A Glossary of Colonial Architectural Terms (1928)

abacus. The crowning member of a capital, q. v. It varies with the order used.
all headers bond. Occasional in Maryland. It may have come from Western France.
anchor. A bar of wrought iron fastened to the end of a beam and built into a brick or stone wall, or sometimes carried through the wall and secured by a cross-iron in the shape of an S.
arch order. An arch which has on the pier at either side an engaged column or a pilaster, q. v., carrying an entablature with or without a pediment. It is rare, but an analogous form is very common in wooden door frames in later work.
arch. An arrangement of radiating wedge-shaped stones or of brick with wedge-shaped joints which are set in the form of a curve, a half-circle, a segment or an ellipse, or even on a level line. The stones or bricks are called voussoirs, q. v. The word is used for the same forms when built up of wood.
architrave. The lowest member of an entablature, q. v., resting on the abaci of the column capitals. Also used of both the horizontal and the vertical stone or wood trimming or casing around a square or rectangular opening.
archivolt. The moulding of an architrave carried around the face of an arch, q. v.
ashlar. Stone cut square so that the exposed faces are rectangles. See Rustication.
astragal. A small half round moulding. It generally has a fillet on one or both sides. See Bead, Neck F Moulding.
attic. A modern word for the garret.
back band. The outer moulding of a door or window casing, q. v.
baluster. A turned or rectangular upright supporting a stair rail. It is set between this rail and the stair step, or the floor, or the top of a closed string. See Stair. Used also on the outside of a building.
balustrade. The combination of posts, rail and balusters of a stair, q. v., or of posts, bottom rail, top rail and balusters above a cornice on the outside of a building.
band. A band not cut into separate dentils or, in woodwork, the band to which the dentils are nailed.
bar. A small moulded piece of wood separating the panes of glass in a sash. It succeeded the lead calme or came, q. v.
barge board. A false rafter set a little out from the clapboards of a gable. It protected the ends of the clapboards and concealed the underside of the roof board.
barrel vault. A continuous arch for the length of the room. -2.
base board. A board of more or less width at the bottom of a wooden outside wall, or of a plastered inside wall.
base course. An elaborately moulded base board or a stone course, plain or moulded, above the brick or stone underpinning. Moulded brick is often used.
base. The moulded block of stone or wood on which a column, pilaster or pier directly rests. It stands upon a square block, the plinth. The mouldings vary with the order used. See Order.
bat. A portion of a brick broken off and used to fill spaces. See Closer.
batten door. A door made in the manner described.
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.
bead. A half round moulding, the same as an astragal, q. v.
bearer. A rather narrow beam fixed to the studs on the inside of an outer wall, to carry the ends of the second story floor joists; the device is still in use as a “ribbon” about 1W by 5″ or 6″.
beater. A stick used in England and perhaps here also in early times, to “beat” mortar and thus mix the lime and sand. See Wren Society, volume x.
bed mould. A moulding beneath the soffit or “planceer,” or beneath the modillion band or the dentil band, q. v., of a cornice. See Order.
bedroom. This generally refers to a sleeping room on the ground floor of the house. See Chamber.
belt course. A course of stone, flush with the wall or projecting, or several projecting courses of brick, or a flush or projecting course of wood. Used on the outside of a building to mark the floor line or to bring about an apparent reduction in height.
bent tree rafter. A principal rafter so cut from a tree branch as to have at its foot a bend or “knee” which comes down on the plate at a right angle as is shown in the cut from Moxon (M). The object was to provide for a plastered cove cornice without an extra plate, as is shown in the sketch (N) from an actual example in Newport. This is perhaps the last descendant of the old English “Curved Tree Principal,” shown by Mr. C. E. Innocent in his Development of English Building Construction, ch. tv, figures 8 and 9.
block step. Two parallel sloping beams—the “pair of stayers” to which are pinned sections of wood beams split or sawed on their diagonals. A few cellar stairs of this type have been found.
