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A |
| Abacus — The uppermost part of the capital of the column; often a plain square slab, but sometimes molded or otherwise enriched.
| | Abutment — The solid part of a pier or wall, etc., against which an arch abuts, or from which it immediately springs, acting as a support to the thrust or lateral pressure. The abutments of a bridge are the walls adjoining to the land which supports the ends of the road-way, or the arches at the extremeties. Also the basement projecting to resist the force of the stram, and on which the piers rest.
| | Acanthus — (Lat. from Gr.), a plant. the leaves of which are initated in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite order.
|  | Acanthus Leaf — A common plant of the Mediterranean, whose stylized leaves from the characteristic decoration of capitals of Corinthian and Composite Orders.
| | Acroteria — (Gr.), Pedestals for statues and other ornaments placed on the apex and the lower angles of a pediment. They are also sometimes placed upon the gables in Gothic architecture. especially in canopy work.
| | Andiroms — a term of frequent occurrence in old inventories, &c., and one which is still well known in some parts of the country, for the Fire-dogs: they are generally enumerated as a "pair of andirons," but occasionally only one is mentioned. In the hall at Penshurst. Kent, the hearth still remains in the middle of the room, and there stands on it one large fire-dog, consisting of an upright standard at each end, and a bar between. Although used chiefly for the braziers in the middle of the hall, they were also used in the fireplaces in the chambers.
| | Annulet — (lit. a ring), a small flat fillet, encircling a column, &c., used either by itself or in connection with other mouldings: it is used, several times repeated, under the Ovolo of Echinus of the Doric Capital.
| | Antae — (Lat.), a species of polasters used in Greek and Roman architecture to terminate the pteromata or side walls of terminate the pteromata or side walls of temples, when they are prolonged beyond the face of the end ealls, The first order ot temples, according to Nitruvius, is called "in antis," becaused the pronaos or porch in front of the cell is formed by the projection of the pteromata terminated by antae, with columns between them. They may be said to crrespond to the 'respond' in English architecture.
| | Antefixae — Anteflxae, or Antlxes (Lat.) ornamented tiles on the top of the cornice or eaves. at the end of each ridge of tiling, as on the choragic monument of Lysicrates, at Athens; sometimes of marble, but generally of terra cotta, and ornamented with a mask, honeysuckle,or other decoration moulded on them. Also lions' heads carved on the upper mouldings of the cornice, either for ornament,or to serve as spouts to carry off the water, as on the Temple of the Winds at Athens.
| | Antepagmenta — (Lat.), dressings or architrave of a doorway. This term does not included the frame of the door, which is of wood, but only the stone decorations, or stucco, when that material is used.
| | Apophyge — (Gr.), the small cuivature gived to the top and bottom of the shaft of a column wher it expands to meet the dege of the fillet. (See Column.)
| | Araeostyle — that style of the Grecian temple in which the columns are placed at the distance of four (and occasionally five) diameters apart.
| | Architrave — (Fr. and Lat,= chief-beam), the lowest division of the entablature, in Classical architecture, resting immediately on the abacus of the capital: also the ornamental moulding running round the exterior curve of an arch; and hance applied the mouldings round the openings of doors and windows, &c. (For illustration, see Column and order.)
|  | Astragal — A small molding of rounded, convex section.
| | Attic — a low story above an entablature, or above a cornice, which limits the height of the main part of an elevation: itis chiefly used in the Roman and Italian styles.
| B |
| Baluster — corrupyly banister and ballaster, a small pillar usually made circular, and swelling in the middle or towards the bttom (entasis), commonly used in a balustrade. A rude balustre-shaft occurs in the Romanesque styles of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in England and elsewhere, where it occupies the place of a mid-wall shaft to the tower windows. Some of the examples have evidently been turned in a lathe, and it has been observed that they bear a great resemblance to the spoles of a cart-wheel at the present day, also turned in a lathe in the dane manner. From the eleventh century it was disused till the revival of Classical architecture in the sixteenth.
| | Balustrade — a range of small balusters supporting a coping of cornice, and forming a parapet or enclosure.
| | Band — a flat face or fascia, a square moulding, or a continuous tablet or a series of ornaments, &c., encircling a building or continued along the wall. Bands of panelling on the external surface of a wall are very usual in rich work of the Perpendicular style, especially on the lower part of a tower, anf somtimes higher up between the stories also, as in the rich Somersetshire towers, and in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, and indeed wherever rich churches of this style are found. This kind of ornament is however used in the earlier styles also, though less frequently. See also a good illustraton from Yelvertoft Church under Perpendicular.
| | Base — the lower part of a pillar, wall, &c.; the division of a column on which the shaft is placed: the Grecian Doric order has no base, but the other Classical orders have each their appropriate bases, which are divided into plinth and mouldings, though in some examplaes the former of these divisions is omitted.
In middle-age architecture, the forms and proportions of the various menbers not being regulated by arditrary rules, as in the Classical orders, the same capricious varieties are found in the bases, as in all the other features of each of the successive styles. In the Norman style the mouldings of the base often bear resenblance to those of the Tuscan order, with a massive plinth which is most commonly square, even though the shaft of the pillar and the base may be circular or octagonal. There is often a second or sub-plinth, under the Norman base, the profection angle of which is chamfered off. In the earlier period of this style the bases generally have but few mouldings but as a rule they increase in numbers, and vary in their arrangement as the style advances. There is a very great variety of bases in the Norman style; often in the same building searcely any two are alike: this seems to be especially the case in the earlier division of the style both in Mormandy and in England, and the bases in the two countries are often exactly alike. In Gundulph's crypt in Rochester Cathedral, this variety of bases is found, and it continues until quite late in the style.
