Mansard Roof
A type of hipped roof, a mansard roof is characterized by two slopes on each of its four sides with the lower slope being much steeper, almost a vertical wall, while the upper slope, usually not visible from the ground, is pitched at the minimum needed to shed water. The mansard roof doesn’t involve any complex framing, which saves both time and money.
Dormers are often set in the lower slope of this type of roof. In fact, dormer window surrounds are considered one of the main contributors to the beauty of mansard roofs. Dormers, together with the open framing of the double sloped design of mansard roofs, provide usable interior space, much more than what is available with other roofing designs.
Steep, double-sloped roofs were characteristic of Italian and French Renaissance architecture. The Louvre, originally built in 1546, had high sloping roofs. A century later, the French architect François Mansart (1598-1666) used double-sloped roofs so extensively that they were coined mansard - a derivation of Mansart's name.
There was a second revival of the mansard roof during Napoleon’s rebuilding of Paris in the 1850s. The style became associated with this era, and the term Second Empire is often used to describe any building with a mansard roof. In the Second Empire style, the Mansard roof was typically used to top a tower element, rather than across the full width of the building.
Mansard roofs were considered especially practical because they allowed usable living quarters to be placed in the attic. For this reason, older buildings were often remodeled with mansard roofs.
During the presidency of Ulysses Grant (1860-1877), Second Empire was a common style for public buildings in the U.S. When the age of prosperity turned into the economic depression of the 1870s, flamboyant Second Empire architecture fell out of fashion.
Hip Roofs / Pyramid Hip Roof / Cross Hipped / Mansard Roof / Gable Roofs / Cross Gabled Roofs / Saltbox Roofs / Flat Roofs / Gambrel Roofs