HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, iqit 
The Dutch gambrel-roof house, with its well proportioned slope and 
modest dormers, is worthy of sincere imitation in the small country 
or suburban place 
The irregularity of the many additions to the English half-timbered 
houses breaks up the mass of the roof but does not destroy its 
unity 
will never look as though it really “belonged." Line and texture 
are the two factors of paramount importance in determining the 
architectural excellence of a roof, and it is only by closely heed¬ 
ing these that a successful result can be achieved. 
No hard and fast rules can be laid down governing the plan¬ 
ning of roofs, but adherence to certain general principles will 
avoid serious miscarriages and will ordinarily secure a satisfactory 
outcome. There may be a dozen different ways of solving the 
same problem and all of them thoroughly good. One of the chief 
privileges of the architect’s profession lies in the large liberty of 
choice and the diversity of right ways for gaining the same end. 
Some peculiarity of local conditions may even cause the architect 
to cast general principles overboard and fly square in the face of 
all accepted traditions, and yet the outcome will be highly pleas¬ 
ing, all of which only goes to justify Sir Joshua Reynolds’ dictum 
that art comes “by a kind of felicity and not bv rule." Good 
The hip roof on this old Virginia house avoids the effect of extreme 
width by the use of five narrow dormers. It is suggestive of 
strength and virility consistent with the hospitality of the time 
taste, and a sense of proportion and architectural propriety must 
be the ultimate arbiters in all cases. This applies as well to the 
layman as the professional. Architecture is not a thing of indi¬ 
vidual or private concern but a matter of social and public mo¬ 
ment ; to the force of educated lay taste and discrimination we 
must look for artistic betterment in our building and in no re¬ 
spect is this truer than with regard to roofs. The urging to lay 
selection, however, does not contemplate license, after the owner's 
wishes have been clearly stated, to hector and hamper the archi¬ 
tect with all manner of whimsical restrictions and suggestions. 
It is worth while to select a competent architect, explain your 
wishes and then trust him. 
In planning our roofs the prime characteristics to be aimed at 
are simplicity, congruity and due proportion. Observance of the 
general principles implied in the effort for these qualities, and 
such others as they connote, will at least safeguard us from “grop¬ 
ing experiments and detached eclecticisms.” Combined with 
purity of line nothing can be more convincing than absolute sim¬ 
plicity. The simplest form of roof (next to the flat and lean-to) 
is the span or ridge, falling away on each side of the ridgepole, 
the pitch of the sides being determined by taste or convenience. 
A striking example of the beauty of this style of roof intelli¬ 
gently used is shown in the first illustration. The slope is entirely 
unbroken by dormers and has a note of finality and staunchness 
and withal a Johnsonian downrightness that silences any oppos- 
The jerkin-head roof is not apt to be successful unless managed by 
very skillful hands, and is to be used when the conditions approx¬ 
imate those of its original environment 