At the commencement of the Early English style the bases differ but little from the Norman, having very frequently a single or double plinth, retaining the square form, with leaves
|  | Base, Base Molding — A projecting molding or band of moldings sometimes places directly over the plinth or a short distance above it.
| | Base-moulding — or base-table, a profecting moulding or band of mouldings near the bottom of a wall, &c. ; it is sometime places immediately upon the top of the plinth, and sometimes a short distance above it, in which case the intervening space is frequently panelled in circles, quatrefoils, &c.
| | Bead, Bead Molding — A convex, rounded molding, commonly of semi-circular section.
| | Beam — this term appears formerly, as at present, to have been applied generally to the principal horizontal timbers of a building, an additional epithet being used to point out the particular application of such of them as have no other specific names. (See Roof)
| | Bell — The body of a Corinthian or Composite capital, supposing the foliage stripped off, is called the bell; the same name is applied also to the Early English and other capitals in Gothic architecture which in any degree partake of this form.
| | Bevel — a sloped or canted surface resembling a chamfer or splay, excepting that in strictness this latter term should be applied only to opening which have their sides sloped for the purpose of enlarging them, while a solped surface in another situation would be a bevel; this distinction however, is seldom regarded, and the two terms are commonly used synonymously. (See Splay and Cant.)
| | Boast — to boast or block out a piece of stone or wood is to shape it into the simple form which approaches nearest to its ultimate figure, leaving the smaller details to be worked out afterwards. Sometimes capitals, corbels, &c., especially of the thirteenth century, are found in this state, never having been finished. A good example occurs in the crypt at Canterbury.
| | Bracket — an ornamental projection from the face of a wall, to support a statue. &c.; they are sometimes nearly plain, or ornamented only with mouldings, but are generally carved either into heads, foliage, angels, or animals. Brackets are very frequently found on the walls in the inside of churches, especially at the east end of the chancel and aisles,where they supported statues which were placed near the altars.
| | Buttress — a projection from a wall to create additional strength and support. Buttresses, properly so called, are not used in Classical architecture, as the projections are formed into pilasters, antae, or some other feature in the general arrangement, so as to disguise or destroy the appearance of strength and support. Norman buttresses, especially in the earlier part of the style, are generally of considerable breadth and very small projection, and add so little to the substance of the wall that it may be supposed they were used at least as much for ornament as for support: they are commonly not diveded into stages, but continue of the same breadth and thickness from the ground to the top, and either die into the wall with a slope innediateky below the parapet, or are continued up to the parapet, which frequently overhangs the perpendicular face of the wall as much as the buttersses project in order to received the, as at the nave of Southwell Minster. Occasionally small shafts are worked on the angles of Norman buttresses, but these generally indicate that the work is late.
Early English buttresses have usually considerably less breadth anf much greater projection than the Norman, and often stand out very boldly; they are sometimes continued throughout their whole height without any diminution; but are oftener broken into stages with a successive reduction in their projection, and not unfrequently in their width also, in each; the sets-off dividing the stage are generally solped at a very acute angle; the buttersses terminate at the top either with a plain slope dying into the wall, or with a triangular head (or pediment) which sometimes stands against the parapet, sometime below it, and sometimes rises above it, producing somthing of the effect of a pinnacle, as
| C |
 | Cabled Fluting — A convex section of molding formed in the flutes of a column, usually in the lower third of the shaft.
| | Cabling — a round moulding frequently worked in the flutes of columns, pilasters, &c., in Classical architecture, and nearly filling-up the hollow part: they seldom extend higher than the third part os the shaft.
| | Cantaliver — a kind of bracket, whether of stone, wood, or iron, used to support eaves, cornices, balconies, &c., usually of considerable profection.
|  | Capital — The top most member, sometimes decorated, or a column, pilaster, etc.
| | Caryatides — (Gr.), a name given to statues representing draped female figures, applied instead of columns in Grecian architecture, as at the Erectheum at Athens.
| | Casemant — (1) a frame enclosing part of the glazing of a window, with hinges to open and shut. (2) An old English name for the deep hollow moulding, similar to the Scotia of Italian architecture, which is extremely prevalent in Gothic architecture, in cornices, door and window jambs, &c., especially in the Perpendicular style, and which is frequently enriched with running patterns of foliage.
| | Cavetto — a concave moulding of one quarter of a circle, used in the Grecian and other styles of architecture. (See Column.)
| | Chamfer — Champfer (Gr. Kampto); an arris or angle which is slightly pared off is said to be chamfered: a chamfer resembles a splay, but is much smaller, and is usually taken off equally on the two sides; it applies to woodwork as well as stone, In the Early English and Decorated styles, more especially in the former, chamfers have frequently ornamental terminations of several kinds, some of which are sufficiently marked to be characteristic of the date of the architecture, and they are more varied and produce a stronger effect than might be expected in such minute features, The angles of Early English buttresses are very commonly chamfered.