boarding brace. Outer boarding put on diagonally at the feet or tops of posts.
bolection moulding. A heavy moulding partly on the panel and partly on the stile or rail of the panelwork. It was constantly used in England by Wren and is generally called, in the accounts “bolection work.” It was used a good deal here before the Revolution. The derivation of the word is not known. It may possibly come from the Dutch beleggen akin to Ger. belegen, to trim or edge. Belection and balection occur, as well as bilection which appears in “a bilection plane” in a Providence inventory of 1787.
bond. The alternation of the vertical joints in the courses of a brick or stone wall, so that these joints do not come over each other; and the laying of the bricks or stones, some across and some lengthwise of the wall. See Closer.
box lock. An iron mechanism encased in a wood or iron case which was fastened to a rail of the door.
brace. A stick set at forty-five degrees between two beams which meet at right angles. This framing forms a triangle which will not change its shape as long as the joints hold.
bracket. A curved or angular projection at the top of a post to enable it to support two or three beams. See Post Bracket, Post Flare. The scroll on the end of a step in an open-string stair.
buttery. Originally bottlery (Fr. bouteillerie), the place where the beer and ale were distributed. Later it came to mean the same as pantry, q. v.
cable. A bead set in the lower third of the flute, q. v., of a column or pilaster.
camber. The thickening or raising of a beam in the center which is thus made higher than the ends.
came. (calme, calamus, a reed). The H-shaped lead strip which holds the window glass. See Quarrel. It was made in a miniature rolling mill.
capital. The crowning member of a column or pilaster. Two forms, the Tuscan and Doric, have mouldings only, which in the Doric may be carved. The Ionic is distinguished by its volutes, of the Classic or flat type, or the angular Scamozzi form which is almost exclusively used. The Corinthian and Composite are floriated and the latter has angular volutes. The Tuscan and Composite are practically never used. See Order.
carpenter. Originally in England the workman who did the heavy framing. See Joiner.
carriage. The wood framing supporting the finished string and steps of a stair. See Stayer.
cartouch. A sort of shield with scrollwork border.
casement window. With glazed frames swinging out.
casement. A frame of wood or iron filled with glass set in tames or bars and hung between mullions, to which it is hinged to swing outward. It was sometimes merely the leaded glass alone, fastened in place but not hung. Also the vertical half of a window glazing with no mullions. This swings outward on hinges and is fastened where the two halves meet in mid-opening.
casing. The mouldings or flat strip around a door or window on the inside. See Architrave. In old wood-plastered partitions the frame and architrave are the same with a slight moulding.
cavetto. A hollow moulding about a quarter circle or quarter ellipse in profile. See Moulding.
ceiling joist. Generally the same as collar beam, cr. v., but in England, and here in very rare cases, joists for the ceiling are found which are independent of the floor joists of the floor above.
ceiling. The underside of the floor above a room, or of a roof. An old name for sheathing, or panelling, q. v.
chair rail. A moulding—really a surbase, q. v.—carried around a room which has no panelling.
chamber. A sleeping room in the second story. Probably also used for the whole second floor, as in the old expression “Up Chamber” — pronounced somewhere between chahmber and chammber—for the second story of a house.
chamfer. Strictly, and in its simplest form, a bevel along the edge of a beam to take off the sharp corner; (a) in more elaborate work it became moulded with a fillet at each corner and a quarter-round (b), or an ogee (c), between them. These ogee chamfers are sometimes four inches wide (d).
chamfer-stop. A way of bringing the chamfer to an end before the post meets a beam or a beam meets another beam. These stops vary through the forms shown.
chimney. (Lat. caminus, a forge.) A fireplace and its flue. The stack above the roof of the house.
chymol. See Jimmer.
clapboard. A thin board a little over four feet in length riven radially, or with the grain from a “bolt”, a little over four feet in length cut from a tree trunk. In early work of oak; later of pine. The word, in England about 1700, meant an unwrought barrel stave. See Weather Boarding.
