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ACROTERION A base, upon which an ornament may or may not be positioned, placed
on the three angles of a pediment. The ornament may also be called an acroterion.
ANTA The end of a wall decorated by a pilaster. Columns in antis are columns
between two antae, a customary arrangement for porticoes.
APSE A semicircular or polygonal project ion on a church; oft en found iii the east end,
beyond the chancel or sanctuary.
ARCH A device, usually in stone or brick, that spans an opening in a curved or pointed
formation.
ARCHITRAVE The lowest sect ion of the entablature; also, a moulded frame around a
door or window.
ASTRAGAL A small convex moulding that may look like a reed if found in vertical rows.
BALLOONWORK Timber-frame construct ion, in which upright studs run from sill to
eaves amid horizontal pieces are nailed to them.
BAY A means of describing the wall openings in vertical alignment. A five-bay house,
for example, may have a doorway with four windows on the main floor and five windows
on the upper floor
(Illustration from A. Welby Pugin, The True Principles and Revival of Christian Architecture, 1853,
showing a building with eleven bays)
CAMPANILE Bell tower originating in Italy and favoured in Canadian villas in the mid
19th century.
(Illustration from A.J. Downing, The Architecture of Country Houses, 1850, showing a villa in the Italian
style incorporating a campanile)
CAPITAL The top part of a column or pilaster. Its features are often determined by its
classical order.
CHANCEL Traditionally found in the church’s east end, an area reserved for the clergy
and housing the altar.
COLUMN A vertical supporting post, usually composed of a base, a shaft, and a capital.
CORBEL A carved or moulded supporting stone that projects from the wait surface.
CORNICE The top portion of the entablature: also, the crowning projection that finishes
a wall, a window, or a door.
CUSP The point formed by the intersection of two foils in Gothic tracery.
FINIAL An ornament rising from the peak of a pinnacle, spire, gable, etc.
FOIL In Gothic window tracery, the small arc openings separated by cusps. The number
of foils is described as trefoil (3), quatrefoil (4), and cinquefoil (5).
FRENCH WINDOW A window that opens to the floor in two hinged parts.
FRIEZE The portion of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice: a
decorative band.
NARTHEX The entrance hall that stretches across the church’s main entrance.
NEWEL The main post from which the steps of a stair rise. One end of a handrail is
usually attached to the newel.
ORDER In classical architecture, the column and entablature. There are five main
orders, each with their own ornaments, proportions, and measurements: Tuscan,
Greek Doric (and Roman Doric), lonic, Corinthian, andComposite. They are listed in
degrees of elaborateness, Tuscan being the simplest.
ORIEL window A bay window projecting from an upper storey.
PEDIMENT A gable finished with a horizontal moulding between the two lower corners,
ultimately derived from Greek temples. A broken pediment has this horizontal
moulding partially left open.
PENDANT An elongated and often turned ornament that hangs down from a peak or
cornice, for example, on a gable of a medieval-styled building.
PIANO NOBILE The principal storey, containing the reception rooms and raised above
the ground storey, in a building of the classical style.
QUOIN The cornerstones, often emphasized, on a building. Usually of stone or brick hut
may also be wood imitating stone.
REVEAL The inside surface of a doorway or window opening, usually the thickness of a
wall.
ROTUNDA An internal space, perhaps domed, round, or oval in plan; often part of the
circulation pattern in a building.
RUSTICATION A term describing how individual blocks or courses of stone are picked
out by deep joints and rough surfaces for a formal ornamental effect.
SPANDREL The almost triangular area contained by the outer curve of an arch, the
horizontal line drawn from its apex, and the vertical line drawn from its springing.
STRING COURSE A band running horizontally across a facade. It often marks, on the
exterior, the internal floor levels.
TRANSEPT The transverse arm of a cruciform church. The nave and the transepts
intersect at the crossing.
VESTRY A room attached to a church, where the clergy and choir robe in religious
garments.
VOUSSOIR Wedge-shaped stones or bricks in an arch; the centre one is the keystone.
WAINSCOT Wood paneling or boards part way up a wall from the floor.
Source: http://www.mckendry.net/GLOSSARY/GLOSSARY.htm