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This glossary, while not extensive, will help you and your students to describe and accurately name some basic architectural elements. Match the terms to the illustrations in the Pictorial Glossary or have students draw their own versions from |
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GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMS
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Acanthus Ornamental leaves on the Corinthian capital.
Anthemion Greek architectural ornament in the form
of a stylized honeysuckle
flower.
Aperture Any opening such as a door or window.
Arcade A
range of arches supported on piers or columns attached to or de-
tached from the wall.
Arch Wedge shaped stones or bricks set in the form of a curve.
Architrave The lowest part of an entablature, sometimes
used by itself as around a
window or door.
B
Baluster (Sometimes
Bannister) A turned or rectangular upright supporting a
stair rail.
Barge Board A stylized rafter set out a little from
the clapboards of a gable, used es-
pecially on Gothic Revival cottages.
Batten
A board, narrow or wide, nailed on the back of two or more other
boards to hold them together as in a door made of sheathing.
Bay An
angular or curved projection of a room, usually with
windows.
Beaded
Weatherboard A weatherboard
finished with a projecting, rounded edge.
Belvedere A tower or turret with an open porch,
built for the sake of the view, or
for its own appearance sake.
Bolection Molding A heavy convex molding often surrounding Colonial period fireplaces.
Bond The
pattern in which bricks are laid for the sake of solidity and
design. In
Georgia four basic bonds were used. English: rows of ends, or headers,
alter-
nate with rows of sides or stretchers. Flemish: headers and stretchers
alternate
in each course with the center of each header over the center
of the stretcher
below. American: rows of four or five stretchers between rows
of headers. Com-
mon: American Bond without a course of headers.
Bracketing A supporting piece of wood or stone used
to carry the weight of a projecting
member.
Buttress A mass of masonry or brickwork projecting from or built against a wall to give additional strength.
C
Cantilever A projecting beam or bracket stabilized
by the weight of the wall from which it
extends.
Capital The head of a column or pilaster.
Casement A window sash that opens on hinges on the side.
Chair Rail A molding carried around a room at chair back
height.
Clapboard See Weatherboard.
Colonnade A range of columns.
Composite
Order A classical order with a special capital combining Ionic
and Corinthian
features.
Corbeling A series of short stone or wood projections
(corbels) supporting a projection
course of masonry.
Corinthian Order The "rather flowery" order distinguished by a capital made of ornamental acanthus leaves and curled fern shoots.
Cornice The uppermost, projecting part of an entablature, or a feature resembling it.
Course A horizontal row of stones or bricks in a wall.
Crossettes Decorative square offsets at the upper
corner of a door or window
architrave.
Cupola A
dome, especially a small dome on a circular or polygonal
base crowning a roof or turret.
D
Dado The plain space in paneling especially wainscoting.
Dentils Small blocks in a classic cornice.
Dogtrot Cabin (Double-penned cabin) A simple structure, generally log, with two rooms separated by an open breezeway which affords better air circulation.
Doric Order A classical order with simple unadorned capitals supporting a frieze of vertically grooved tablets (triglyphs) set at intervals.
Dormer Window A window that projects from a roof.
E
Egg and Dart A convex molding decorated with a pattern of alternate eggs and arrowheads.
Engaged Column A round column attached to a wall.
Entasis.
The very light, slight convex curve used on the shaft of Greek
and later columns
to correct the illusion of concavity.
Entablature Above columns and pilasters, a 3-part
horizontal section of a classical order,
the topmost part being the cornice.
F
Facade The face or front of a building.
Fanlight
A window, often semi-circular, over a door, with radiating muntins
suggesting a
fan.
Finial A pointed ornament at a gable peak.
Fluting Shallow,
concave grooves running vertically on the shaft of a column, pilaster,
or
other surface.
Fret An ornamental pattern cut into or through an open
surface.
Frieze The middle division of an entablature, below the
cornice.
G
Gable The triangular upper portion of a wall to carry a pitched roof.