closed string. An outer string of a stair in which ends of the steps do not show, but which has a straight pitch from post to post. See String.
closer. Part of a brick inserted to make the joints in the alternate courses of either English or Flemish bond come over each other. A quarter of a brick, or quarter “bat” next to the first stretcher is called a queen closer. A three-quarter “bat” at the last stretcher is a king closer. See Bond, E, q and k.
coin. See Quoin.
collar beam. A tie between two rafters about six feet above the garret floor. It really acts in many cases more as a brace than as a tie.
collar joist. A tie between two rafters about six feet above the garret floor. It really acts in many cases more as a brace than as a tie.
common bond. All the stones or bricks are stretchers. Used in stonework. In brick it is quite late.
common rafter. A rafter reaching from the plate, q. v., to the peak of the roof and supported in the middle by a purlin, q. v. See Truss.
Composite order. Here the Corinthian leaves are joined to the volutes of the angular Ionic. The cornice has no modillions.
console. A scroll-shaped bracket supporting a shelf or a cornice.
coping. The covering of a wall which carries no roof. It may be of stone, brick, or wood.
corbel-steps. (Eng.). The square offsets in a Dutch gable, New Amsterdam.
corbiesteps. (Scot.). The square offsets in a Dutch gable, New Amsterdam.
Corinthian order. Here the capital has two rows of leaves and there are small volutes under the corners of the abacus which has curved sides in plan. The entablature is plain except for carving. There are modillions in the cornice.
cornice. The crowning member of an entablature. It varies with the order used. Also the mouldings at the edge of the roof. These generally follow the orders. See also Eaves. The mouldings of wood or plaster at the angle of wall and ceiling in a room.
count rumford fireback. Triangular in plan. See Rumford.
couples. An old word for pairs of rafters.
cove. A hollow moulding about a quarter circle or quarter ellipse in profile. See Moulding.
crossed beam. A lengthwise and thwartwise summer framed together in mid ceiling. Several examples exist. (See illustrations on next page)
crossette. A double mitering of the architrave at the upper corner of a door or window, or other opening.
cross-garnet. See Hinge.
curb plate. The plate under the change of pitch in a gambrel roof.
curtail step. The bottom step of a stair the rail of which ends in a scroll, q. v., which the edge of the step follows.
cylinder. A modern word for the curved part of the front-string of a circular stair or a straight stair with a circular half turn. The old newel, q. v. See also Stair.
dado. The plain space in a pedestal between the base and the surbase (q. v.). The same space in panelling. Wrongly applied to a surbase or to a chair rail, q. v. See Pedestal.
denticular. A Doric cornice which has dentils and no mutules. Seldom used unless for inside work. Neither Batty Langley, 1741, nor Paine 1794, show it.
dentils. Small blocks in a classic cornice. See Order, Corinthian.
diagonal beam. See Dragon Beam.
dog-legged stair. One type of solid-newel stair, q. v.
dome. A roof of wood or a ceiling of plaster generally in the form of a half or a smaller segment of a sphere. Sometimes octagonal in plan with a pointed section.
domical vault. A dome, generally quite flat. —3.
Doric order. Both mutular and denticular have triglyphs, q. v., but our ancestors often omitted mutules and triglyphs.
dormant tree. An old name for a summer, q. v.
dormer. A vertical window in the slope of a roof. See Lutheran. Luthern occurs as late as 1827 in Worcester’s American edition of Walker’s Johnson.
dovetail. The end of a beam cut into a truncated wedge to prevent it from pulling out of the framing.
dowel. A piece of hard wood used to hold two boards together.
dragon beam. A diagonal summer projecting over an outer corner of a house to carry an overhang.
draw-bore tenon. A tenon in which the pinhole does not align with that in the cheeks or sides of the mortise, but is kept nearer the inside of the mortised beam so that when the pin is driven it has to drag the shoulders of the tenon close against the mortised beam or post. This is apt to cause difficulty in the proper taking down of old work which is to be set up again, as the oak pins may be found so bent that they cannot be “drifted,” or driven out.
