Illustrated Architecture Dictionary

Gable
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That triangular part of an outside wall  that is formed by the sides of the roof sloping down from the ridgepole to the eaves.     

Ridgepole:    Horizontal log beam located a the highest peak of a log or timber home.  

Straight gable:  Traditional shed roof design that follows a straight line from the eave to the shed ridge. 

Gable roof: A roof with two sloping sides and a gable at each end

Cross-gable: Two perpendicular gable roofs

Bell gable: A small turret placed on the ridge of a church roof to hold one or more bells

Dutch gable: A gable having a pediment whose outline contains two or more curves on each side of its apex.

Gable window: Window in a gable; Window shaped like a gable

Step gable / corbie gable / crow gable: stair-step type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building.

Clipped gable/jerkinhead

Pediment: A triangular gable across a portico, door or window; any similar triangular decorative piece over a doorway, fireplace, etc.

Tympanum: The triangular recessed face of a pediment.


Examples from Buffalo architecture:

Other Examples:


Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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