn separated from a sandy beach by a wall of riprap. The former late nineteenth century hotel is surrounded by large summer houses of similar style and period. When constructed in 1887 the building consisted of a large three story main block with a smaller two story rear ell. Between 1916 and 1920 a one story wing was added to the northeast elevation. Recently another one story wing has been added to the southeast elevation. The original portion is shingled while the additions are clapboarded.

The main block has a mansard roof with a large overhanging gambrel cross gable on the ocean elevation, two attached polygonal towers on the street facade and dormers with low hipped roofs. It is terminated at the northeastern end by a two bay cross-axial gable roof section. The rear ell has a mansard roof with two large gambrel cross gables and shed roof dormers. Originally the main block had balconies between the facade towers at the second floor level and onthe southwest elevation at the third floor level. The original facade porch was replaced in 1920 by one with a Colonial Revival appearance. It is now screened and has an asphalt shingle roof supported by filleted Doric columns.

The roof of the earlier porch was covered with wood shingles and was simply an extension of the second story siding. The original roof of the building itself has also been replaced by asphalt shingles. Exterior trim was originally painted a dark color, but by c. 1910 was painted white, and is presently white with green shutters.

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Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT believed to be Horace Frazier STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Wianno Club is significant as one of the few surviving large Shingle Style hotels representative of the early period of Cape Cod's development as a summer resort area. Its fine architectural design adds to its significance. Cape Cod began to develop as a major summer resort area in the years following the Civil War, when rail service began to make it accessible to large numbers of people. Development of the area near Osterville began in the 1870's. The Osterville Land Company, formed in 1873, included in its Articles of Association the provision that a hotel costing not more than $15000 would be built on a lot fronting the ocean near the middle of the approximately 120 other lots the Company had laid out.

The hotel, known as the Cotocheset House after the Indian tribe which had originally inhabited the area, was built before the end of 1873. This building burned in 1886, but construction of a new hotel on the same site was begun immediately. Photos, reportedly taken in January of 1888, show the main and two subsidiary blocks of the new Cotocheset Hotel nearly finished. It is likely that Horace Fraser, architect of a number of the houses in the area, also designed the hotel. Frazer (1862-1931) served as a draftsman with Peabody and Stearns in 1885 before joining with J.G. Chapman to form Chapman and Frazer in 1890. The Cotocheset Hotel was purchased from the Cotocheset Land Company by the Wianno Club in 1916.

While adding the Colonial Revival elements, the Club has not made any serious alterations to the hotel. It stands as an important reminder of the origins of Cape Cod's most important modern industry -- tourism.