dripstone. A ledge in a chimney just above the slope of the roof and sometimes also just above the ridge, to prevent water from following the face of the masonry into the house.
ease. A curve in a handrail connecting a descending rail to the post cap at its foot.
eaves. The projection of rafters, boarding and shingles beyond the face of the wall below. The early form of watershed which preceded the classic form of cornice mouldings.
egg and dart. Also called Egg and Tongue. An ornament with its applied to the ovolo or quarter-round moulding, q. v.
english bond. In this form of bond, one or more courses of stretchers, or bricks laid lengthwise, are used to one course of headers, or bricks laid crosswise. See Closer. In later work the ratio varies from one to three up to one to seven and even one to eleven. This last arrangement is hardly to be called English Bond.
entablature. The whole weight or superstructure carried by the columns or pilasters of an order. It consists of architrave, frieze, and cornice, q. v.
entasis. The curve of the line in which a column diminishes in diameter as it rises.
entry. The space into which outside door of a house opened. It might be a space in front of the stairs and chimney, or it might be what is now called a hall running from front to back of the house. It is a remnant of the “screens” of an old English house.
extrados. The line of the backs of the voussoirs of an arch. See Arch, Intrados, Voussoir.
fascia. A flat band. One of the divisions of an Ionic or Corinthian architrave, q. v.
featheredged. Brought to a sharp edge, triangular in section, as in one side of a clapboard or in the sides of a panel or one or more sides of a sheathing board. See Bolection Moulding, Panel.
festoons. Drapery or flowers carved as drooping on the place to keep the brick or stone from burning out.
fillet. A small square member between two mouldings or between a moulding and a wider flat surface. A small projecting strip. One of the narrow vertical divisions separating the flutes of a column or pilaster.
fireback. A cast-iron plate set up against the back of a fire – the sides, which are sometimes set at right angles to the back, with a square corner or a quadrant, but most often set on a bevel.
fireplace. The space in the chimney stack where the actual fire is built. It consists of the floor which has the hearth in front and the underfire behind, the jambs at walls as if hung at intervals from ornamental supports.
flare. A modern word to describe a post which, instead of having a bracket, q. v., at its top increases in size throughout its whole height. See Post Flare.
Flemish bond. In this the headers and stretchers alternate in each course with the center of each header over the center of the stretcher below.
flush. Surfaces which, whether continuous or not, are in the same plane.
flute. A vertical hollow, in a series decorating the surface of a column or pilaster.
flyers. Steps set at right angles to the axis of a stair, in distinction from winders, q. v. See Stair.
footpace. A considerable space set lengthwise in a straight flight of stairs, as a resting place. See Stair, Half-Pace, H, and Quarter Pace, Q.
frame. The assemblage of light and heavy timbers which carried the covering and filling of sides, floors and roof. See also Summer. The head jambs and sill, q. v., put together, to form a door or window opening. (See illustration opposite)
framed overhang. With separate posts.
fret. A pattern jig-sawed out of thin wood and applied to a surface.
frieze cushion. A convex face given to the frieze by Palladio and handed on by Batty Langley and William Pain. See Order, Ionic.
frieze. The second or middle member, in height, of an entablature. It rests on the architrave and carries the cornice.
froe. A tool with the blade set at right angles to the handle. Its edge was on the bottom of the blade, the back of which was struck with a mallet or a maul. It was used by coopers to rive barrel staves and by carpenters in getting out the old riven laths and clapboards.
front string. May be a “closed” or “box” string which is of one width throughout and is moulded and shows no steps, or an “open” string which is cut out for the steps the ends of which are thus clearly defined. The former type is the older.
frow. A tool with the blade set at right angles to the handle. Its edge was on the bottom of the blade, the back of which was struck with a mallet or a maul. It was used by coopers to rive barrel staves and by carpenters in getting out the old riven laths and clapboards.
furring. Bringing the faces of joists or studs into line with each other by nailing on thin strips of wood.
