Gablefront house

A Gablefront house (or Gable Front house) is a vernacular (or "folk") house type in which the Gable is facing the street or entrance side of the house. They were built in large numbers throughout the United States primarily between the early 1800s and about 1920. A Gablefront cottage is a smaller variant, consisting of either a single story or a story-and-a-half. They were typically used as working-class dwellings, most being rather simple in design. However, they may contain some ornamentation such as brackets around the doorways or roof line. Many gablefront houses contain front porches. [ [http://www.ridgehistoricalsociety.org/Arch_Styles/19th_Century.html Ridge Historical Society] ]

History

The Gablefront house developed after about 1825 with the popularity of the Greek Revival style, which placed emphasis on the gable-end of the house, in the form of a pediment associated with Greek temples.

The gablefront house allows the narrow part of the house to face the street, on a typically rectangular lot. The gablefront house became a uniquely American folk house type, in a range of styles from Greek Revival to Gothic Revival, to Queen Anne, to more simpler vernacular homes and cottages. [ [http://www.westcentralneighborhood.org/hgt2001.htm West Central Neighborhood Association] ]

The Gablefront house form remained popular into the early 20th century.

Variants

Gabled Ell

One variation of the Gablefront house is the Gabled Ell, in which a side gable was typically added to the house, in order to obtain additional space, light and cross-ventilation.

T-plan

Another variation of the house form is the T-plan house, with gable-ends on either side of the front-facing main gable.

ee also

*List of house types
*List of house styles

References

External Links

* [http://scican3.scican.net/designing_place/Folk_Vernacular/gablefront.htm#T-Plan Martinsville, Indiana site]