Visitors often ask what a fairy-tale cottage actually is. The style, also called storybook or Hansel and Gretel architecture, has no fixed rules, but playfulness is the core. Typical features include uneven rooflines, mismatched doors and windows, steep gables and shingles that mimic thatch. It spread in California in the 1920s and 30s.
In Carmel the look is tied to Hugh Comstock, whose first cottage went up in 1924 as a doll house. His houses typically combine steep gables, half-timbering with stucco, diamond-paned windows and tall chimneys of local stone.
The city’s historic preservation program keeps a survey of the downtown’s historic buildings, and many of the cottages are on private lots, so the best way to see them is to walk the residential streets quietly and stay on the public side of the fence.