# Garret

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{{Short description|Small attic used as apartment}}
{{About|a habitable attic|people named Garret|Garret (given name)}}
{{Distinguish|Garratt locomotive}}

[[File:Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) - The Garreteer's Petition - N00482 - National Gallery.jpg|thumb|''[The Garreteer's Petition](/source/The_Garreteer's_Petition)'' by [Turner](/source/J.M.W._Turner), 1809]]
[[File:Carl Spitzweg - Der arme Poet (Neue Pinakothek).jpg|thumb|[Carl Spitzweg](/source/Carl_Spitzweg), ''[The Poor Poet](/source/The_Poor_Poet)'' ({{lang|de|Der arme Poet}}), 1839, depicting a garret room]]
right|thumb|Place Saint-Georges in Paris, showing top-floor garret windows
A '''garret''' is a habitable [attic](/source/attic), a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally small with sloping ceilings. In the days before [elevator](/source/elevator)s this was the least prestigious position in a building, at the very top of the stairs.

== Etymology ==
The word entered [Middle English](/source/Middle_English) through [Old French](/source/Old_French) with a military connotation of watchtower, [garrison](/source/garrison) or [billet](/source/billet){{snd}} a place for guards or soldiers to be quartered in a house. Like garrison, it comes from an Old French word {{lang|fr|garir}} of ultimately [Germanic](/source/Germanic_languages) origin meaning "to provide" or "defend".<ref>{{citation |title=Oxford Dictionary of English |edition=2nd, revised |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009}}.</ref>

== History ==
In the later 19th century, garrets became one of the defining features of [Second Empire architecture](/source/Second_Empire_architecture) in [Paris](/source/Paris), [France](/source/France), where large buildings were stratified socially between different floors.  As the number of stairs to climb increased, the social status decreased. Garrets were often internal elements of the [mansard roof](/source/mansard_roof), with skylights or [dormer](/source/dormer) windows.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mansard roof {{!}} architecture|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/mansard-roof|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

A "bow garret" is a two-story "outhouse" situated at the back of a typical terraced house often used in [Lancashire](/source/Lancashire) for the hat industry in pre-mechanised days. "Bowing" was the name given to the technique of cleaning up animal (e.g. rabbit) fur in the early stages of preparation for turning it into hats. What is now believed to be the last bow garret in existence (in [Denton, Greater Manchester](/source/Denton%2C_Greater_Manchester)) is now a [listed building](/source/listed_building) in order to preserve this historical relic.<ref>[http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-storey-planking-shop-bow-garret-6857125 Denton bow garret becomes listed building] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328010817/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-storey-planking-shop-bow-garret-6857125 |date=2014-03-28 }}, Manchester Evening News.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [http://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=4420 Old Maid in the Garret] (song)

{{Room}}

Category:Military terminology
Category:Rooms

[fr:Chambre de bonne](/source/fr%3AChambre_de_bonne)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Garret](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garret) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garret?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.