7 Commercial Street

Delft Haven II Condominium (Unit 6).

Cottage 6 is the flagship of the Delft Haven fleet. This is the cottage, standing in foursquare silhouette over a deep lawn and set apart against the backdrop of Provincetown Harbor, that has inspired thousands of real-estate fantasies among peeking-in passers-by over the more than eight decades of its existence. It cannot be a coincidence that it was highlighted in an early promotional brochure for Delft Haven. The original saltbox roof on the water side has been compromised by the addition of a shed dormer. But nothing can really diminish the romance of this two-story gem, with its Ye Olde New England overhang. Bill Barr, who lives in Cottage 3, has captured many of its moods in photos to the “Delft Haven” pages on Instagram and Facebook.

As originally laid out, the 8-by-16-foot living room, with fireplace, was to the right as one entered from the courtyard. A 10-by-11-foot kitchen was to the left, beyond which was a small bathroom, with shower stall, and a beachside entrance. The two-foot-wide staircase took one up to two identically sized bedrooms. There was no bathroom upstairs, but there was a 23-foot-long crawl space under the saltbox roof.

Cottage 6 portfolio by Bill Barr
Photographs by a neighbor on Instagram and Facebook.

October 2015.

May 2016.

June 2016.

June 2017.

March 2018.

May 2020.

August 2020.

September 2020.

In the original condo offering of 1977, Peter L. Boyle and John J. Boyle sold Unit 6 to William N. Rogers II, a well-known local civil engineer and land surveyor, for $44,500. Marie Ann Rogers sold it to an Orleans resident in 1980 for $27,700, plus the assumption of a $34,600 mortgage. He quickly sold it to a Provincetown resident for $70,000. A Newton couple bought it from her for $135,000 in 1983. They sold it to a Boston couple in 1988 for $214,000. A Los Angeles resident took it off their hands for $319,000 in 1997.

The seven-figure mark was hit in 2005, when he sold it to a Sudbury resident for $1.1 million. Finally, an L.L.C. based in West Hollywood — and associated with a San Francisco resident who’s an executive at a conference planning company — boosted it to $1.5 million in 2016. The purchase exemplified not only the staggering inflation of real estate values in Provincetown, but the arrival on Cape Cod in the early 21st century of a lot of California money.

A vestige of the old saltbox profile of Cottage 6 is still discernible. David W. Dunlap, 2017.

The upstairs balcony spoiled the original roofline, but it seemed a shame to have nothing but a crawl space facing the water. Dunlap, 2009.

Bill Barr, a retired interior designer who lives in Cottage 3, was responsible for the current décor of Cottage 6 — and these photos.

Photo by Barr.

The classic view, from 2010. Dunlap.

The same view, about 70 years earlier. Note that the facade was once white clapboard instead of cedar shingle, and that there were small windows above the entryway, which did not yet have a Greek Revival-style enframement. The picture comes from a Delft Haven promotional brochure in the collection of Stephen Borkowski.