A wall dormer is a

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

whose facial plane is integral with the facial plane of the wall that it is built into, breaking the line of the

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

of a building. Wall dormers are less commonly seen than typical “roof dormers”. They locate the window flush with the wall plane above or through the cornice line. They are essentially a continuation of the wall above the roof

eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

s. They are thus more of a vertically projecting wall element than an elaboration of the roof. Occasionally, small early buildings are found to have wall dormers. More commonly, later structures (during the period of

revival styles An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

in 19th-century architecture) feature wall dormers as an important part of eclectic assemblies of elements that make up such styles as

New World Queen Anne Revival architecture In the New World, Queen Anne Revival was a historicist architectural style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was popular in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries. In Australia, it is also called Federation archit ...

and the French-inspired

Châteauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style,Whiffen, Marcus, ''American Architecture Since 1780: A guide to the styles'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 142. or in Canada, the Château Style) is a Revivalist architectural style based on the Fr ...

style. File:Wall dormer - geograph.org.uk - 1702097.jpg, Wall dormer on a house in Scotland File:Gabled Wall dormer at Stoneacre - geograph.org.uk - 1281933.jpg, A gabled wall dormer at

Stoneacre, Kent Stoneacre is a small National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust property in Otham, near Maidstone, Kent in southern England. The property is a half-timbered yeoman farmer's house dating from the 15th century, ...

, England (late 15th century) File:Walldormer.jpg, Wall dormer on a 1950

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

house in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, USA

External links

Roofs Windows {{architecturalelement-stub