"Marshall's House is typical: A modest dwelling with a red tar-paper roof and a screened porch pushed awkwardly into the corner, it is slightly the worse for wear, the window shutters no longer tightly closed, the screens a little loose, the gutter downspout at the corner bent and out of plumb." and "Yearnful is a good way to describe this little house, with its modest architectural pretensions." writes WR.

While certainly this house could benefit from the attention of a carpenter for a day or two, it is a bit more than i think you're giving credit for. In the first place, the house has grown since first built, to nearly twice its original size. First the addition that reaches towards the viewer and then the porch. And sure, the shutters are a bit saggybaggy, but Truro benefits from firece winds and frequent rain-- those shutters are not mere decoration, and they've held up pretty well. As for the gutter downspout, it's been pushed outward to direct some of that torrential rainfall (from nearly 3/4 of the roof) away from the foundation. And is it fair to call the fairly standard boards, overhangs and returns of Greek Revival either modest or pretentions? Even the chimneys speak to just a bit of grandness-- considerably higher than they absolutely needed to be, and with a bit of flair near the top-- nothing overblown, just enough to keep from being purely rectilinear. Isn't this house nearly perfect, in fact? A modest home, yes, as comfortable as a pair of shoes no longer new, but hardly ready for the trash collector.