| | Chopped or — Manufactured using a closed mold. The fiberglass/resin matrix combined using multiple "guns' that spray the material onto a mold. The sprayed product is then hand-rolled to remove potential air pockets. The mold is removed and the finished product is ready for priming and painting.
| | Cimbia — A band or fillet around the shaft of a column.
|  | Cincture — A ring of moldings around the top or bottom of the shaft of a column, separating the shaft from the capital or base.
| | Clear-story — or Clere-story, an upper story, or row of windows in a Gothic church rising well above the adjoining parts of the building (in contradistinction to the Blindstory, often called the Triforium). In churches in appeard to have been adopted as a means of obtaining an increase of light in the body of the building: but the windows are not unfrequently so small that they serve this purpose very imperfectly. Numerous churches exist both in the Norman and in each of the later styles of Gothic architecture, in which the clear-story is an original feature; but many more instances occur in which it is evidently a subsequent addition to the original design,especially when the high-pitched roofs (which frequently included the body and aisles in a single span) have given way to flat ones, the walls having been raised over the arches of the nave to received the clear-story windows. (See illustration under Triforium.)
| | Colossal — A large column more than a story in height.
|  | Column — In classical architecture, a cylindrical support consisting of a base (except Greek Doric), shaft, and capital.
| | Columns — a round pillar; the term includes the base, shaft, and capital: in Grecian and Roman architecture. Tho column is so important a feature that the exact proportions of its several parts are settled, and vary according to the Order.
The term is also sometimes applied to the pillars or piers in Norman and Gothic architecture.
| | Composite, Composite Order — One of the five Classical Orders. A Roman elaboration of the Corinthian Order, having the acanthus leaves of its capital combined with the large volutes of the Ionic Order, and other details also elaborated.
| | Console — is strictly the French term for a bracket, or for the ancones, but it is commonly used by English authors also for a bracket or corbel of any kind in Classical architecture.
| | Corbel — A bracket of that form which i sbest fitted to ordinary conditions of cut stone or of other masonry; in French, th edcorresponding term corbeau i slimite to a bracket having, particularyly, two distinguished from the cul de lampe, which has a generally pyramidal or conical shape.
| | Corbel-table — a row of corbels supporting a parapet or cornice, usually having small arcs between them (See Cornice.)
| | Corinthian, Corinthian Order — The slenderest and most ornate of the three Greek Orders, characterized by a bell-shaped capital with Volutes and two rows of acanthus elaborate cornice.
| | Cornice — (from Ital. and that from Lat. corona), the horizontal moulded projectio encircling the top of a building, or the component parts of a building and generally beneath the eaves of the roof, In Classic architecture each of the Orders has its peculiar cornice.
In the Norman style of architecture, a plain face of parapet, slightly projecting from the wall, is frequently used as a cornice, and a row of blocks is often placed under it, sometimes plain sometimes moulded or carved into heads and other ornaments, when it is called a corbel-table: these blocks very commonly have a range of small arches over them; a small plain string is also sometime used as a cornice.
In the Early English style, the corbe-table continued in use as a cornice, but it is generally more ornamented than in the Norman, and the arches are commonly trefoils and well moulded; the blocks, also are more delicately carved, either with a head or some other ornament characteristic of the style, and if there are no arches above them they often support a suite of horizontal mouldings; sometimes there is a range of horizonta mouldings above the arches of the corbel-table, and sometimes the cornice consists of mouldings only, without any corbel-table. The hollow mouldings of the cornice are generally plain, seldom containing flowers or carvings, except the toothed ornament.
In the Decorated style, the cornice is usually very regular; and though in some large buildings it has several mouldings, it principally consists of a slope above, and a deep sunk hollow, with an astragal under it; in these hollows, flowers at regular distances are othen placed, and in some large buildings, and in towers &c., there are frequently heads, and the cornice almost filled with
| | Corona — (Lat.) the lower member, or drip, of the projecting part of a Classic cornice: the horizontal under-surface of it is called the soffit. (See Column.)
|  | Cove molding — A molding having a concave face; often used as a trim.
| | Cupola — (Ital.), a concave ceiling, either hemispherical or of any other curve, covering a circular or ploygonal area; also a roof, the exterior of which is of either of these forms, more usually called a dome, and in Latin tholus.
| | Cyma — (Gr.), an undulated moulding, of which there are two kinds: cyma recta, which is hollow in the upper part. and round in the lower: and cyma reversa, called also the ogee, which is hollow in the lower part, and round in the upper. The term cyma, without an adjective, is always consedered to mean a cyma recta. It is usually the upper menber of Grecian and roman entablatures. excepting in the Tuscan and Doric orders, and in Cassical archtecture is very rarely used in any but a horizontal position, except over pediments. In the Norman style this moulding is not very often met with, but in Gothic architecture it is frquent, especially in doorways windows, archways, &c., but the proportions are generally very different from those given to it by the ancients, and it is called an ogee. An example of a qurked cyma is given beneath Ogee. (See also Column.)
