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There is a convincing charm in the perfectly simple roof. The ridge 
falls away on either side of the ridgepole and the slope is entirely 
unbroken by dormers. Chas. Barton Keen, architect 
The solid line of windows breaking through the roof on the second 
floor is successful in that they appear to be part of the roof and 
the effect of a one-and-a-half story house is preserved 
The Decorative Possibilities in Roofing 
THE CANONS OF FORM AND DESIGN—THE DETERMINING FORCE 
OF STYLE IN MATERIALS, TEXTURE AND CONSTRUCTION 
by Harold Donaldson Eberlein 
Photographs by T. W. Sears, HI H. S. and others 
W HEN one considers it roofs are, after all, nothing else than 
house hats. Smile at the conceit, if you will, but if win¬ 
dows are comparable to eyes and the surface of the walls to skin, 
surely there is no great impropriety in likening the covering of 
buildings to human headgear. There is just as much character, 
too, in roofs as there is in hats, only we are so accustomed to tak¬ 
ing roofs as a matter of fact, from their very permanence, that 
we never think about it. And like hats, also, roofs by their pat¬ 
tern can either adorn or mar what is beneath them. A good roof 
may go far towards redeeming an otherwise indifferent structure, 
while a bad roof can spoil a building in other respects beyond all 
cavil. The roof may impart dignity and an aspect of substantial 
comfort and repose, or it may make everything look perkv and 
obtrusive and contentious. 
Of course a roof’s first business is to afford shelter and protec¬ 
tion to the dwellers within the house, but for aesthetic reasons— 
considerations every whit as necessary to civilized man's happiness 
as the more obviously material—it is equally as important that its 
outward appearance should comport with the walls that bear it 
A felicitous arrangement of dormer windows so that the line and 
proportion of the roof are not disturbed. Light frames and case¬ 
ments are unobtrusive and do not destroy the balance 
and the manners of the people it covers. It may be childish and 
because of residuary barbarism in our make-up, but, nevertheless, 
we do somewhat gauge a person's station by his headclothes. The 
distinguishing mark may be the prosperous banker’s pot hat, the 
painted savage chieftain's eagle feathers braided in his hair, or 
the bishop’s mitre, but a distinguishing mark it is, and we so re¬ 
gard it. Likewise, consciously or unconsciously, we judge a 
house’s worth largely by its roof. The roof is recognized by 
architects as unquestionably one of the principal features in coun¬ 
try house designing. It can and should be just as expressive of 
the character and purpose of the dwelling as any of its other 
component parts. Furthermore it has its own definite province in 
the ensemble that should be jealously guarded and not en¬ 
croached upon by the other parts of the building. 
By its texture and harmonious lines the roof is usually the 
most effectual medium of welding the house into the landscape. 
If it is a bald and staring roof with an uncompromising sky-line, 
we may be pretty sure that the house will always seem de¬ 
tached from its surroundings — in other words, a thing apart that 
Great flanking double stone chimneys at each gable end of a 
Colonial house give an appearance of strength and solidity that 
diminishes the importance of the roof itself 
(87) 