gable. The outline of the wall at the end of a roof from the eaves or cornice to the peak or ridge.
gain. A space cut out of a post to relieve the tenon of a girt, or cut from a girt to receive the end of a stud.
galleting. Inserting small stones, black or dark blue, in the wide mortar joints of a stone underpinning.
gambrel. A form of roof in two slopes on each side, the lower slopes steep like an early roof, the upper rather flat. Probably derived from the French Mansard, so called, and used for the same purpose, to prevent an enormous height of the steep roof in the wide houses of the later type.
garden wall bond. An English name for three courses of stretchers to one of headers in brick work.
garret. The story under the roof and above the second story. In a story-and-a-half house it would still be called the chamber.
gauged. Used to describe brick cut to fit in an arch ring, or shaped to a pattern by cutting instead of by moulding. It is also used of the plaster of Paris added to lime for finishing plaster, and to lime building mortar also, formerly, to make it set more rapidly.
gemmels. See Chymol, Dimmer, Hinge.
gimmer. See Jimmer.
girt. A beam in the outer wall of a building to receive the ends of the floor joists. It carries the summer when the latter does not rest on a post. See Frame, Summer.
gooseneck. A workman’s term for a ramp, q. v.
gorge. A hollow moulding, the same as the cove or cavetto, q. v.
groined vault. Formed by the intersection of two cylinders.
groundsill. An old name for the sill, q. v., also Frame.
grundsill. An old name for the sill, q. v., also Frame.
grunsel. An old name for the sill, q. v., also Frame.
gutter. A 6 x 10 or thereabouts, hollowed out is sometimes found as a part of the main cornice, where it serves as does the familiar wooden dugout gutter.
half dovetail. One side of a beam cut as a wedge while the other is straight.
half-pace. The landing in a double-run stair where a half turn is made. See Quarter-Pace, Footpace.
half-round. The Torus moulding. See Moulding.
hall chamber. The room above the hall.
hall. The living room and kitchen of a one-room seventeenth-century house. When the kitchen was moved into a lean-to or was in the cellar, it retained its name. It was the descendant of the old English hall and was never a passageway. Sometimes called fire room in one-room houses.
hand rail. The rail of a stair.
head. The lintel or top-piece of a door or window frame. See Jamb.
headers. Bricks laid across the wall so that their ends show. See Bond.
heading course. A course all headers.
herringbone work. Bricks laid at an angle of forty-five degrees.
hewn overhang. With continuous posts.
hinge. The mechanism for hanging doors to swing.
hip roof. A roof which pitches from all four walls of the building it covers.
hip. An external angle formed by the meeting of two roof surfaces of a hip roof. The opposite of a valley, q. v.
hip-gambrel. A combination of a gambrel and a hip roof with the two small gables of the gambrel. Very common in Newport. It seems rare elsewhere.
hipped roof. A roof which pitches from all four walls of the building it covers.
hollow. A moulding the reverse of the Torus, q. v.
impost. A horizontal block, plain or moulded, from which an arch springs.
intrados. The underside of the ring of voussoirs forming an arch. See Voussoir, Extrados.
ionic order. The classic Ionic has a capital with volutes which are set parallel to the architrave above. The Scamozzi type, so-called, which is really of ancient origin, is the prevalent form in Colonial work. It has volutes turned outward at an angle of forty-five degrees. This was really an ancient form preferred because all four of its sides looked alike. With this order Palladio used a cushion frieze, q. v. Both Palladio and Scamozzi used modillions in the cornice though the classic form does not.
italian moulding. The wide heavy moulding surrounding a fireplace opening in early paneling. So called in Wren’s time. It came to us from England which it reached from Italy through France.
jamb. The side of a window or door frame, of an opening in a wall, or of a fireplace.
jerkin-head. The truncation, or bevelling off, of a gable. J ET. A carpenter’s word for a cornice. An overhang.
jetty. An overhang, q. v.
