Botanica Atlanta | Landscape Design, Construction & Maintenance

Very early in my landscape architecture education, I was passing through one of the historic University of Georgia quads on my way to class. I happened to glance up at one of the campus’ more unusual historic buildings, and I found myself immediately intrigued. Something about the building communicated to me a sense of wealth and refinement, but at that point in my career, with no architectural training under my belt, I was not equipped to determine what exactly about the structure was exuding such an ostentatious quality. I also could not discern why it reminded me of France.

Image: A’s Photos

After a few more times walking by the building, and some lessons in historic French architectural styles, I had found my answers.

In the 17th century, a French architect by the name of François Mansart began to popularize a style of roof that would eventually come to bear his name. Somewhat of a fusion between the gambrel roof and hip roof styles, a mansard, or “French,” roof is a four-sided gambrel that pitches down to the exterior walls on all sides. Another architectural feature that has strong visual associations with this type of roof structure is the presence of dormer windows that puncture the sloping roof plane.

 Image: Sam Valentine

Francois Mansart and his great-nephew, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who followed in his architectural footsteps, produced many celebrated works in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France. By looking at two of their famous remaining works, Chateau de Maisons and Chateau de Dampierre, one can observe mansard roofs employed in their highly ornate, original context.

Images: Jim W. and Daniel Del Sol

Since the time of the Mansarts, the roof style has spread around the globe. Perhaps due to the sense of wealth and refinement that emanates from the mansard style, my quick web search turned up mansard roofs not only on the streets of Paris but also atop a resort in Turkey, a bank in Bolivia, a lighthouse in Connecticut, and even the county courthouse in Covington, Georgia.

The widespread popularity of the mansard roof is often attributed to a story about evading property taxes by “hiding” a top floor of a building beneath a roof. There are several variations of this legend, but I find this explanation largely unsubstantiated. What I did find was a 1783 Parisian law that limited a building’s height to twenty meters above the cornice line. The prospect of adding livable space beyond the height that a typical roof would have allowed certainly encouraged the construction of such structures, but it is important to note that both François Mansart and his great-nephew had been dead for almost a century when this Parisian law was passed.

In the United States, the style has seen historic periods of great popularity. As a result, examples of mansard roofs can be observed in everything from suburban single-family homes to urban skyscrapers.

 Images: Gerald Bimacombe, ABC-TV, and Sheryl Yvette

Though there are innumerable precedents of beautiful, elegant structures capped with mansard roofs, I have seen at least as many awkward, poorly proportioned examples. Aesthetic beauty aside, what I find most important is the air that this style of roof conveys. My experience with the mansard roof on UGA’s campus demonstrates an important lesson: whether or not we are aware of it, each of us holds certain cultural associations with various types of structures. Even the untrained eye understands the language that a given architectural style speaks.

Author: Sam Valentine, BLA, LEED AP