Widow’s Walk - Adding Aesthetics To The Luxury Homes

According to Wikipedia, a widow's walk (also known as widow's watch or roof walk) is a railed rooftop platform with a small enclosed cupola, highly prevalent in the 19th-century North American coastal houses. The name is said to have come from the wives of mariners, who would watch for their spouse to return. This often turned futile as the ocean would take the lives of the mariners, leaving the women widows and thus the name.

Widow's walks are a standard decorative feature of Italianate architecture and house plans with widows walk are in high demand currently. They were also popular during the height of the Age of Sail in many North American coastal communities. 

Beyond their use as viewing platforms, they can be seen around the chimney of the residence, which creates access to the structure. This allows the residents of the home to pour sand down burning chimneys in the event of a chimney fire to prevent the house from burning down. 

Some of the best widows walk house plan designs incorporate a roof-top windowed cupola or "widows walk", which is also referred to as an observation area, accessible via spiral stair from the second story hallway. This observation area is a great place to get distant views more clearly, to survey the landscape or to find a special place to read a book or to work on a project. These type of designs also feature a roof-top observation hall to provide a panoramic view across the location.

Whether renovating or building a luxury home with architectural features that intends to incorporate this type of design, a widow’s walk and cupola, generally circular in design, could become a unique, usable space rather than just a decorative addition. Even a simply-designed lake cottage can be enhanced with this feature, offering an additional private resort from inside and a decorative structure from the outside, accessed by a hidden passage or a creatively placed spiral staircase. 

There are a lot of online websites that employ skilled luxury custom home builders, who can help you enhance your home with widow walk design or any other unique design building up in your mind.