jimmer hinge. Variants of the Jimmer: Cock’s Head. Cross Garnet. T-shaped with the head on the jamb. Sometimes quite ornate. H hinge. HL hinge. Pew door H.
jimmer. Literally a twin, Old Fr. jumel (jumeau). A hinge the parts of which are not separaable. See Hinge, Chymol, Gemmel, Gimmer.
joiner. A carpenter who did inside finish and panelling. A cabinet maker. Older signs used to read “Carpenter and Joiner.” See Carpenter.
jointer. A long plane for truing up the edges of boards.
joists. The smaller beams which directly supported the floor between the girts and the summer. Later they spanned the whole room from girt to girt. See Frame, Summer
keystone. A voussoir in the center of the arch ring, made longer than the others. It is often carved, sometimes has side pieces, and is sometimes shaped with side scrolls. It is so called because it is set last and closes the arch. See Arch.
king post. A post which originally in mediaeval work stood on a heavy beam and actually supported the upper ends of the rafters. It has long been really a tie which hangs from the peak of the roof and supports the tie beam. See Truss, Queen Post.
knee rafter. A principal rafter so cut from a tree branch as to have at its foot a bend or “knee” which comes down on the plate at a right angle as is shown in the cut from Moxon (M). The object was to provide for a plastered cove cornice without an extra plate, as is shown in the sketch (N) from an actual example in Newport. This is perhaps the last descendant of the old English “Curved Tree Principal,” shown by Mr. C. E. Innocent in his Development of English Building Construction, ch. tv, figures 8 and 9.
knee. A bracket, generally rectangular, made out of a naturally bent limb of a tree. Generally used to tie a corner horizontally. See Rafter, Knee.
lantern. A structure square, octagonal or round in plan, sometimes of considerable height, set on a roof generally as an observation point, but often for mere appearance, or on a dome to give light. The sides may be open or glazed at pleasure. A short stage in a steeple consisting of the belfry as at Christ Church, Cambridge; or of the belfry with a short stage above it.
latch. A contrivance of wood or metal for keeping a door closed. It consists of a bar and a keeper; with a means of raising the bar and a means of pulling the door open or shut.
latchstring. A piece of raw hide fastened to the bar of a wooden latch and carried through the door so as to hang free on the outside. By pulling it down the bar could be raised, but with the string on the inside the door could not be opened.
lean-to. A room or line of rooms with a roof which seems to lean against a larger mass. A house with such a roof at its back.
lengthwise beam. Parallel with the front wall of the house.
lights. The panes of glass in a window as an eight-“light”, or twelve-“light” window. In early times the open spaces between the mullions, q. v., of a two-, three-, or four-“light” window.
lintel. A heavy beam of stone or wood over an opening.
lock rail. A horizontal strip or rail between the panels of a door above mid-height. It was of considerable width to receive on its face the usual box lock which was applied to it.
loop hinge. Two bent pieces of metal looped together. Mostly used in old chests, they sometimes have survived in houses.
lutheran window. Luthorn, Luthern (Fr. lucarne). A dormer window, q. v.
mantel. Originally a wood-and-plaster or a stone hood, later a vertical wall over the fireplace. The eighteenth-century English word for what we know as a mantel is chimney piece, q. v. See also Italian moulding.
mantletree. A heavy oak beam over the fireplace opening to carry the masonry above. It is always chamfered in early work and sometimes moulded.
metope. The space between two triglyphs in the frieze of the Doric order. See Order, Doric; and Triglyph.
modillion. A form of bracket in the cornice of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and of Palladio’s and Scamozzi’s Ionic.
mortise. A rectangular sinkage in a beam to receive a tenon, q. v., cut on the end of another beam. The pin or treenail driven through both beams ties them together.
moulding. An ornamental shaping of the internal or external angles or surfaces or of the faces of a beam board, or other solid, or of a group of these, into forms copied from those used in stonework. The usual forms are shown in the illustration: (a) Cyma Recta, Cyma, or Crownmould; (b) Cyma Reversa or Ogee; (c) Cavetto or Cove; (d) Ovolo or Quarter Round; (e) Scotia or Hollow; (f) Torus or half round. See also Astragal, Bead.
