# Dormer window

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Dormer windows are instantly recognisable features of much historic European architecture and describe a window set into a sloping roof. Coming from the Latin root word of Dormitorium, which simply means a sleeping space.

Allowing increased usage of loft areas, they were a means to add more naturally lit habitable space to buildings. Early dormers would have largely contained casement windows, but into the Georgian period, many began to feature sashes. 

Particularly popular designs included the gable dormer with two sloping sides forming a triangular top to the dormer structure. Depending on the period, these gables might be particularly ornate and embellished, as is the case with neo-gothic architecture, or stripped back for the simpler U.S east coast building style of the mid 20th century.