Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-07

/ One will discover an amazing vari-
ance in them, not only in regard to
materials but especially as to type,
| pitch and similar matters, They vary
from the simple fiat tin roof OF the
| typical city row to elaborate tile af-
! fairs, from wooden shingle to slate, and
! from Stag to asbestos shingle.
Each type of dwelling, as worked out
| through the years. seems to have its
one most appropriate roofing material.
And each has its most appropriate type.
The so-called hip roof is a particular
favorite with many. English-type homes
sometimes demand a roof with daring
slant often so pitched that it takes on
the appearance of sail almost.
Considering the wear and tear upon
a roof, it is one of the most amazing
| bits of physical construction. 1t must
be able to weather literally all the
weather there is. 1t bakeS in Summer
and freezes in Winter; it sheds the
sluicing rains of Spring, and In some
| attitudes remains covered with snow for
weeks and even months at time.
When one stops to consider the in
cessant play of the elements and the
violent extremes of temperature which
a roof withstands, he is forced to take
| of his hat to it.
There 1t stands in all sorts of weather
and should be its own ornament. Per-
haps this feeling is partly responsible
for the gradual disappearance of weather
Vanes. While there was some novelty
in the vane, and in olden times utility,
too, particularly in agricultural COM
munities, its place above the roof tended
to draw the eye away from the roof
! itself
This was unfortunate. A good roof
SHOULD be its cwn best advertisement
The eye Of the beholder whether that
CT builder, owner or other, should be
drawn to the roof only because it is a
pleasing roof, one which the eye will
appreciate instinctively as being both
wSather-t tight and artistic.
Mans propensity to do something else
after he has already done enough led
/ him irresistibly to the weather vane,
| just as today it causes him to place
figures of angels on the prov of his
automobile and put two stone benches
IN his garden when one would be enough
or maybe too much.
- X
1t is not for nothing that most of our
roofs have a certain pitch to them in
this latitude. 1t is to shed water. Even
so-called fiat roofs are elevated at one
end, and the water which strikes them
runs naturally to the other, where gut
ter a11d doWnspout take care of it,
In hot climates where rains are not
so frequent the year around the per-
fectly fiat roof is more in evidence.
After Sundown In some places the air
is refreshingly cool, and such roofs are
used for lounging
Who that has read the book or seen
the play 'Ben-Hur" can forget the roof
scene in which the tile is tilted over to
fall upon the Roman governor?
There has been a movement in the
United States to make the fiat roof
popular, but 1t has not succeeded very
well in detached houses.
Undoubtedly there is something emf
nently attractive and pleasing about the
Santed or sloped roof 1t somehow
seems appropriate that roof should
slant up to peak of some sort, and
this no matter of what material made
The pyramid, the obelisk. the dome
the spire-all point to the sky and show
a certain something in mans nature
which leads him to bring his topmost
building peaks to this altogether salts
factory conclusion.
A roof, therefore is not lust some
thing to be regarded as a mere part of
a building and nothing more, but must
be held to be of prime Importance. A
nome may be fiat on the ground without
basement, but it should possess a proper.
water-tight roof, and one which strikes
the eye as pleasing. Given such a roof
any nome has great deal.