mullion. An upright piece of wood, generally moulded in early work, and rebated and beaded later, which divided the lights, g. v., of a casement window. See Window, Mullioned.
mullioned window. Divided by mullions into two or more lights.
muntin. The strip of wood separating the panes of a sash or casement. The same as a bar, q. v.
mutule. A sort of flat bracket in the mutular Doric Order. See Order, Doric.
newel. Today, in this country this means the lowest post of the stair, that at the start. The others are called intermediates. Anciently it meant the post around which a circular stair wound in its ascent. Later the word came to mean the opening or open space around which the stair rose, whether this space was square, circular, or elliptical. This was called an open newel while the post around which the corkscrew stair rose was called a closed newel. The colonial planners generally employed the open newel. It seems impossible now to tell when the modern meaning, that of the lowest post, came into use. See Stair.
nosing. The rounded projection of the tread of a step beyond the face of the riser or of the string.
ogee. The cyma reversa moulding, convex above and concave below. See Moulding.
open newel stair. Square or rectangular plan. See Scroll. Circular or Oval Plan. These, except for the circular stair in the Old State House in Boston, are really Post-Colonial. Half circle joining two runs. Continuous curve, all winders. Right-hand. Left-hand. With the rail of the balustrade on the right or left in ascending.
order. The definite arrangement of a column and its load or entablature. There are technically five of these: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite. Practically there are but three for the Tuscan is a clumsy Doric and the Composite is a fusion of the Corinthian and the angular Ionic. It would be hard to find Tuscan or Composite in Colonial work.
outside string. May be a “closed” or “box” string which is of one width throughout and is moulded and shows no steps, or an “open” string which is cut out for the steps the ends of which are thus clearly defined. The former type is the older.
overhang. The projection of one story beyond that below. See Jetty.
ovolo. The quarter-round moulding. See Moulding.
pace. A platform. See Foot-pace, Half-pace, Quarter-pace.
palladian window. This name seems to be late. See Venetian window.
panel back. A panel under a window sill, inside the house.
panel. In woodwork a board planed to a featheredge. Each of its four sides is set into a frame of stiles and rails, q. v., or into a bolection moulding, q. v. The panel itself may be plain, or raised-and-bevelled, or raised-beaded-and-bevelled. It may also be plain with mouldings planted on its face.
panelling. A series of panels: (a) over the whole room; (b) over the whole fireplace end; (c) around the room up to the windows or higher, or a combination of b and c. Panelled ceilings occur.
pantry. (Fr. pain). The place where the bread and dry provisions were kept.
parlor chamber. The bedroom above the parlor.
parlor. Originally a room in a monastery where conversation was allowed. The withdrawing room—”company room” of the house, across the entry from the hall.
pedestal. A moulded block, with base, dado or die, and surbase, which was set beneath a column or pilaster. Usually seen in mantel-pieces and outside doorways of the early eighteenth century.
pediment. A gable of moderate pitch with the cornice carried across at its base, and up the raking sides. It may be triangular, segmental, broken or “scrolled” in various ways.
piece. A wood or stone frame for a fireplace. See Stack. Those of wood were often carried to the ceiling.
pier. The mass of masonry at each side of an arch. A mass of masonry to support a large beam.
pilaster. A flat, slightly projecting mass doing duty as a column and given all the details of the latter.
pin. A round piece of hard wood used to fasten mortises and tenons together. In the panel work they were usually pine. In frames of oak they were somewhat roughly made to prevent turning in the joint. See Draw-Bore Tenon. Large pins were called treenails, q. v.
pitch. The ratio of the rise of a roof to its span, as one third pitch. The rise in a given number of feet.
planceer. (Fr. plancher.) The soffit of a cornice, q. v. “Planter” can still be heard among carpenters.