Gingerbread Pierced curvilinear ornament made with jig saw or scroll saw much used in the Gothic Revival.
Gambrel Roof A roof with two sloped or different pitch
on either side of the ridge.
Greek Fret A running ornament of little mazes.
Graining Painted treatment on wood panels simulating patterns
of
wood grain sometimes to the point of exotic abstraction.
H
Half-Timbering A means of construction exposing the
heavy timbers with spaces between
beams filled sometimes with brick or a stucco substance.
Header The end of a brick, sometimes glazed.
Hipped roof A roof with slopes on all four sides. The hip is the external angle formed by the meeting of two roof surfaces.
Hood-mould A projecting moulding to throw off rain on the face of a wall above an arch, doorway or window; also called dripstone or albel.
I
In Antis Columns are 'in antis" when they stand between square piers call anta.
Ionic Order A classical order distinguished by a
capital with spiral scrolls, called volutes.
J
Jamb The straight side of a doorway or window.
Joists Horizontal
timbers laid parallel with their upper edges finished to receive
floor
boards.
L
Lean-to Roof Has one slope only and is built against a wall. (See Shed Roof).
Light A section of a window, the pane or glass.
Lintel A horizontal beam or stone bridging an opening.
M
Mansard Roof A roof with two slopes to all four sides, the lower one being steeper than the upper.
Mantelpiece The framed area surrounding a fireplace, usually of wood, brick, stone or marble, frequently including a mantel shelf; sometimes called a chimneypiece.
Modillion
A form of bracket in the cornice of the Corinthian order and of
some Ionic
orders.
Mortise and Tenon A mortised piece of timber has a hole into which the tenon or projecting tongue on another piece of lumber is made to fit.
Mullion A vertical divider in a window.
Muntin The
strip of wood separating panes of a sash or casement.
O
Order A
definite arrangement of column, capital and entablature, each
having its
own set of rules and ornamental features. Tuscan. Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian, Composite.
P
Palladian
Window A group of three windows. The central one is wider and
taller than the
rest and is round-headed. The two side windows are square-headed.
Pediment A triangular space forming the gable of a two-pitched roof in classic architecture.
Piazza The
term used for a veranda in the Colonial period. In Georgia, to
this day, a
porch may be a piazza.
Pilaster A flat-faced representation of a column, projecting from a wall.
Pitch The degree of slope of a roof.
Plinth The
projecting base of a wall or column. A large porch having a roof,
often
with a pediment, supported by columns.
Q
Quoin
One of the stones or bricks ornamenting the outside corner of
a building.
R
Rafter Part of the frame for a wooden roof, sloping down from
the ridge and
establishing the pitch.
Return To carry a moulding around a corner; the moulding itself.
Ridge The peak of a roof; the point of meeting of the upper slopes of a roof.
Riser The vertical part of a step.
S
Sash A window frame that opens by sliding up or down.
Shed A lean-to roof; also the room created by the lean-to.
Sill The
heavy timber on the foundation of a building. Also the bottom
crosspiece
of a window frame.
String course A projecting course of bricks or some other material forming a narrow horizontal strip across the wall of a building.
Stud The upright post forming part of the framework of a braced-frame building.
T
Tenon A
short projection from the end of a beam, pinned into a mortise.
Transom Horizontal glazed area above an aperture.
Turret A small, slender tower.
Tuscan Order A classical order noted for its simplicity;
unfluted columns, unadorned capitals
and plain entablatures.
V
Vault An arched covering in stone or brick over any building.
Veranda A space alongside a house sheltered by a roof supported by columns, arches etc.
W
Wainscot
A facing or paneling, usually of wood, applied to the walls of
a room, usually the
lower part.
Water Table A projecting ledge, molding, or string course along the side of a building, designed to throw off rainwater.
Weatherboarding Siding consisting of overlapping narrow boards usually thicker at one edge than the other.
Winders Steps with radiating risers and thus narrowing treads.
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