![]() While it is true that every Second Empire house has at least one mansard roof (and some have many), does the presence of a mansard roof always signify a Second-Empire house? In a word, no. Second Empire features and mansard roofs are so often found together that the style itself is frequently referred to as the Mansard Style. Whatever the exact shape of the roof, there are always numerous dormer windows to light the living space within. ![]() Sometimes the mansard roof is two stories high. The lower pitch may be convex (outwardly curving, possibly in an S or bell shape), concave (inwardly curved or flaring), or steeply angled. The top of a mansard roof is generally broad and flattish in order to maximize the volume of space beneath it-think of a hipped roof with its top surface spreading almost to the edges of the building. The point of Mansart’s dual-pitched roof was to squeeze a full floor of living space above the cornice line of a building without increasing the technical number of stories in the structure-an economically appealing bit of architectural legerdemain in a city like Paris where upward mobility, at least in buildings, was restricted or heavily taxed. ![]() ![]() Mansart is remembered by architectural historians as the Father of French Classical Architecture, but he clearly had a practical nature as well. The emblem of the style is the distinctive mansard roof, a device attributed to the 17th-century French architect Francois Mansart (1598-1666). This 1870s house in Rhinebeck, New York, has traditional Second Empire features, with distinctive window ornaments and lintels. Not all mansard houses were spread out many were designed to fit narrow lots while keeping their hallmark rooflines and towers. The Second Empire style, with its ubiquitous mansard roofs and heavy ornament, remained the first choice of wealthy homebuilders and their architects because it was, in their eyes, not only thoroughly “modern,” but also fashionably flashy in what was a very flashy era indeed. Even after the Franco-Prussian War ended in 1871, Second Empire-style buildings continued to ride high on a tide of huge, newly minted, post-Civil War fortunes that were amply equipped to handle these extravagantly decorative houses. It is a type that might be found anywhere from Maine to California in the 1870s and 1880s.įor a time in the middle of the 19th century, what set the pace of architectural taste for well-heeled Americans was not some ideal of the ancient past but all things in vogue during the regime of Louis Napoleon (1852-1870), or the era called the French Second Empire. The final result of this project is the client’s wish that can be fulfilled and the happy architect that has been to two extremities of spatial qualities and experiences in this project.Typical of a towerless middle-class house is this Red Hook, New York, example with a handsome veranda across the front and a projecting upper bay in lieu of a tower. This rotation is also used to create a lot of large verandas to accommodate different outdoor functions. Multiple points are brought by the house’s rotation to the living areas. Inside, there is a stair library that becomes the main highlight of the interior. ![]() The homage to the traditional homes of Jeju is the house’s humble low lying curved roof. This house is divided into two areas: a submerged area and a floating area. The first plan was a bunker-like home trenched into the earth with an atrium in the middle. The architect uses the secretive lifestyle of the client as the main inspiration to design this house. This island is sort of an exotica among Koreans where its vegetation and weather remind them of tropic areas and it was home for many exiles from the mainland. ![]()
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