How does Tuxedo look with the Roof?

Here are some photos of downspout samples with the roof shingle we have on our house:

any thoughts as to which looks most historic?

Like the pewter next to the roof and tuxedo next to the brick. But to be hones I need more info...shutter colors, doors, trim, copper flashing? Kinda hard to pick without perspective of the build as a whole.

no shutters, no idea for the door yet, no copper flashing, trim will be white, limestone sills and keystones.

I like the tuxedo, I think.

I normally like drk brown gutters but with your brick color and roof from the choices you have I like

1. pewter
2. tuxedo

Thanks, everyone. Is there another direction I should pursue? The tuxedo
Wont look like aged copper or lead will it? I'd like it to look like one of those if possible.

It could look like lead, I would think. Also, asking if the downspouts need to be on the front facade or if they could be around the corner on the sides, if you want to reduce their prominence even more.

Most cities with historical districts have strict guidelines with regard to repair or replacement of gutters and downspouts. You may want to do a search.

IMO, you are right on target with a choice that would look like old copper with a nice patina. That would be more toward the burnished brown tones than the gray tones. It's your brick that you want the downspout to blend in with and disappear into.

Your elevation will have beautiful, historically accurate details. If it were my house, I would not want the downspout to compete with those details by being too visible.

Even better if the downspout can be tucked around the corner as Pal suggested.

thank goodness for Garden Web or I never would think to ask my builder about putting the downspouts on the side. I'll ask him and post back.

Supposedly we have 4 downspouts on the front of the house and can't move them because drainage tiles are in place. I'm really disappointed and feel like this is a hide design error. The main section of our house's facade is only 40-something feet across, 4 long tubes on this is going to look awful.

You can move drainage tubes. No big deal. It may be that the roof is designed so it won't drain properly without the gutters on the front. We ran into that and was another reason we did copper. I have known people to do copper on the front and bronze on the back as well.

Good point about wanting it to blend in with the brick rather than the roof as that is what will be visible.

We actually cut the budget in a couple of places because of the cost of copper. We did a mixture of copper downspouts and copper coated half round gutters. Both supposedly last for 50 years so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Uggh, I just learned we have 6 downspouts on the front of our house! How can we move them and not run into water issues? Apparently the gutters are 6 inches and this is what we need, but it sounds like overkill and it's certainly going to ruin the image of the house on the front.

Athensmom, which color do you think is best for our downspouts?

I think the downspouts just depends on the look you are going for. We chose not to hide our and instead added leaderheads(some call them conductor heads) for a little detail and a different look. Call me crazy but I actually like my gutters...lol

Xclusive, not crazy at all. I've seen some gorgeous leaders and have put an email in to my builder to see what our options are. Any comment on which color I should do?

My fear with something other than white or copper is that it will look contemporary. Am I crazy?

I found a color called "dark bronze," but won't get a chance to take it to the house and snap a photo for a few days. In the meantime, it looks like the company our builder uses does offer any nice looking leaders, so now I have to figure out how to order some nice looking leaders and hope they fit the downspouts offered. Seriously, this project is just too much! Have any of you used separate components like this and made it work?

Suzanne Kasler has downspouts on the front of her house. But it is white painted stucco. I think her house is gorgeous.

Actually It may be painted brick.

gaonmymind, her house is gorgeous! the downspouts look nice here because of the great leaders and, i think, because they are the same color as the house. not sure what to do since i have red brick.

Her house is painted brick and is gorgeous! Our architect designed her renovation. I do love the idea of the gutters fading away like hers do. That is difficult with a brick colored brick and also difficult with anything other than a basic white or cream. We do have a couple of conductor heads on our gutters but we didn't want to draw undue attention to them. They are only where is necessary for drainage issues.

you can see below how the copper gutters run down the edge of our house. We have a lot of them. . .

Ignore the lack of landscaping. Trees going in in the fall and we are still missing several shutters (they are warping and have to be remade). . .

I will run down the street and see if I can get a picture of the bronze gutters on the back of a house with copper on the front . . might not be til next week as I have to go to the midwest this week for a few days;)

OMG Athens! Your house is perfection!

athens, your house is beautiful!

i have an image of our house that includes the placement for the downspouts. the downspouts are indicated by little circles along the edges. now that we see where they are placed, how can we put nice leader boxes there given that two of them are in corners?

Wow!....Athens, your house is gorgeous! An inspiration to us all! Is it painted brick?

threeapples, those tiny circles do seem to be placed so that, although the downspouts are on the front elevation, they could face the side rather than the front. I think they should be okay there....and not detract from your beautiful home.

IMO, Muskrat Brown appears to blend in best with your brick.

Either have the contractor custom color match your brick and paint the gutters, or go with actual real copper. Nothing else will look "right" here. Copper would be my vote. The devil is in the details, and gutters are a MAJOR detail that has to be right or they will be all you see when you look at the home's facade.

i just returned from a friend's house and her neighborhood has many homes that are well over one-hundred years in age, several Georgian style. While they all have copper downspouts, not all of them have fancy leaders. Anyway, every downspout I examined was the color of the "dark bronze" I mentioned, but have not taken photos of yet. So, since copper is out of the budget I think the dark bronze will suffice since it looks like aged copper anyway.

I agree the devil is in the details, but our budget is driving most of our choices.

I'll post a pic of that bronze color in a few days.

athensmomof3 & gaonmymind

Our house isn't on that scale but those houses that you posted pics of are absolutely beautiful.

threeapples

I would show pics of our gutters but the subs didn't put on the leader heads and some of the downspouts are in the wrong place so we are waiting on them to come back out and correct them. Below are some pics of examples I was referring to where the gutters are used to contrast the brick versus trying to hide or blend in. Again, just depends on what look you are going for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our home sell/build log

Xclusive, I like the leaders on that house very much. Thanks for the illustration. Your blog is very interesting, by the way. I love to see how others do so much research in their builds and remodels. It seems like most of the homes that go up in our area have no historic framework or the homeowner just goes along not thinking through all of the details.

Xclusive...I too like your leaders and downspouts. It blends very well with the house and does not detract but adds to the facade.

Threeapples I think the aged bronze would be appropriate. The darker color would be less obtrusive. It will not draw attention away from your other details.