| | Cymatium — this is mot easy to define, but it may be called a capping moulding to certain parts and subdivisions of the orders in Classic architecture: the projecting mouldings on the upper part of the architrave, (except in the Doric order, where it is denominated tenia,) the corresponding moulding over the frieze, and the small mouling between the corona and cyma of the cornice, are each called by this name; the small moulding, also which runs round the upper part of the modillons of a cornice is their cymatium: and the upper moulding of the abacus of the Roman Doric capital is likewise so called; the upper moulding which serve as a cornice to pedestals, have occasionally the dame name.
| D |
| Dado — the solid block or cube forming the body of a pedestal on Classical architecture, between the base-moulding and cornice: an architectural arrangement of moldings, &c,. round the lower part of the walls of a room, resembling a continuous pedestal. (See Pedestal.)
| | Dentels — (Lat. Denticulus = a Little tooth), Ornaments resembling teeth, used in the bed-moulding of Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite cornices.
| | Diastyle — an arrangement of columcs in Grecian and Roman architecture in which the inter-columniation or space between them is equal to three, or according to some, four diameters of the shaft.
| | Dome — a cupola; the term is derived from the Italia, duomo, a cathedral, the custom of rercting cupolas on those building having been so prevalent that the namedome has, in the French and English languages, been transferred from the church to this kind of roof, (See Cupola.)
| | Doric Order — The column and entablature developed by the Dorian Greeks, sturdy in proportion, with a simple cushion capital.
| | Dormer — a window pierced through a sloping roof and placed in a small gable which rises on the side of the roof. There do not appear to be any dormers now existing of an earlier date than the middle of the fourteenth century. It was usually the window of the sleeping - apartments; hence-the name Dormer, from
| | Dressings — (1.) The moulding and sculptured decorations of all kinds which are used on the walls and ceilings of a building for the purpose of ornament; (2.) Applied to a square opening in the stonework of moulding which surround it like a frame, such as a brick building with stone dressings.
| E |
| Echinus — (Lat.) the egg-and-anchor, or egg-and-tongue ornament, very frequently carved on the ovolo in Classical architecture: the term is also applied to the ovolo moulding, but in strictness it belongs to it only when thus enriched.
| | Enchinus — The convex projecting molding of eccentric curve supporting the abacus of the Doric Capital.
| | Engaged Column — A column partially built to a wall, not freestanding and more than half protruding from the wall.
| | Entablature — (Fr. from Lat, in tabula), the superstructure which lies horizontally upon the columns in Classic architecture: it is divided into architrave, the part immediately above the column; friexe, the central space; and cornice the upper projecting mouldings, Each of the orders has its appropriate entabature, of which both the general hight and the subdivisions are regulated by a scale of proportio derived from the diameter of the column, (See Column and Order.)
|  | Entasis — The intentional slight convex curving of the vertical profile of a tapered column; used to overcome the optical illusion of concavity that characterizes straight sided columns.
| | Exedra — Or Exhedra (Gr.), (1.) The portico of the palaestra or gymnasium, in which disputations of the learned were held among the ancients: also, in private housed, the pastas, or vestibule, used for conversation. (2.) The term also signifies an apse, with ranges of seats for viewing the games in the Circus or Stadium. On the Palatine in Rome are remains of three of them, also a recess of large niche in a wall, and is sometimes applied to a porch or chapel which projects from a larger building. (3.) It is also used as synonymous with Cathedra, for a throne or seat of any kind; for a small private chamber; the space within an oriel window; and the small chapels between the buttresses of a large church or cathedral. The word, however, is not frequently met with.
| | Extrados — (Fr. from Lat. Extra, dorsum), the exterior curve of an arch, measured on the top of the voussoirs, as opposed to the soffit or intrados.
| F |
| Fascia — or Facia (Lat. Facies = a face), a broad fillet, band, or face, used in Classical architecture, sometimes by itself but usually in combination with mouldings. Architraves are frequently dividede into two or three faciae, each of which projects slightly beyond that which is below it.
| | Fiber Wound / Filament Wound fiberglass columns — Manufactured by reinforcing individual strands of fiberglass with resin. The reinforced strands are weaved onto an electronic mandrel, cured, and sanded smooth. The product is then ready for priming and painting.
| | Fillet — A molding consisting of a narrow flat band, usually used in conjunction with or to separate other moldings or ornaments, as the stria between the flutes of columns.
| | Finial — (Lat. Finis = the end): by old writers this term is frequently applied to a pinnacle, but it is now usually confined to the bunch of foliage which terminates pinnacles, canopies, pedimants, &c., in Gothic architecture, The introduction of finials was contemporary with that of crockets, to which they bear a close affinity, the leaves of which they are composed almost always having a resemblance to them; and sometimes they are formed by uniting four or more crockets together. They were especially used in the Decorated Style; the example from Walpole St. Andrew, given under Tabernacle, shews the application to a niche in the wall, and that from Crick to a Doorway. Spires when perfect are often surmounted with finials.
| | Flower — Flower, Four-leaved, a very favourite ornament in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles.
|  | Flute — A groove or channel, usually semicircular or semielliptical in section; used decoratively, as along the shaft of a column.
