The House of the Seven Gables, Salem, Massachusetts, showing four gables in this view. The House of the Seven Gables (1668 is a Colonial mansion in Salem Massachusetts, as well as the title of a novel written in 1851 by American author Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States.

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used (which is often related to climate and availability of materials) and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable. Vietnam roofjpg|thumb|The roofs of Vietnam.]] A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a Building.

In Classic Greek and Roman architecture, the analogous feature is called the tympanum. Architecture was extinct in Greece from the end of the Mycenaean period (about 1200 BC to the 7th century BC when urpeppeeban life and prosperity recovered Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation A tympanum (plural tympana is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance bounded by a Lintel and Arch. Strictly speaking, the tympanum is the infill area, often triangular, of the pediment, which also consists of the raking cornice or ends of the sloped roofs (which may appear to bear, but do not actually bear on the tympanum - the fact that many tympanum bear intricate and expensive carvings declaring the building's purpose is evidence of its non-structural role), and the cornice proper, which bears on the architrave, which in turn is supported at points by columns of a colonnade. A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure ( Entablature) typically supported by The term cornice comes from Italian cornice, meaning “ledge The term cornice comes from Italian cornice, meaning “ledge A column in Structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural In Classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of Columns joined by their Entablature, often free-standing as in the famous elliptically

A variation of the gable is a crow-stepped gable, which has a stair step design to accomplish the sloping portion. A Crow-stepped gable is a stair-step type of design at the top of the triangular Gable -end of a building Crow stepped gables were used in Scotland and England as early as the seventeenth century. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Examples of the crow stepped gable can be seen at Muchalls Castle and Monboddo House, both 17th century Scottish buildings. Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Monboddo House ( is a historically famous mansion in The Mearns, Scotland. Other early examples are found in parts of Denmark and Sweden.

A Gothic ornamental gable of the Cathedral architecture over the windows and portal are called in the German and Dutch language Wimperg too. A Cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a Bishop. A wimperg is a German and Dutch word for a Gothic ornamental Gable with Tracery over Windows or portals which were often accompanied with

Gable ends of more recent buildings are often treated in the same way as the Classic pediment form. But unlike Classical structures, which operate through trabeation, the gable ends of many buildings are actually bearing-wall structures. For lintel as a decorative element see Lintel (architecture For beam as load-bearing member see beam Thus, the detailing tends to be ambiguous, misleading, and to some architects "deceitful". See: John Ruskin and The Seven Lamps of Architecture. John Ruskin (8 February 1819 &ndash 20 January 1900 is best known for his work as an Art critic, sage writer, and Social critic, but is remembered

Gable roofs are also just about the worst type of roof to have in hurricane regions, as not only do gable roofs easily peel off in hurricane winds, but according to one Hurricane Survival Guide book, a gable end "catches wind like a sail. A sail is any type of surface intended to generate Thrust by being placed in a Wind &mdashin essence a vertically-oriented Wing. "

See also

• Dutch gable
• Facade
• Hip roof