Wide eaves help as well to keep summer sun off windows and to provide a place for a porch. A gentle rain on a tin roof is a sure ticket to sleep; a strong one not so much.
I'd never thought about ceiling height - that makes a lot of sense.
Well designed buildings for passive cooling/heating in the higher latitudes can also take advantage of wide eaves. Since the sun is lower in the sky during winter you can design a home with eaves that block the summer midday intensity but allow sunlight to flood in throughout the winter with some careful calculations and site placement. Houses built to suit their location can slash the amount of energy required to regulate the temperature.
I'd never thought about ceiling height - that makes a lot of sense.