By Eva R. Marienchild
Does anyone even know what cupolas are, anymore? As a matter of fact, yes. Designers and savvy home owners are very up on these “roof jewels”, as they’re known. And besides being pleasing to the eye, cupolas - in modern architecture, as in old - serve a function: ventilation.“Thanks to cupolas, in part, the house is always cool,” says the text on a website for a 1,000 year old historical landmark in Egypt. Of course, in today’s world, cooling can easily be accomplished by other devices. That leaves cupolas to enchant us with their beguiling beauty.
Always located atop a building, a nicely proportioned cupola offsets the sometimes stark designs of modern architecture. Our sense of aesthetics welcomes the frivolity and downright whimsy of cupolas. And they add a touch of what many home owners call “Americana.”
“They make my home look authentic!” says a customer who purchased a 100 percent copper cupola. “It says Americana much better than weathervanes!” (Indeed, sometimes weathervanes are positioned right over a cupola.)
American home owners looking to remodel often order cupolas because the little “houses” are reminiscent of the rustic finishes to gentlemen’s and gentlewomen’s homes, “way back when”.
A company that installs cupolas states that care must be taken to keep the cupola’s placement proportional. A good rule of thumb is 1.25" of cupola rooftop for every foot of 'unbroken' roof line. “Or else they’ll risk looking like bird houses!” the owner laughs.
The word “cupola”, Italian from the lower latin "cupula" (classical latin "cupella" from the greek "kupellon"), means small cup (latin 'cupa') indicating a vault resembling an upside down cup.
In some cases, the entire roof of a structure will form a cupola. There are areas in the United States, particularly in Pennsylvania, and Eastern New York, where cupolas are a small room that extend above the main roof line. In local folklore, they are regarded as old Indian lookouts, but some architects believe this touch was added just as a scenic view.
There are many ways in which cupolas carry their grandeur all over the world. There are churches in Rome, monasteries in Athens, palaces in Portugal and mosques in Asia that feature large dome-like cupolas, cupolas overlooking regal balconies, and, finally, smaller domes atop larger ones.
In terms of elegantly subtle finishing touches on antique and modern structures, few items can match the understated, long cherished “roof jewelry” that is the cupola.
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