Historic Building Roof Design

The roof with its shape.

Historic building roof design.

In some cities such as new york and boston clay was popularly used as a precaution against such fire as those that engulfed london in 1666 and scorched boston in 1679. A roof is an integral part of a building and people try to personalise the roof designs to achieve optimum architectural splendour. A complex and durable design this type of roof adds a beautiful aesthetic to a building and can be seen in many historical buildings from the capitol building in washington d c to the iconic st. Features such as cresting dormers cupolas and chimneys.

European settlers used clay tile for roofing as early as the mid 17th century. The two primary shapes of roofs on historic buildings in washington are flat and sloped. In the surrounding historic context. Historic masonry materials primarily refer to brick terra cotta stone concrete block cast stone and secondarily mortar.

Paul s cathedral in london. The earliest roofs constructed by man were probably thatched roofs that were made of straw leaves. Many pantiles s curved tiles as well as flat roofing tiles were used in jamestown virginia. In addition a weathertight roof is essential to the longterm preservation of the entire structure.

And the size color and patterning of the roofing material is an important design element of many historic buildings. Flat roofs most rowhouses semi attached residential buildings and commercial buildings have flat roofs. Roof covering of the top of a building serving to protect against rain snow sunlight wind and extremes of temperature roofs have been constructed in a wide variety of forms flat pitched vaulted domed or in combinations as dictated by technical economic or aesthetic considerations. Photo by amy woods.

Historic masonry building illustrating many horizontal facing surfaces. Unfortunately thechoice of an inappropriate shingle or poor installation can severely detractfrom the building s historic appearance. The colour and material of the roof complement the structural integrity of a building. Poorly constructed roofs endanger the people living in a building so you need to make the roof compatible to the rest of the building in a well engineered style.

Special problems inherent in the design of an elaborate historic roof can be controlled through regular maintenance. Historic masonry materials. In a typical masonry wall assembly mortar might comprise 20 to 25 percent of the masonry wall system. Use a roof form that is consistent with the original structure s roof form and those of structures in the surrounding historic context in terms of pitch orientation and complexity.

The shape and detailing are essential elements of the building s historic character and should not be modified despite the use of alternative surface materials. There are a number of commercially available wooden roofing products as wellas custom roofers who can supply specially made shingles for historicpreservation projects.