gable

The section of wall which conceals the triangular end of a pitched roof. The term is generally used of Gothic architecture. A gable is steeper than its Classical equivalent - the pediment - and is often elaborately shaped and decorated, especially in The Netherlands.

For people named Gable, see Gable (surname).

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the lines of a sloping roof. Strictly speaking, the tympanum is the infill area, often triangular, of the pediment, which also consists of the raking cornice or ends of the sloped roofs (which may appear to bear, but do not actually bear on the tympanum - the fact that many tympanum bear intricate and expensive carvings declaring the building's purpose is evidence of its non-structural role), and the cornice proper, which bears on the architrave, which in turn is supported at points by columns of a colonnade.

A variation of the gable is a crow-stepped gable, which has a stair step design to accomplish the sloping portion.

A Gothic ornamental gable of the Cathedral architecture over the windows and portal are called in the German and Dutch language Wimperg too.

Gable ends of more recent buildings are often treated in the same way as the Classic pediment form. But unlike Classical structures, which operate through trabeation (see Trabeated (architecture) ), the gable ends of many buildings are actually bearing-wall structures.

The gable is to be distinguished from facade.