| | Flutings — or Flutes (Lat. Fluo), the hollows or channels cut perpendicularly in the shafts of columns, &c., in Classical architecture; they are used in all the orders except the Tuscan; in the Doric they are twenty in number, and are separated by a sharp edge or arris; in the Ionic, Corinthias, and Composite, their number is twenty-four, and they are separated by a small fillet. They are sometimes (except in the Doric order) partly filled with a round convex moulding or bead, when they are said to be cabled; this does not in general extend higher than one-third of the shaft. Occasionally channellings, in some degree resembling flutes, are cut in Norman pillars, a remarkable instance of which occurs in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. Precisely the same kind of ornament occurs frequently in Germany, as in the crypt of Roda Rolduc, near Aix-la-Chapelle, which might be a copy from Canterbury, and it occurs in many buildings of the twelfth century in other parts of the Continent. The flutings are sometime carried diagonally across the columns, as in the pillars in Durham, Waltham &c., and later in the style this ornamentation became developed into a rich cable-ornament.
| | Freestone — building stone which may be cut into blocks and worked with a chisel. The term is applied to stone of very different qualities in different districts, but always to such as may be worked with freedom in comparison with others of the neighbourhood,
| | Fret — (Lat. Fretum + a strait), an ornament used in Classical architecture, formed by small fillets intersecting each other at right angles; the varieties are very numerous.
| | Frieze — or Frize, the middle division of an entabature, which lies between the architrave and the cornice. In the Tuscan order it is always plain: in the Doric it has slight projections at intervals, on which are cut three angular flutes, called triglyphs; the intervals between these are called metopes, and are frequently enriched with sculpture; in the Ionic it is occasionally enriched with sculpture, and is sometimes made to swell out in the middle, when it is said to be cushioned or pulvinated in the Corinthian and Composite it is ornamented in a variety of ways, but usually either with figures of foligae.
| G |
| Guilloche — an ornament used in Classical architecture, formed by two or more intertwining bands, The term is adopted from the French.
| | Guttae — small ornaments resembling drops, used in the Doric entablature on the under side of the mutules of the cornice, and beneath the taenia of the architrave, under the triglyphs.
| H |
| Half Column — A column projecting approximately one half its diameter, usually slightly more from a wall.
| | Hip — The external angle formed by the meeting of the sloping sides of a roof, which have their wall-plates running in different directions: thus, when a roof has the end sloped back, instead of finishing with a gable, the pieces of timber in these angles are called hip-rafters, and the tiles with which they are covered are called hip-tiles. The internal angles formed by the meeting of the sides are termed the valleys, whether the latter be horizontal or sloping, and the piece of timber that supports a sloping valley is termed the Valley Rafter.
| | Hip-Knob — a pinnacle, finial, or other similar ornament, placed on the top of the hips of a roof, or on the point of a gable. On ecclesiastical edifices, previous to the Reformation, crosses were usually fixed in these situations, but on other buidings ornaments of various kinds were used; when applied to gables with barge-boards, the lower part of the hip-knob frequently terminated in a pendant. They are, however, rather characteristic of sixteenth and seventeenth century work.
| I |
| Ionic Order — The Classical order of architecture, originated by by the Ionian Greeks, characterized by its capital with large volutes, a fascinated entablature, continuous frieze, usually dentils in the cornice, and by its elegant detailing, less heavy than the Doric, less elaborate than the Corinthian.
| J |
| Jamb — (Fr,), the side of a window, door, chimney, &c.
| | Jettie — (Fr.), or Jutty, a part of a building that projects beyond the rest, and overhangs the wall below, as the upper stories of timber houses, bay windows, penthouses, small turrets at the corners, &c. (2.) Also used as a pier projecting into the water.
| | Joggle — A term peculiar to masons, who use it in various senses relating to the fitting of stones together; almost every sort of jointing, in which one piece of stone is let or fitted into another, is called a joggle; what a carpenter would call a rebate is also a joggle in stone.
| | Joists — (Fr.), the horizontal timbers in a floor, on which the flooring is laid: also the small timbers which sustain a ceileng. In floors constructed without girders there is usually but one thickness of joists, to the underside of which the ceiling is attached, but when girders are used they are often double, (the upper row carrying the flooring, and the lower the ceileng,) with a series of larger timbers between them, called binding joists; when this kind of construction is used the upper joists are called bridging joists.
| K |
| Key-stone — the central stone, or voussoir, at the top of an arch; the last which is placed in its position to complete the construction of an arch. The bosses in vaulted ceilings are sometimes calles Keys. See Voussoir.
| M |
| Member — a moulding; as a cornice of five members, a base of three members. The term is also sometimes applied to the subordianate parts of a building.
| | Mitre — the line formed by the meeting of mouldings or other surfaces, which intersect or intercept each other at an angle.
| | Modillion — (Fr.), projecting brackets under the corona of the Corinthian and Compisite, and occasionally also of the Roman Ionic orders.
| | Module — (Lat.), a measure of proportion by which the parts of an order or of a building are regulated in Classical architecture; it has been generally considered as the diameter, or semi-diameter, of the lower end of the shaft of the column, but different architects have taken it form different parts and subdivided it in various ways. (See also Minute.)
| | Molding — A member of construction or decoration so treated as to introduce varieties of outline or contour in edges or surfaces, whether on projections or cavities, as on cornices, capitals, bases, etc.
| | Mould — or Mold, the model or pattern used by workmen, especially by masons, as a guide in working mouldings, and ornaments: it consists of a thin board or plate of metal cut ot represent the exact section of the mouldings, &c., to be worked from it.
