Architectural Styles of Turret Roofs – Part I

Exploring the Timeless Elegance of Turret Roofs Designs

There are several architectural characteristics that make the buildings here in the historic parts of Washington DC really stand out from other architectural styles throughout the rest of the towns and the sleepy suburbs of the United States.  Washington DC (and one other similarly sized nearby city, within less than an hour’s drive) has some of the most beautiful historic architecture in all of the United States.

One of the many, but one of the most pronounced historical architectural details that contrast from the hodge-podge of disproportionately cheap suburban mismatch, is the historic turrets.  Even though not all historic buildings here in Washington DC have true turret roofs, there’s still a good architectural cohesion and the existing turret roofs add an element of cohesive architectural distinction for an entire block of buildings, even where they’re just sprinkled throughout.  

This week and this coming week as well, we’re going to look at several different examples of a variety of styles of turret roofs. Some of these are pyramid type shapes, others are round conical shape and some are actually gable styles and other hybrid types.  The picture below shows a pair of side by side pyramid type turret roofs.

They have matching finials, made with a sheet metal type material which covers the joint at the center of the pyramid above the front bay.

The roof on the right hand side has the original slate tile still in place, but the surface of both the finial and the slate roofing tile has been covered with an aluminum roof paint. Aluminum roof paint like this is not intended to be used to cover over slate roofing, but in this case, with a cheap type of makeshift approach at a repair in the past, somebody went and applied this paint directly on top of the slate.

This type of poor application of materials that are not intended to be applied or combined is basically irreparable because the aluminum paint cannot be removed from the surface of the slate now, without damaging the slate itself.

That type of situation when something cannot be removed without irreparable damage to the substrate is what we consider to be unnecessary harm. This type of bad decision making comes from a misunderstanding and a lack of respect for historic details.

Architectural Styles of Turret Roofs - Part I

At the turret roof shown in the picture above, and the ones shown in the picture below, there is a water tatabland or built-in gutter at both of these different types of roofs. The built-in gutter works to channel and divert water away from the turret roof and towards a centralized point of drainage.  In most cases, in this type of configuration, that centralized point is a downspout that runs towards a cast iron rain leader which runs underground to the main drain off the property. In many cases though, in our modern times, these historic cast iron underground drains are damaged, defunct, and in many cases unusable.

The reason why there’s a high prevalence of defunct and clogged up underground rain leaders is such a complicated topic that it could be an entire article in itself. One of the main reasons is that over years as tree foliage and leaves have washed down into the underground drains, and they have clogged up so significantly that they even significant cleaning isn’t always enough. Generally, unclogging of that type and requires a spade bit on a high power drain snake. Since these cast iron pipes are so old, they become fragile and those type of high powers snakes can actually break the pipes apart.

Also, the historic cast iron pipes generally are put together in a hub and spigot type of assembly which is very susceptible to tree roots growing through the joints of the pipe and then exacerbating or compounding or causing the problems of clogging. All of these reasons are part of why these drains are generally now defunct at most properties, some 10+ decades after their initial construction.

Here, in the next picture below, you can see the example of several of the conical shaped turret roofs. They look very similar to The pyramid type shape try it roofs although, one of the big differences is that here, at these roofs, every course of tile is cut at a different size and shape. As the roofing goes up, course by course, towards the top or pinnacle at the finial, the slate tile sizes become smaller, decreasing in width as they go up vertically. Pyramid turret roofs do not need to have custom cut tiles like the conical roofs.

several of the conical shaped turret roofs

The next picture below shows two different roofs, at different but joined buildings, side by side, the roof on the right is a pyramid type shape, similar to the ones shown in the first picture of our article, at the top above. This particular roof has a beautiful copper patina finial and a dormer at the side of the turret roof.  The slate roofing tiles have two different shapes.

Within the same roof here, they have selectively mixed flat cut slate with scallop shape slate.  If you look closely, you’ll see that both different roofs, although they are at different buildings and built in different styles entirely, they both have a variety in the layout of the tile itself

Some of the tiles are flat cut, and others are specifically, intentionally, set at a triangular cut at the bottom. These differences are done at additional cost because the variation requires additional workmanship, and they are not done for any functional benefit, just architectural and aesthetic appeal and added interest.

two different roofs, at different but joined buildings

In this coming week, we’ll look at several different examples of alternative types of turret roofs, here in Washington, DC.

We recommend every building owner in DC who values the longevity of their roof (and their investments) and building use a contractor who values the simple and important principles of proper roof construction like Dupont Roofing DC. Learn more about our company and the proper techniques of working with roofing on historic buildings in Washington DC here on our blog at DupontRoofingDC.com, and you can call us at (202) 840-8698 and email us at dupontroofingdc@gmail.com.  We are happy to help and at least talk through options.

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