Mansard Roof Style Architecture

The second empire or french second empire style was considered to be the modern fashion of the late nineteenth century mimicking the latest french building styles.

Mansard roof style architecture.

However the tall mansard roofthat we associate with the style dates back to renaissance times. Another revival of the mansard roof occurred in the 1850s when paris was rebuilt by napoleon iii. Simply put the mansard roof also known as the french roof or curb roof is a hybrid between a gambrel roof and a hip roof. The emblem of the style is the distinctive mansard roof a device attributed to the 17th century french architect francois mansart 1598 1666.

If you are not familiar with a gambrel roof then let us first explain its architecture in brief. The steep roof with windows creates an additional floor of habitable space and reduces the overall height of the roof for a given number of habitable stories. You may not see such roofing style in most traditional homes but they can be easily found in barn houses and similar modern places. A mansard or mansard roof is a four sided gambrel style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope punctured by dormer windows at a steeper angle than the upper.

The mansard roofs can be convex concave or straight angled in shapes. During the renaissance in italy and france many buildings had steep double sloped roofs. The mansard roof is a combination of gambrel and hip roof. Mansart revived interest in this roofing style which had been characteristic of french renaissance architecture and was used for portions of the louvre museum in france.

Mansart is remembered by architectural historians as the father of french classical architecture but he clearly had a practical nature as well. An enormous sloping roof crowned the original louvre palace in paris constructed in 1546. Mansard roofs are a popular option for buildings wishing to maximize the amount of living space in the building providing the option to use the loft as an additional living space. You can consider gambrel roof to be a modified version of a gable roof.

The upper slope of the roof may not be visible from street level when viewed from close proximity to the building. In cross section the straight sided mansard can appear like a gambrel roof but it differs from the gambrel by displaying the same profile on all sides. The earliest known exampl. A mansard roof has no gables.

The dormer windows extend on the lower slopes of the mansard roof typically like the gambrel roof architecture which creates a habitable area often referred to as a garret. Mansard roof type of roof having two slopes on every side the lower slope being considerably steeper than the upper. A mansard roof is a four sided gambrel roof with each side having a double slope of one steep slope and one shallow upper slope. This structure gives you a traditional look and most commonly used in barn houses.