in upper Manhattan, 1765 with 1810 addition.  Portico front faces south (from which, it is said, Washington watched the British-laid fires consume New York).   Portico front is flushboarded, quoined, as is west face, but east face is shingled, in big, 1" thick shingles, perhaps 11" x 11" (exposed).   Biggest ones I have ever seen.

 

All "sources" claim that this was the "back" of the house (even though it is the side) and that shingles were used instead of flushboarding because "they were cheaper".

 

Is shingling, at least by such a method,  cheaper? Shingles are painted and have been since early 1900s, when real documentation begins.

 

Christopher