Building With Style: The Dialogue Between Roof and Wall

In a good Georgian house, the facade and the roof appear to be engaged in a dialogue, each taking a separate point of view, each getting a chance to make its point. What we admire in Colonial- and Federal-style houses is their balance and constraint. The houses are simple, dignified, even powerful, yet neither roof nor wall are exaggerated. In a lowcost Colonial farmhouse, for instance, walls and roof are very simple and unadorned, with any decoration lavished on the front door and chimney. In more costly Georgian homes, the eaves, rakes, window and door surrounds, and building corners are often elaborately trimmed, and in extreme cases the walls extend with balustrades to make the home look more monumental. In