c. 1880 — 1910
The Chateauesque style was one of America’s most ornate styles and was based on the soaring chateaus of France in the 1500s. The style was used by many of America’s richest families for the designs of their massive homes; the most famous in the south being George W. Vanderbilt’s Biltmore in North Carolina. It was a style that was rarely used outside of these monumental and high style homes because of the requisite use of immense masonry walls and very expensive and heavily detailed decorative elements.
Chateauesque homes had very steeply pitched roofs that often had flat and crested roof decks or a roof ridge. The style also utilized many other elements to break up any straight roof lines, like tall chimneys, spires, turrets, gables, etc. Many of these homes had some sort of tower element and there were many different Variations and sizes of dormers along the roof. Most of the windows, dormers. doors. and gables were also decorated with Gothic carvings and the windows were hooded in many cases.
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