Gables at Nuremberg. J. J. Stevenson. c. 1880. Source: Stevenson’s House Architecture, I, 259. Click on image to enlarge it
“Like other Renaissance styles, the German inherited the features of the Gothic of the country. The special characteristic of German domestic Gothic was a tendency to give importance, by ornament and great size, to the gables. Sometimes they were covered with tracery worked on the surface in stone or in brick. The two gables from Nuremberg show a pretty treatment in brick, by means of small projections or buttresses terminating in little Gothic arches. The chimney is placed not on the apex, but on the side, so as not to destroy the triangular form of the gable.
But the most usual form was the stept gable. Instead of the gable following the line of the roof and sloping with it to the apex, it was carried up above it, and diminished by several great steps or intakes. These steps were ornamented with tracery, sometimes pierced where they projected above the roof to give them greater lightness and play of light. ” (I, 259).
[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow]
Bibliography
Stevenson, J. J. House Architecture. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1880.
Last modified 17 July 2017