| | Mutule — (Lat.), a projection block worked under the corona of the Doric cornice, in the same situation as the modillions in the Corinthian and Composite orders; it is often made to slope downward towards the most prominent part, and has usually a mumber of small guttae, or drops, worked on the underside.
| N |
 | Neck — In the Classical Orders, the space between the bottom of the capital and the top of the shaft, which is marked by a sinkage or a ring of moldings.
| | Neck Molding — A necking, which takes the form of a molding of any type.
| | Newel — (Old Eng. forms, Noel, Nowel, and Nuel), the central column round which the steps of a circular staircase wind; in the northern parts of the kingdom it is sometimes continued above the steps up to the vaulting of the roof, and supports a series of ribs which radiate from it, as at Belsay. The term is also used for the principal post at the angles and foot of a staircase. The newel staircase occurs in all turrets, as no other staircase could be designed to occupy so small a space. It is essentially Gothic in its construction, and though it constantly occurs in Norman work it is not found in the Classical styles.
| | Niche — (Fr.), a recess in a wall for a statue, vase, or other erect ornament. Among the ancients they were sometimes square, but othener semi-circular at the back, and terminated in a half-dome at the top; occasionally small pediments were formed over them, which were supported on consoles, or small columns or pilasters placed at the sides of the niches, but they were frequently left plain, or ornamented only with a few nouldings. In middle-age architecture niches (often called Tabernacles), were extensiely used, especially in ecclesiastical buildings, for statues.
| O |
| Ogee — or Ogyve (Old Fr.), a moulding formed by the combination of a round and hollow, part being concave and part convex. In Classical architecture ogees are extensively used, and are always placed with the covex part upwards, (see Cyma Reversa): among the Greeks they were formed with quirks at the top, but by the Romans these were very frequently omitted.
In Gothic architecture also ogees are very abundantly employed, but they are, quite as often as not, used with the hollow part upwards, and in such cases might in strictness be called cyma recta; they are almost invariably quirked: in Norman work they are very rarely found, and are less common in the Early English than in either of the later styles. This moulding assumed different forms at different periods, and the variations, although not sufficiently constant to affod conslusive enidence of the date of a building, often impart very great assistance towards ascertatining its age: fig. 1 is Early English; fig 2 isused at all periods, but less frequently in the Early English than in the other styles; fig. 3 is Decorated; fig. 4 is late Perpendicular.
The term Ogee os also applied to a pointed arch, the sides of which are each formed of two contrasted curves.
| | Order — in Classical architecture, a column entire, consisting of base, shaft, and capital, with an entablature. There are usually said to be five orders, the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite; but the first and last, sometimes called the two Roman orders, are little more than varieties of the Doric and Corinthian, and were not used by the Greeks.
| | Ovolo — (Ital.), a convex moulding much used in Classical architecture; in the Roman examples it is usually an exact quarter of a circle, but in the Grecian it is flatter, and is most commonly quirked at the top: in middleage architecture it is not extensively employed; it is seldom found in any but the Decorated style, and is not very frequent in that(See also Column.)
| P |
| Pane — an old term formerly used in reference to various parts of buildings, such as the sides of a tower, turret, spire, &c., which were said to be of four, eight, &c., panes, according to the number of their sides; it was also applied to the lights of windows, the spaces between the timbers in wooden partitions, and other similar subdivisions, and was somtimes synonymous with the term panel: occasionally it was applied to a bay of a building.
| | Patera — (Lat.=a bowl), a circular ornament resembling a dish, othen worked in relief on friezes, &c., in Classical architecture; the term has also come to be applied to a great variety of flat ornaments used in all styles of architecture, to many of which it is extremely inappropriate.
|  | Pedestal — A support for a column consisting in classical architecture of a base, dado, and capital.
| | Pediment — (Lat.), the triangular termination used in Classical architecture at the ends of buildings, over porticoes, &c., corresponding to a gable in middle-age architecture: it is much less acute at the top than a gable. Most of the porticoes on the fronts of Greek and Roman buildings support pediments; in Roman work the dressings over doors, and windows are sometimes arranged in a similar form, and called by the same name; in debased Roman work pediments of this last-mentioned kind are occasionally circular instead of angular on the top, a form which is also common in Italian architecture. The term is sometimes applied by modern writers to the small gables and triangular decorations over niches, doors, windows, &c., in Gothic architecture.
|  | Pergola — A garden structure with an open frame roof, often latticed, supported by regularly spaced posts or columns.
| | Peristyle — (Gr.), a court, square, or cloister, in Greek and Roman buildings, with a colonnade round it; also the colonnade itself surrounding such a space. In mediaeval Latin it is called the Quadriporticus, and was the usual arrangement in Italy in fronnt of the churches as well as in front of houses. We have no examples remaining in England. The nearest approach is our Cloister (See Atrium and Paradise.)
| | Pier — (Sax.): (1.) The solid mass between doors, windows, and other openings in buildings; (2.) The support of a bridge, on which the arches rest. (3.) This name is constantly given to the Pillar in Norman, and sometimes in Gothic architecture, but not so correctly. Although perhaps the same in their ablolute meaning, the word 'pier' is more properly applied to large masses in the construction of a building. The pillar is the support of an arch, and generally partakes of an ornamental character as well as structural.
