Friday, February 6, 2009

Tile Roof: The Experts Weigh In

An example of a Mansard Roof
Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages Corporation

Joe Griffin had this to say in response to the last post, about the Madigans living in the only house in Manhattan with a tile roof:

"I saw your tile roof post and had to quickly write. About that, I would imagine that the house had a Mansard roof, which would be pretty rare in Manhattan, whether or not is was literally the only one (the Irish do exaggerate, as I hear it). Being a fan of NYC architecture, I have some idea of the way things are and were and Mansard roofed houses would have been pretty common in Brooklyn, they're still common in Staten Island, but Manhattan has not had the space for the types of houses that get those roofs in a long time. Which is to say it probably was rare, and if it had a Mansard roof it was definitely expensive, but short of historical society visits or time travel I can't see how you would ever find out for sure."

To learn the basics about the Mansard roof, check out the Wikipedia page.

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