Stepped gable

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A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a step pattern above the roof as a decoration and as a convenient way to finish the brick courses. A stepped parapet may appear on building facades with or without gable ends, and even upon a false front. The oldest examples can be seen in Ghent (Flanders, Belgium) and date from the 12th century, such as the Spijker house on the Graslei, and some other Romanesque buildings in the city. From there, they spread to the whole of Northern Europe from the 13th century, in particular in cities of the Hanseatic League (with brick Gothic style), and then to Central Europe by the next century. These gables are numerous in Belgium, France (French Flanders, Eastern Normandy, Picardy and Alsace), the Netherlands, all Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and the Baltic States. They are also present but much rarer in the British Isles although the Old Elizabethan Library at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, dates to 1590. Crow-stepped gables are especially common on traditional Flemish and Dutch houses and on mediaeval Danish churches. Crow-stepped gables were also used in Scotland as early as the 16th century. Examples of Scottish crow-stepped gables can be seen at Muchalls Castle, Monboddo House, and the Stonehaven Tolbooth, all late 16th and early 17th century buildings.