|  | Pilaster — A pillar that is attached to and projecting from a wall. It must be half or less than half the width of the column.
| | Pillar — A square column or post.
| | Plate — Plate, a general term applied to almost all horizontal timbers which are laid upon walls, &c., to received other timber-work: that at the top of a building immediately under the roof, is a wall-plate; those also which receive the ends of the joists of the floors above the ground-floor are called by the same name. Plate tracery is the term applied to that kind of solid tracery which appears as if formed by piercing a flat surface with ornatmental patterns. It is used in contradistinction to Bar tracery. (See Tracery.)
|  | Plinth — The plain, continuous surface under the base molding of any column, pilaster or pedestal connecting it to the floor.
| | Pomel — (Lat. Pomellum, from Pomum = an apple), a knob, knot, or boss; the term is used in reference to the finial, or ornament on the top of a conical or dome-shaped roof of a turret, the summit of a pavilion, &c., and is especially applied to articles of plate and jewellery, It also denotes generally any ornament of globular form.
| | Portico — a range of columns in the front of a building; when of four columns it is called tetrastyle; when of six, hexastyle; of eight, octostyle; of ten, decastyle. The Latin porticus, however, from which the Italian portico and the French portique, as well as the English porch is derived, (e.g. Solomon's Porch, Acts iii. 11), has a more extended signification in all these languages; comprehending, in fact, every kind of covered ambulatory of which one or more sides are opened to the air, by rows of columns or of arches, whether it be attached to the front of a building or to its sides, or to the inner sides of an area. so sa to form a cloister, (See Temple.)
| | Purlins — Purlins, the horizontal pieces of timber which rest on the principals, or main rafters, of a roof, and support the common rafters. In some districts purlins are called ribs, and rafters spars. (See Roof.)
| Q |
| Quoin — (Fr.) Coin), the external angle of a building. In middle-age architecture, when the walls are of rough stonework, or of flints, the quoins are most commonly of ashlar: brick buildings also frequently have the quoins formed in the same manner; and occasionally they are plastered in imitation of stonework, as at Eastbury House, Essex. The name is sometimes used for ashlar-stones with which the quions are built; and it appears formerly to the have also signified vertical angular projections formed on the face of a wall for ornament.
| R |
| Rafters — (Saxon), the inclined timbers forming the sides of a roof, which meet in an angle at the top, and on which the laths or boards are fixed to carry the external covering. (See Roof.)
| | Reeding — A convex molding that runs the full length of the shaft; the reverse of fluting.
| | Renaissance — (Fr.), the name employed to describe the revival of Classical details in the French Gothic styles. It corresponds, in point of date, to the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England, though is commenced rathaer earlier abroad than in this country.
| | Resin Infused fiberglass columns — Manufactured using a preformed fiberglass closed mold (as opposed to weaving). The raw fiberglass fabric is inserted into the mold and pressure-vacuumed into place, then infused through additional fiberglass polymers and cured. The mold is then removed and the finished product is ready for priming and painting.
| | Ressaunt — (probably Fr. Ressentir), an old English term for an ogee-moulding. It was also applied to other architectural members that had the inflected outline of word, and seldom used.
| | Return — the terminations of the dripstone or hood-mould of a window or door. Several examples will be found under Dripstone. The term is also sometimes applied to the seats and desks which are set against the screen at the west end of a choir.
| | Roll-moulding — This term has been popularly, but somewhat vaguely, given to a moulding much used in Decorated and late Early English work, especially in strings and drip-stones. The varieties of such mouldings are numerous, some of them bearing resemblance to a roll of parchment, others are very different. Where th square fillet is more decidedly marked, it has been called "The Roll and Fillet Moulding." It appears to have become confused with the Scroll-moulding, so called from resemblance to a scroll of parchment with the edge overlapping. The name of Roll-mouling also is often applied to the common Round or Bowtell.
| | Romanesque Style — a general term for all the debased styles of architecture which sprang from attempts to imitate the Roman, and which flourished in Europe from the period of the destruction of the Roman power till the introduction of Gothic architecture. It is thus descrived by Dr. Whewell: "Its characters are a more or less close imitation of the features of Roman archtiecture. The arches are round; are supported on pillars retaining traces of the Classical proportions; the pilasters, cornices, and entablatures, have a correspondence and similarity with those of Classical architecture; there is a provalence of rectangular faces and square-edged projections; the openings in walls are small, and subordinate to the surfaces in which they occur; the menbers of the architecture are massive and heavy, very limited in kind and repetition, the enrichments being introduced rather by sculpturing surfaces, than by multiplying and exteding the component parts. There is in this style a predominance of horizaontal lines, or at least no presominance and prolongation of vertical ones. For instance, the pillars are not prolonged in corresponding mouldings along the arches; the walls have no prominent buttresses, and are generally terminated by a strong horizontal tablet or cornice." "This same kind of architecture, or perhaps particular modifications of it, have been by various persons termed Saxon, Norman, Lombard, Byzantine, &c. All these names imply suppositions, with regard to the history of this architecture, which it might be difficult to substantiate; and would, moreover, in most cases, not be understood to describe the style in that generality which we learn to attribute to it, by finding it, with some variations according to time and place, diffused over the whole face of Europe." The Pisan style has a very disdinct character of its own, the chief feature
| | Rose — A kind of rose was sometimes used as an ornament on the face of the abacus on Corinthian capitals. It also occurs in ornamental moulsings during the Norman style; but the full rose, as in the accompanying illustration, was a badge of the Tudors, and during their reigns it is often found carved on buildings in conjunction with the Portcullis.
