Pent Roofs and Petticoats

Hooked on Houses is hosting her "Hooked on Fridays" blog party; I hope y'all will click here and have look. I'm hooked on new a new house that's that doesn't look new and has a feminine twist.

Last weeks post, It's a Teardown," Cote de Texas' post: "Male vs. Female: It’s a Size Thing", and Dan Curl's email about a pent roofs reminded me of this house. It's a new house in an old neighborhood, it has pent roofs and, it has a feminine twist to the exterior.

This is a new spec house in Virginia Highlands, Atlanta designed by Harrison Design Associates. This is my current favorite new house in neighborhood. Why?

• It looks more in keeping with the neighborhood that the neighboring houses.
  
• It's big but conceals it's bulk with different veneers, different window types (check out the 6 over 9 windows), and by breaking up long lines. The wall dormers give the rear a 1 1/2 story look. I'd bet there are 2 floors of 10' ceiling back there.
  
• It doesn't look at all new.
  

I could imagine that it:

• Began as a shallow brick Cape Cod.
• Added a shingle-sided second story.
  
• Added a shingle-sided wing toward the back.
  
• Added a garage.
  

And it has a feminine side: a petticoat.

Most homes would have nearly invisible drip caps instead. Here the drip cap becomes a charming pent roof. If that's not feminine. I don't know what is. It's decorative, practical, and girly.

Update: I asked Architect Katie Hutchison at House Enthusiast for the correct term. Thanks Katie: Here is what she said:

"I think the shingle flare in the photo on your site is more of a water table than a pent, though. I call such flares 'skirts' too."

I intended to use this post to explain pent roofs so I guess I'd better:

My friend Dan Curl is a home inspector, and fellow Architecture Tourist. Dan lives and breathes water damage. He wrote this:

Note the Pent Roof over the deck. It shelters openings (door/windows) in exterior walls. Note that the upper soffit is too small to effectively shelter the windows below it. Pent roofs are a great idea: they combine function (sheltered openings in the exterior wall) and design ('breaking up" monolithic sidings). Too bad there are so few and that they are used in a design sense only

Dan
The "Eco Inspector" at Comprehensive Home Inspections

The is a new town home complex. There are many of these in Atlanta. See the pent room sheltering the windows and doors to the deck?

The pent roof idea is really old. Water has been damaging homes for 1000's of years. Here is one only a few hundred years old:

Restoration of the Pent Roof at IndenHofen House ca. 1725 in Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Hooked on Houses' "Hooked on Fridays" blog party..