Western false front architecture or false front commercial architecture is a type of commercial architecture used in the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Often used on two-story buildings, the style includes a vertical

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

often hiding a

gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof c ...

. The goal for buildings in this style is to project an image of stability and success, while in fact a business owner may not have invested much in a building that might be temporary. By emulating the rectangular profile of buildings in eastern North American cities, the style attempted to lend a more settled, urban feel to small frontier towns. Four defining characteristics have been suggested: * the front façade of the building "rises to form a parapet (upper wall) which hides most or nearly all of the roof" * the roof "is almost always a

front gable Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ...

, though

gambrel A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maxim ...

and

bowed Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...

roofs are occasionally found" * "a better grade of materials is often used on the façade than on the sides or rear of the building" and * "the façade exhibits greater ornamentation than do the other sides of the building." The N. P. Smith Pioneer Hardware Store in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in central Oregon and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is located to the east of the Cascade Range, on the Deschutes River. The site became known by pioneers as a ford (cros ...

is an example where the owner ran a store or other business on the ground floor and lived upstairs. There were many false front buildings constructed in the

, area between 1900 and 1910. However, the Smith hardware store is the only surviving example in downtown Bend."Western False Front"
''Deschutes County Landmarks'', Deschutes County, Bend, Oregon, 19 July 2009.

References

External links

* {{Architecture-stub Architectural styles

See also

References

External links