The reason a hipped roof is preferred in some high wind locations is that as the wind passes across and around the peak of a gable, the wall and roof surfaces tend to be pulled apart. That can be fixed with careful reinforcing of the rake joint, close rake trim and the use of structural screws.

This same phenomenon occurs at the corners of a house where additional bracing and nails or screws are often required.

A good engineer can show you what to do. You need one in a high wind area anyway.

You will need to find a builder who will perform the additional work in a careful and diligent manner. I've had problems with contractors not taking the detailing seriously and once had to nail much of the sheathing myself on a weekend when no one was there.

Could you reveal without revealing too much the area/location of the project. It would help in visualizing your dilemma.

Some of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses may be instructive, with a combination of roof types and glazing types:

One of his Usonian houses:

The Hanna house at Stanford University:

or if these simply won't work, how about a simple French country house:

Mr. JDS --

My future architect should have a good engineer referral, yes?

We have every intention of retaining an architect throughout the project, because we just aren't familiar with all the finer details like this.

Good to know I don't necessarily have to abandon the Tudor, thank you!

Homechef --

Central/Eastern Wyoming

Mr. Virgil --

I can have casements on a Wright house? Wow! My husband might go for that....

Do all simple French country houses have moats? lol

Toute bonne famille française doit avoir un fossé!

Great. How much do you suppose all of those sharks will be, to fill it? Or maybe I should use barracudas? Or pay homage to my childhood and use caimans?

Thanks, it helps to understand the limitations by knowing the general location.

My parents retired to a home in Northern Texas almost Oklahoma. The winds are pretty fierce there, too. The house is a red brick Tudor in the middle of a plain. It was built in the 1930's. It's an uncommon style for the area. But, it's held up quite nicely through the years. The slate roof is typical of the Tudor revival style. Interestingly, it has some casement windows with the diamond shaped panes.

Build what you want. It will make you happy in the end. Just be sure to beef up the roof to withstand the winds.

Oooooh, slate roof and diamond panes! Your folks' house sounds so darn cute!!!

Great to know, too, that it has withstood the elements (especially the twisters so common in the area).

In looking at the FLW houses again, they seem to have rather low-sloping rooflines... I'm guessing that we might have to skip Mr. Wright. I'm sure snow can be somehow managed on a low slope, but I'd have to have a general idea of the cost of such an engineering marvel first, lol.

Maybe it would be on par with reinforcing a gabled/cross gabled Tudor?

Oh, and Mr. Virgil, sir, I want to explore the French idea, but as I understand it, "French country" isn't really a style (right?), so what other term should I use? I've heard of French Eclectic and French Norman, but would either of those use red brick? Anyone else is welcome to answer, too, of course. :-)

Thank you!

Dear Dame, when it comes to French period houses in the U.S. and Canada, there are several different styles to consider: French Colonial, Second Empire, Chateauesque, Beau Arts and French Eclectic (I've always preferred French Electric, since it's usually a shocker).

At the opposite end of the spectrum from Mr. Wright's horizontally inspired designs are the vertically proportioned Second Empire period houses. They are often very eye-catching, but I'm not sure anyone knows how to build them any more. The knowledge and skills to create these may have passed into obscurity, but one never know...

Build that last one in Wyoming and it will look like the house from Giant.

That middle house in Virgil's most recent post, I just gotta say, I totally saw a mustache above the entry. Makes me wanna have bottles of wine awaiting guests on the porch, lol.

The roof detail (the diamonds!) on the middle house is just adorable, too.

Would casements be weird on those houses? Looks like they have single/double hung windows?

The first one, as well as the one posted by homechef, are a bit too fancy for me -- they're awesome, don't get me wrong -- I fear that we're not "grand" enough folk for all of that wrought iron on top of the roof, lol.

What do French peasants live in? ;-)

Aaaaaahhhh!!!! That little tower is ADORABLE!!!!

(Is it a "tower" if it's only one story high?)

Regardless, I really like that window arrangement. Beautiful. Thank you!

Well...it's a little more of a rotunda (a family of dihedral-symmetric polyhedra with alternating pentagons and triangles around an axis)...but...if you want it to be a tower, let's just make it a tower!

I think the moat is a must have, regardless of the architectural style.

I keep looking at my front lawn and wondering if anyone would notice if I added a moat and some small sharks! Keep those pesky kids off my lawn!

No, instead of being on the lawn -- if those pesky kids were boys -- they'd just bring their fishing poles. ;-)

Knowing the kids in my neighborhood, they would do show up with fishing poles:-)

I also really like the house with the mustache. Not my normal style but I like the consistent repetition of all the shapes! The chapeau slate roof is also lovely. Like a well dressed church goer!

Seriously though, what style do you prefer?

Brick with hipped roof sounds like a four square -- you could have simulated check rails on the windows?

Cpartist,

I am a true modernist at heart. Not a huge fan of Brutalism but modern lines, interesting relationships to the landscapes are some of my favorite designs. For accessible design, I like Michelle Kaufman Breeze house. For when I win the lottery, I like Tom Kundig. For when I win the lottery twice, I like stuff from the Australian Architect Chenchow Little Architecture Stewart House.

I can appreciate almost anything, as long as it's well done.

My absolute favorite isn't really an option -- it's too whimsical (and probably far too expensive) for my husband. ;-) I guess that's why I can be happy with several other styles.

But, maybe I can have a small element of my favorite style, incorporated into the property somehow. I'd love to have a little Storybook/fairy tale wishing well in the garden. I guess that pretty definitively eliminates Mr. Wright, lol.

I think either one of these could be called a wishing well:

I *suppose* I could live with one of those... ;-)

So I thought FLW had some structural issues with the roofs or something? Am I crazy?

So I thought FLW had some structural issues with the roofs or something? Am I crazy?

Yes he has on several of his houses. As for the second question, I can't answer that one.

Oh, sure you can, Miss Artist! ;-)

I honestly had never considered a FLW style before... Any examples of small ones? I have a big family, but I don't want a humongous house. 2000-3000 sq.ft., ideally.

ODD, do a search for prairie style houses.

And no, I'll refrain from answering your second question. Let's just say it takes one to know one. ;)

Prairie. Excellent. "Red Brick Prairie," here I come!

(Not that I'm giving up on a lovely Tudor Revival... Just explorin' my options.)

Type in just prairie. I typed in red brick prairie and most of the houses that came up weren't prairie. When I typed in just prairie most came up prairie and at least half were brick.

Yeah, I noticed, lol.

I even tried to filter by style, but Houzz doesn't actually know what architecture is, apparently ("Contemporary," "Beach," "Rustic," "Tropical," -- Seriously???)

What I need is a huge architecture database. Or someone to watch my kids while I bury my nose in the local university's library for a few months.

Might want to check out Wright's Nathan G. Moore house outside of Chicago. The combination of styles is jarring at first, but once you start examining the details, it starts to create a unique language of its own. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea but I think it's a fascinating composition.

Oh, wow....

do a google search

Yeah, I totally will, I was just hoping to have everything here on Houzz for organization purposes. :-/ Oh well. :-)