There is currently no limitation on the number of square feet of floor space a Block Island house can have as long as the single story footprint stays within the four per cent limit. However, the average for all the houses built on the island from 1680 to 1980 was a bit over 1900 square feet. So a house of 3,000 square feet, while perhaps modest by emerging mainland standards, is big, and potentially disrespectfully big, by the standards of this small island.

And the number itself can be squishy. Usually, it means unheated interior space, so a large garage with a so-called “bonus room” on the second floor, which together are as big as many island homes, can count as zero square feet if the bonus room is unheated and used only in the summer time. (Note that such a garage and bonus room, carefully sited out back, can be a very appropriate and respectful way to accomodate occasional summer guests, but placed conspicuously in the foreground of a critical island viewshed can be another matter.) And so-called “cathedral ceilings” (”Either you worship God or you worship yourself.”) can add bulk to a house without adding square footage. Many communities do count such space double, but the Block Island assessors apparently do not.

Tomorrow: Thirty-five