Dutch gable

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Dutch gables of varying complexity decorate the garden facade of Montacute House built circa 1598

A Dutch Gable roof, (Australasian terminology)

The architectural term, dutch gable, has two different meanings depending on the region and the portion of a structure it is referring to.

In European architecture Dutch gable, also known as a Flemish gable, is a gable, normally acting not only as a roof support but as an ornamental pediment to a wing or other architectural feature such as a projection in the facade. Curved,stepped or often both the Dutch gable was a notable feature of the Renaissance architecture which spread to northern Europe from the Low Countries arriving in Britain during the latter part of the 16th century ^[1]

Later the feature without steps but with flowing curves became absorbed into Baroque architecture.

In portions of the United States, such as California, and in Australasia, the term, dutch gable, usually refers to a type of roofline style often used on L-shaped roof-line junctions ranch-style houses that is a hybrid between a gable roof and a hip roof. A drawback of a hip roof is their reduced available attic space for a given roof pitch compared to simple gable roofs. In Mediterranean climates with lower snow loads, high roof pitches look out-of-place making hip roofs impractical. Yet simple gable roofs are also problematic since there are important advantages to having lower eaves that overhang the perimeter of the house. The advantages to having lower eaves are having reduced solar gain of the structure during the hot summer months and having a significant rain "shadow" on the perimeter of the house. This rain "shadow" greatly reduces the moisture content of the soil which inhibits foundation decay and inhibits subterranean termites which are common in these areas. Dubble gables is old asian tile design.

These advantages of the dutch gable roofline offset the additional framing complexity (which is minor in areas that have low snow loads anyway). A dutch gable roof combines the benefits of of both the gable and the hip roof while adding additional architectural interest.

See also Dutch hip which also combines elements of the hip and gable, but with the order reversed.