A detail of a Victorian house gable in the Essex seaside town of Frinton-on-Sea. Ornate blue painted woodwork looks fresh and clean despite it being 100 years old. The name of the property reads as Essex House and the date of its construction as 1896. A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used (which is often related to climate and availability of materials) and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable. A gable wall or gable end more commonly refers to the entire wall, including the gable and the wall below it.