A historic home’s roof helps to preserve it, protect it, and maintain its architectural integrity.
If you are responsible for a historic or period-style house, it’s important to pay close attention to the roof’s structure as well as its roofing materials and design style.
Here’s a look at common roofing materials and styles found throughout various American timeframes – all of which can still be found and purchased today.
Historic Roofing Materials
Most historic homes were roofed with natural materials that were commonly available. Wood, clay, and stone were among the earliest roofing products used. Roofing products that required more labor or manufacturing came into use later on as industries and the economy became more developed. Metal and asphalt were commonly used during later historic periods.
Slate Tile Roofs
Slate roofing was in use as early as the 17th century but was somewhat rare to find due to the expense. It became a little more common during the 18th century when slate was imported from Wales to America. Slate became more affordable during the mid-19th century with the development of slate quarries throughout the east. Slate of all colors was then used, typically in geometric patterns.
Wood Shingle Roofs
Natural wood shingles are one of the oldest roofing materials and the oldest used in America. Historic wood roofing products include cut and dressed, smooth sawn, split shake, or bent shingles.
Homes from the colonial era and up used cut and dressed or sawn smooth shingles. The 20th century saw the introduction of split-shake shingles. Arts & Crafts style homes use bent shingles.
The wood varieties used would vary by regional availability. Homes in the northeast often used pine, western homes used redwood and cedar, and southerners relied on oak and cypress.
Clay Tile or Ceramic Tile Roofs
Clay tiles were used as far as the mid-17th century in Jamestown and then later on in New York, Boston, and throughout Pennsylvania. However, these were primarily used in Spanish colonies. Clay tiling is an iconic part of the Spanish colonial and Mission styles. The Spanish colonial clay tiles were usually barrel-shaped, while plain and flat tiles were used in other styles. Some of these other styles featured colored glaze, such as those used in Beaux-Arts buildings.
Asphalt Shingles
Asphalt was invented in the mid-19th century and was available on shingles or rolls. At the time, many asphalt roofing products came in self-locking diamond or hexagonal patterns.
Metal Roof, Steel Roofs
Copper, tin, and iron were used for roofing products from the 19th century on. These metals usually came in sheets and would sometimes be lead-coated or galvanized with zinc. Seamed metal roofs cover some of America’s most iconic historic buildings.
Historic Roofing Styles
America’s gone through numerous housing styles. This is an overview of some of the more dominant historic styles, along with a few pointers on key roofing characteristics.
Roofing Materials in the 1600s
Saltbox homes feature steep pitched roofs where the back slope goes down to the first floor. Saltboxes were common throughout New England, becoming popular as the steep slope helps snow and ice slide off. Most saltbox roofs use wood shingles.
British Colonial homes feature medium-pitched, side gable roofs with twin chimneys in the center.
Dutch Colonial homes feature wood-shingled gambrel roofs with curved eaves. This housing style was primarily found in Dutch colonies in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut.
Roof Styles in the 1700s
Georgian homes are traditionally wood-shingled symmetrical hipped roofs with dormer windows.
Federal homes feature square or rectangular hipped roofs in metal, slate, or wood shingles. This style was inspired by ancient classical Rome and is dated to between 1780 and 1830. It looks quite similar to the Georgian style but is less ornate.
Roofs installed in the 1800s
Greek Revival homes are ornate with a symmetrical façade, low-pitched gable roof, and sometimes transoms or dormer windows.
Gothic Revival homes feature steep-pitched roofs with steep cross gables, heavily decorated with vergeboards, arches, extended windows, dormers, and other elements.
Italianate homes have flat roofs, mansard roofs, or hipped, low-pitched roofs topped with a cupola. These roofs can be embellished with projecting eaves on decorated brackets, cornices, corbels, pediments, and panel moldings. Italianate roofs are best constructed in metal.
Second Empire homes are characterized by four-sided gambrel, mansard, or dual-pitched hipped roofs, complemented with multiple dormer windows, an iron crest, eaves with brackets, balustrades, and patterned shingles.
Stick Style homes came as a transitional style from gothic to Queen Anne style. The roofs are steep, angular, and complicated, with intersecting gables, clips, hoods, eaves, and towers.
Queen Anne homes have steep-pitched roofs with multiple designs and elements, including towers, turrets, gables, and dormers. Slate and cedar are good historically accurate roofing materials.
1900s Roof Styles
Shingle-style homes have gambrel or hipped roofs enhanced by dormers and a variety of shapes to cover complex floor plans. These roofs are typically made of thick wood shake shingles.
Colonial Revival homes usually have simple gable roofs, but sometimes feature hipped or gambrel roofs. The roofs can be decorated with moldings, large dormer windows, porticos, and other details. Colonial revival roofs used slate shingles until World War II.
Richardsonian Romanesque have hipped roofs with lower cross gables and square masses covered with individual hip roofs. Rond or polygonal towers can be found throughout the roof.
Folk Victorian homes are pared-down versions of traditional Victorians, and feature gabled roofs, dormers, and simpler roof trimming.
Neoclassical homes have symmetrical hipped roofs with facades, large domes, dormers, triangular pediments, and not many other decorative elements.
Historic Home Roof Replacement and Roof Repair
Preserving a historic home requires expertise. It takes more than just googling roofing company near me. At Canopy Roof and Restoration, we have the knowledge, skill, and experience it takes to replace your roof, do a roof repair, and maintain old and historic homes.
Please reach out to us if you have a historic or period home in need of quality roofing. A professional roofing consultant will give you a complimentary consultation.
