Monday, November 8, 2010

A Pagoda-top, Victorian, or a Traditional American?



Your cupola has a “personality”, as cupolas are deeply steeped with tradition and history throughout their forms and styles. Cupolas can be anything, such as a pagoda-top cupola from the Far East, a Victorian cupola from The Isles, or a countryside cupola from the Continent. Such styles could be a great complement for your rooftop, which could be catwalks, belvederes, domes, or even miniature lighthouses or belfries mounted on the top of you house. Material to be used for building a cupola on your roof can vary on the style of the cupola that you plan to construct.

It was in the early part of the eighth century when the first cupolas are stipulated as an architectural structure and design. Islam incorporated cupolas on mosques and other religious buildings, adorning the top of the towers. As Islam reaches Europe, churches soon integrated cupolas into their architectural designs. A striking example is the Saint Basil’s Cathedral at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. When the cupolas were adopted by the Englishmen, it was soon shipped out to the Americas and was later attributed to the country life.

Even though the cupola appears to be mostly ornamental, it does not limit itself on being a decorative structure on the rooftop and at the garden. It also provide practical uses, such as it can offer additional ventilation for house that allows excess heat to escape, natural source of lighting to reduce power consumption, and if possible, it can be used as an additional room or storage space.

In order to find the right style of cupola for you, first, you have to determine the overall motif of your house. This will set the style for your cupola to be put on your roof top. If you live in an English-style house, a Victorian cupola will fit best on your rooftop; if you have a traditional American home, then country cupola would be ideal; or if you own a Chinese-inspired residence, a pagoda-top cupola is perfect to adorn your roof.

Then, settle on the materials that you will use for the structure, depending on the style of the cupola you have in mind. But mostly, each Victorian, American, or pagoda-top cupola uses a common material, which is wood. Thus, you will automatically have wood in your shopping list.

Lastly, if you look forward for your cupola to be installed properly, you could opt for Prairie Rose Country to have your Victorian, American, or pagoda-top cupola well-built and mounted on your rooftop or on your gazebo. This will give you a home makeover with a much more than satisfactory result.