About the History of the Gable Roof
Gable roofs have been popular with home builders in the United States, both in historic and in modern homes. These roofs are inexpensive to install, and, in colder climates, the sloped planes of roof keep ice and snow from piling up and causing a roof cave-in. Does this Spark an idea?
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Identification
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Although similar to the Greco-Roman classical roof styles, like the roof found on the Pantheon, a gable roof is a distinct roofing style altogether. The word "gable" has diverse origins, and the word is thought to originate from one of the ancient languages of Middle English, Old Norse, Norman French or Celtic.
Function
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A traditional gable roof is a simple style; it is composed of two rectangular panels, which, when joined along a straight ridge, form a triangle on either the front or side. In the United States, the gable roof came in several forms. Builders created front-gabled houses, bungalow houses and Gable El houses. Many of these houses had front porches, which often came with their own gables.
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History
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Gable front houses were smaller, easy-to-construct homes first built in the United States during the late 1800s. When people starting living in urban settings, residential lots became more expensive, as well as smaller and narrower. City-dwellers built gable-front houses so they could maximize their house space on these lots. Gable front houses feature two gables, or triangles, that face the street and form the front of the house. These houses also usually featured a porch, and the houses could be one or one and a half stories high.
Types
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American bungalow houses also featured multiple gables, usually with one to three side or front gables. These houses often featured a rectangular floor plan, and these long houses often featured low roofs.
From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Gable El houses were a common style for new houses. These one- or two-story houses featured floor plans with either an L or T shape. These houses featured ells, or side wings, that formed an integral part of the house design. Gable El houses provided more light and openness than other floor plans available at this time. The roofs of these houses often featured an intersecting gable. These houses were also known as gabled wing cottages.
Effects
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People still use the gable roof in modern architecture. The one-story "ranch" style house, which is common in many parts of the United States, is still used today. These houses use some elements of the Gable El houses, with the L or T floor plans and a low gabled roof. However, the interior space and room setup have changed over the years. Ranch houses may feature an attic, but it is quite small in comparison to the houses in the past, since the roof is quite low. In neo-traditional style homes, builders can use a higher roof line to provide more openness and space in area without building another floor. However, high gabled roofs can be a liability in extremely windy weather, like tornadoes and hurricanes.
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