| S |
| Scotia — (Gr.), or Trochilus, a hollow moulding constantly used in the bases of columns, &c., in Classical architecture: the old English name for a corresponding moulding very frequently employed in Gothic architecture is Casement. (See Column.)
| | Scroll — A name given to a numerous class of ornaments, which in general character resemble a band arranged in undulations or convolutions.
| | Scroll-moulding — a term applied to a particular kind of moulding, used much for string-courses in work of Edward I. and Edward II.'s reign. It is called the scroll or Roll - moulding, from the resemblance to a roll of parchment, the last fold overlapping.
| | Section — the representation of a building cut asunder vertically so as to shew the interior; also of a moulding or other member in architecture cut asunder so as to shew its profile.
|  | Shaft — The portion of a column or pilaster between the base and the capital.
| | Spun cast columns — Manufactured using a closed mold with a combination of fiberglass, resin, gypsum (or other natural and synthetic compounds). The matrix is poured into a closed mold and centrifugally spun. The material moves outward against the mold interior and ultimately forms the column. Chadsworth's PolyStone columns are manufactured using this process.
| | Stage — a step, floor, or storet; the term is particularly applied to the spaces or divisions between the set-offs of buttersses in Gothic architecture, and to the horizontal divisions of windows which are intersected by transoms.
|  | Stave — One of the number of narrow boards used to build up a column or pillar.
| T |
| Taper — A gradual diminution of thickness in a column.
| | Templet — Template: a pattern or mould used by workmen, especially by masons and bricklayers, as a guide for the shape of their work; it is usually formed of a thin board, or sheet of metal, Also a short piece of timber sometimes laid in a wall under the end of a girder or other beam.
| | Tenon — Tenant: a common term in carpentry, used to signify the projection left at the end of a piece of timber to be inserted into a socket, or mortise, made to receive it.
|  | Torus — A bold projecting molding, convex in shape, generally forming the lowest member of a base over the plinth.
| | Trefoil — (Lat. Tres = three, folium = a lesf), ornamental feathering or foliation used in Gothic architecture in the heads of window-lights, tracery, panellings, &c., in which the form of a threelobed leaf. (See Foil)
|  | Trial — This is a test
| | Trigylph — an ornament used in the Doric frieze, consisting of three vertical angular channels, of fluter, separated by narrow flat spaces. They are not worked exactly in the same manner in the Grecian and Roman examples; and in the latter, when placed over colums, are invariably over the centre of them, but in the former, at the former, at the angle of an entablature, are place close up to the angle, and not over the centre of the column.
| | Tudor Style — This name is used by some writers on Gothic architecture, but they do not agree in the application of it, It is variously enployed to designate the Perpendicular style throughout its continuance - the latter period of this style - and the mixed style which sprang up on the decline of Gothic architecture usually called Elizabethan. The term is not very extensively used, and is most commonly understood to mean late Perpendiculaar work, and Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster is looked upon as the most perfect specimen in this style. The Tudor Flower is a flat flower, or leaf, placed upright on its stalk, much used in Perpendicular work, especially late in the style, in long suites as a crest, or ornamental finishing, on cornices, &c., the examples differ considerably in detail, but the general effect does not vary much.
| | Tuscan Order — A simplified version of the Roman Doric Order, having a plain frieze and no mutules in the cornice.
| V |
| Vignette — (Fr.), a running ornament consisting of leaves and tendrils, such as is frequently carved in the hollow mouldings in Gothic architecture, especially in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles; called also Trail.
| | Vise — (old form Vys = a screw), a spiral staircase, the steps of which wind round a perpendicular shaft or pillar called the newel. The majority of ancient church towers are provided with staircases of this kind, and they are to be found in various situations in most middle-age buildings. During the prevalence of the Norman style, the steps were formed of a single stone supproted on a continuous spiral vault, reaching the whole hight of the stairs, one side of which rested on the newel, and the other on the main wall; subsequently to this period the steps were each made of a single stone, one end of which was inserted into the main wall, and the other rested upon and formed part of the newel. See also Newel.
| | Vitruvian Scroll — a peculiar pattern of scroll-work, consisting of convolved undulatons, used in Classical architecture, The name given after the great architectural writer Vitruvius.
| | Volute — (Lat. bolutus = turned), a spiral scroll forming the principal characteristic of the Ionic capital. Volutes are also used on the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders. Examples will be found in the illustrations accompnying the article Order. At the same time, in the patern of the Norman capitals, the volute seems to be frequently retained; in the thirteenth century it takes the form of foliage, and is practically lost.
|  | Volutes — A spiral scroll, as on Ionic, Corinthian, or Composite capital.
| W |
| Wainscot — This term originally seems to have implied rought planks of oak timber, and subsequently to have been given to wooden panelling, to which they were converted, for lining the inner walls of houses and churches. It was very extensively employed during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I., and for a long period afterwards. The name has long ceased to be confined to oak panelling. It is also called Seeling-work.
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