Both Uses

cornice
in
Atlas Shrugged
(Auto-generated)

The houses stood like men in unpressed suits, who had lost the desire to stand straight: the cornices were like sagging shoulders, the crooked porch steps like torn hem lines, the broken windows like patches, mended with clapboard.†
Chpt 1.9 *
On the steps of the pedestal, under the statue of the austere, exultant figure, a ragged bum sat slumped in passive resignation, like a wing-plucked bird with no place to go, resting on any chance cornice.†
Chpt 3.5

Definitions:

(1) (cornice as in: a decorative cornice)
a decorative border along the top of a building's exterior wall

or:

a decorative molding between the ceiling and the top of a wall
(2) (cornice as in: snow cornice)
hardened wind-built snow that hangs over a ridge or precipice
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)