French Architecture Mansard Roof

A roof with the pitch divided into a shallow slope above a steeper slope.

French architecture mansard roof.

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. 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. Another revival of the mansard roof occurred in the 1850s when paris was rebuilt by napoleon iii. You can consider gambrel roof to be a modified version of a gable roof.

A four sided or french roof with double slopes on each side is called a mansard roof. Hip roof flat roof gable roof design white exterior houses modern exterior mansard roof gambrel roof living roofs dormer windows. Mansart is remembered by architectural historians as the father of french classical architecture but he clearly had a practical nature as well. The steeper angle can be found on one side and the window creates an extra floor of space in a home called a garret.

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. An enormous sloping roof crowned the original louvre palace in paris constructed in 1546. The steep roof with windows creates an additional floor of habitable space a garret and reduces the overall height of the roof for a given number of habitable stories. The emblem of the style is the distinctive mansard roof a device attributed to the 17th century french architect francois mansart 1598 1666.

However they gained popularity in the 17th century by francois mansart. The steep slope may be curved. A mansard roof has no gables. Although the style was used as early as the mid 16th century in england and italy and was employed by pierre lescot at the louvre it was named for the 17th century architect françois mansart who used it on paris hôtel s.

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. Mansard roof type of roof having two slopes on every side the lower slope being considerably steeper than the upper. A roof similar to a mansard but sloped in one direction rather than both. The term mansard comes from the french architect françois mansart 1598 1666 of the beaux arts school of architecture in paris france.

Mansard roof are otherwise known as french roof designs. An element of the second empire architectural style mansard style in the u s. A mansard or mansard roof also called a french roof or curb 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. If you are not familiar with a gambrel roof then let us first explain its architecture in brief.

This style of roof or curb roof includes a four sided hip roof style with two distinct slopes.