A Hip Roof Design of the Early 1900s

Basic Style

• The basic style of a hip roof is much like a pyramid. It’s often rectangular with four faces, although two- and three-faced styles are not unusual. Hip roofs feature no gables that cover the vertical walls that attach to the roof. However, architects often design roofs with dormers that feature a square unit with a window protruding from the roof.

Craftsman

• The most recognizable Craftsman houses from about 1897 to 1925 were one- and two-story structures with gabled low-pitched roofs, although hipped roofs were common. These roofs feature wide eaves to provide shade during hot weather. The roof serves as the foundation for the ventilation system in the days before air-conditioning, in which openings at the front, rear and sides of the house under the apex of the roof had slats. Since heat rises to the top of the house, these vents capture air and circulate it from the top to the bottom of the house. The gabled or hipped roofs also feature exposed rafters inside the home and decorative braces or beams.

Porch Roofs

• Hipped roofs may have one face of the slopping roof at the front of the structure extending beyond the wall without a break and leveling off over the porch. Some versions have the porch extensions continue to slope gently towards the ground as it extends beyond the porch. Architects design the porch portion with tapered supports and low pedestals to support the columns. Under the porch are exposed rafters.

Tiled Roofs

• Renaissance Revival homes enjoyed wide popularity following the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair through to about 1925. This architectural style is common in Southern California and based on the 19th century Italianate design. Renaissance Revival features low-pitched hipped roofs covered in ceramic tiles, which were usually red and either flat or curved. Large brackets support the eaves.

Midwestern Influences

• Architect Frank Lloyd Wright is the father of the Prairie-style home and championed the design as an alternative to the cluttered, gingerbread look of Victorian homes at the turn of the 20th century. Construction of Prairie houses began in 1893 and ended around 1920. These homes have low profile, hipped roofs with wide eaves. The signature trademark is a string of windows running horizontally below the roofline along the front or side of the house. Perhaps more than any other hipped-roof house, the Prairie house’s structure integrates into its surrounding environment. It has a distinct low horizontal profile and expansive eaves that provides shade for the areas surrounding the house. In the early post-war period, ranch houses sprang up in suburbs. The structure’s hipped roof took on a more rustic look with either tiled or wood shake shingle coverings. Under the roof are vaulted ceilings.