Winged Gable (or Prow). A winged gable, like the one on this house at 91st Street and Crestview Avenue, is an elongation of eave, which extends the roofline at the peak of the gable. This architectural feature, which is also sometimes called a “prow” because it resembles the prow of a ship, would have functioned to provide some additional shade or shelter from rain to windows or doors beneath the gable, but was just as much a stylistic choice as a functional one.
Winged gables are usually found on Ranch style or other modern-design houses of the mid-20th Century. Ranch style houses were all the rage in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and winged gables lent a cutting-edge look to the modern ranch houses on which they were used. Because few modern-style homes were constructed downtown in the mid-20th Century, the best place to look for winged gables on the fly is in the suburbs of Indianapolis.
