# Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Widows Walk - Roof Deck Railing
An architectural widow's walk can be described several ways including: a balcony on a roof; a roof enclosure; roof railing; roof walk; roof fence; flat roof deck and railing; railed rooftop observation platform. A widow's walk, flat roof deck or observation platform on the roof of a house, enclosed by a railing or balustrade is sometimes formed by truncating the top of a hip roof. A widow's walk, roof walk or sometimes referred to as a captain's walk was typically found on a coastal house, originally designed as a lookout for observing vessels at sea. The name widows walk derived from the wives of fishermen or mariners, who would gaze out over the ocean, from their rooftop balcony watching for their husband's safe return. Tragically, the ocean would sometimes take the life of the seamen, leaving their wives as widows. Their widows would then frequently pace and gaze out to sea from their rooftop platform wishing beyond hope that their loved ones would miraculously still return home and thus the name widow's walk was coined. Beyond their use as viewing platforms, widows walks were also frequently built around the chimney of a residence, creating easy access or passage to the chimney.This was done to allow home owners, in the event of a chimney fire, to pour sand down their burning chimney, to hopefully prevent their house from burning down. Widows walks might also surround a cupola or turret projecting from a rooftop.Widow's walks can also be seen as a decorative architectural accent, distinctive and eye-catching on stately homes today, even on many homes far inland from the sea. Pictured below are sections of a widows walk made from pure copper. Depending on the layout of the roof platform to be enclosed, one to four railing sections might be used to enclose the roof deck forming a pen or enclosure.

widows walk roof deck railing sections shown here
Copper Widows Walk Roof Railing
widows walk roof balcony corner railing shown here
Decorative Widows Walk Corner Finial

widows walk roof enclosure railing end section pictured here
widows walk roof balcony deck corner section shown in this picture
widows's walk roof copper deck railing long copper work section shown here

Rutland's architectural copper work artisans crafted the widows walk seen in the pictures above from copper, hand forming the pieces and welding them together. The separate railing sections are designed to bolt together at the installation site and attach to the roof structure. View additional architectural copper work.

architectural copper | copper work | deck railing | Finials | roof balcony | roof deck | roof enclosure | roof fence | roof railing | roof walk | widows walk
8/25/2009 1:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time  #    Disclaimer  |   |  Trackback
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