Old Victorian Roof Architecture

Historic roofing materials in america.

Old victorian roof architecture.

The boxy four room over four room homes frequently had a. With low roofs wide eaves and ornamental brackets victorian italianate houses are reminiscent of an italian renaissance villa. The color material shape and size of the roofing must match as closely as possible to the original. But the term victorian architecture actually refers to styles that emerged in the period between 1830 and 1910 during the reign of queen victoria.

The victorian era spawned several well known styles including gothic revival italianate second empire queen anne stick style romanesque style and shingle style. For higher end buildings clay was typically used whereas wood was sought as a less expensive alternative. But if the roofing details are readily visible their appearance should be based on architectural evidence or on historic prototypes. During the victorian period many different types of roofing materials were used.

Original victorian ridge tiles are a charming architectural feature well worth preserving and can often be repaired or replicas made using broken old pieces as a template. Economical to build these two story square homes with hipped or gable roofs saw great popularity in the u s. For this reason older buildings were often remodeled with mansard roofs. For instance the spacing of the seams on a standing seam metal roof will affect the building s overall scale and should therefore match the original dimensions of the seams.

In the southeast specifically florida but also western texas and farther west we see a lot of spanish and barrel tiles says sherrye mccabe of ludowici roof tile inc in lexington ohio. Some even sport a romantic cupola on the roof. The best way to restore the victorian roof to its former glory is to match the original roofing materials to modern roofing materials. In the years after 1900.

Ornamental terracotta ridge tiles can be seen adorning the apex of many a victorian roof. Revival style houses with a mediterranean flavor were commonly roofed in some sort of pantile. Many pantiles s curved tiles as well as flat roofing tiles were used in jamestown virginia. Should they become loose they can be secured by being re bedded in mortar.

European settlers used clay tile for roofing as early as the mid 17th century. Today mansard style roofs are occasionally used in one and two story apartment buildings restaurants and neo eclectic houses.