French Architecture Mansard Roof

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.

French architecture mansard roof.

The emblem of the style is the distinctive mansard roof a device attributed to the 17th century french architect francois mansart 1598 1666. A mansard roof has no gables. Hip roof flat roof gable roof design white exterior houses modern exterior mansard roof gambrel roof living roofs dormer windows. A four sided or french roof with double slopes on each side is called a mansard roof.

Mansard roof is also known as a french roof or curb roof is a four sided gambrel style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its side. 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. 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. Mansard roof are otherwise known as french roof designs.

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. If you are not familiar with a gambrel roof then let us first explain its architecture in brief. Mansard roof type of roof having two slopes on every side the lower slope being considerably steeper than the upper. The mansard roof was popularized by the famous french architect francois mansart 1598 1666 who used this distinctive style in many of his works.

An enormous sloping roof crowned the original louvre palace in paris constructed in 1546. 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. It forms a low pitch and mostly known as a curb roof. 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 steeper angle can be found on one side and the window creates an extra floor of space in a home called a garret. You can consider gambrel roof to be a modified version of a gable roof. The term mansard comes from the french architect françois mansart 1598 1666 of the beaux arts school of architecture in paris france. Another revival of the mansard roof occurred in the 1850s when paris was rebuilt by napoleon iii.

This style of roof or curb roof includes a four sided hip roof style with two distinct slopes. During the baroque period 1600 1750 he used this technique of roofing extensively to create chateaus and grand townhouses which caught the eyes of the people.