The Flat Roof.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 5, 1 March 1911, Page 590

The Flat Roof.

Flat-roofed houses are commonly regarded as quite unsuited for wet climates and the steep pitched roofs, which are thought to be demanded as a protection against the weather, are often made features of great interest and value from an aesthetic point of view. An architect who chooses a flat-roofed construction would seem to be throwing away a chance of obtaining picturesque effect, even if he is not adopting a form of structure of doubtful

serviceableness. Such is the general view, but it is not that of Mr. Edgar Wood, whose interesting flat-roofed house of "Upmeads," Stafford, is illustrated and described in Country Life. The writer of the article, who no doubt expresses the architect's views on the subject, tells us of the advantages of flat roofs. With such roofs, he points out, the plan can have any sort of projection or recess, without the creation of difficulties higher up. Access to a pitched roof for the repair of slate or tile or for the change of a chimney-pot is often troublesome, and not seldom involves the use of scaffolding. A flat roof can be made absolutely weather-proof. It allows a reduction in the number of down pipes necessary to carry off rain water, and gives immunity from the vagaries of wind and driven rain and snow, which are apt to try slate or tile beyond their endurance. From the point of view of habitability must be mentioned the avoidance of sloping ceilings in attic bedrooms, though they are no great harm, and the provision of an additional outdoor livingroom in summer. Prom such an elevation there may, perhaps, be enjoyed fine distant views, invisible from the garden by reason of encircling trees, and in any case the garden itself lies open beneath one's eyes like an unrolled map. Probably most people would agree that the appearance of "Upmeads" is somewhat forbidding. But it is a bold departure from the conventional which might win more approval if it were less unfamiliar.