Mansard

   A mansard roof, instead of forming an inverted V, has rafters that are broken up and the lower slope is almost perpendicular, the upper more nearly flat; thus it has a double slope on each side. The roof allows for high rooms and useful space within the building. The lower slope of the roof, fitted with dormer windows, forms an additional story to the house. In the seventeenth century, Parisian householders were taxed according to the number of stories they had "under roof." This design enabled the house owner to have an added story, unseen, without paying an increase in taxes.

   The roof was named for the French architect Nicolas Francois Mansart (1598-1666), who is credited with having designed it. Another French architect, Pierre Lescot, employed a similar roof plan on the Louvre many years before Mansard was born.

   Mansart's designs epitomizes French Renaissance classicism. Some of Mansart's monumental works include the churches of Sainte-Marie de Chaillot and Visitation de Sainte-Marie, the Hotel de la Villiere in Paris, and several chateaux. Victorian architects adopted the mansard roof about two centuries later, and in America many houses have a mansard roof.

   In 1636, Louis XIII appointed Mansart the royal architect. He was asked by the newly appointed Surintendant des Batements to provide a design for the east facade of the Palais du Louvre. When Mansart refused to agree to any alterations of his plans, he was replaced by Roman architects headed by the famous Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Mansart's grand nephew by marriage, Jules Hardouin Mansart (1645—1708), designed the magnificent Hall of Mirrors at the palace of Versailles, the Hotel des Invalides (Napoleon's final resting place), and the Place Vendome.