plancer. (Fr. plancher.) The soffit of a cornice, q. v. “Planter” can still be heard among carpenters.
plaster cornice. On the outside these are fairly early and take the form of a plastered cove. See Rafter, Knee. On the inside they appear with the Adams and Asher Benjamin.
plate. The beam framed on the tops of the posts to carry the common rafters and to tie the house lengthwise. See Frame, Summer.
post bracket. A projection at the head of a post to enlarge the bearing space.
post flare. A straight or curved enlargement of a post, from the floor up, to do the work of the post brackets while saving a goodly amount of hewing.
post. A heavy upright piece of timber set at each corner of the building, and at intervals between, to carry the girts and the plates and through them the floors and the roof. The posts are framed into the sills and the plates and the girts are framed into the posts. See Frame, Summer.
principal rafter. The beam forming the slope of a roof truss, q. v.
purlin roof. A roof boarded vertically directly on purlins with no common rafters.
purlin. A beam framed between the principal rafters on OR HUOAL each side of a roof to carry the common rafters or simply vertical boarding.
quarrel. A lozenge-shaped piece of glass set in lead “cames,” q. v.
quarter grain. Wood sawed or riven parallel to the grain, “grainway” in modern parlance. Used mostly of oak, as quartered oak. See Wainscot.
quarter. See Stud.
quarter-pace. The corner landing in a stair with three runs, q. v. See Pace.
queen post. A vertical post, one of a pair, in a truss over a wide span. It, like the King post, q. v., is really a tie. See Truss.
quirk. A cutting back of the upper part of a moulding under the fillet. This form, except in the bead, is characteristic of Asher Benjamin’s time. It is shown at 13 in the cut, a quirked ovolo while A gives the regular form. See also Bead, Quirked.
quirked bead. A bead at the corner of a board or of two boards. It has a quirk or sinkage on one or both sides.
quoins. Square stones set at the corners of a brick or stone building. Imitation of these in woodwork.
rabbet. A rectangular sinkage at the corner of a piece of framing or finish, generally to receive another piece joined thereto.
rail. The horizontal pieces carrying the panels in doors and other panelwork. The sloping or horizontal bar which guards the side of a stair well or other opening.
rake. A slope, as of a gable, or a stair string.
raking cornice. The cornice along the rake or slope of a gable or pediment. See Barge Board, Pediment.
ramp. The upward turn of a stair rail to bring it to a mitre with the level rail above. The opposite of an ease. Often called by workmen a “gooseneck.”
reader’s desk. The middle compartment of a “three-decker” pulpit, q. v.
rebate. A rectangular sinkage at the corner of a piece of framing or finish, generally to receive another piece joined thereto.
reeding. A series of convexities, like a bundle of reeds, the opposite of flutes, used in place of the latter in columns and pilasters and elsewhere.
return. To carry a moulding around a corner against the surface from which it projects. Also used of the part of the moulding so treated.
ridge. The peak of a roof, the line of the tops of the rafter joints.
ridgepole. A small beam into which the tops of the rafters are framed. Very rare.
rift. Wood split or sawed with the grain. See Quarter Grain, Riven.
rise. The height of a stair step from tread to tread.
riser. The vertical board at the front of a step.
riven. Split as in old clapboards, and some early plank. See Rift, Frow. Cf. the geklofte eik of the Plymouth fort.
roof. See Gambrel.
rubbed brick. Brick rubbed to give them a smoother surface and a lighter color. Common in Virginia.
rubble. Field stone or roughly quarried stone, shaped with the hammer.
rumford fireplace. Invented by Count Rumford. Triangular in plan it throws more heat into the room than the common type, partly, perhaps, because the fire itself is brought further forward.
rustication. An emphasis of the joints in the stone work of walls by a square or V-shaped sinkage. The same treatment is also imitated in woodwork.
sash weight. A mass of metal, probably lead, to counter-weight the sash.
sash window. (Fr. chasse). With sash sliding up and down.
sash. (Shas. Fr. chasser). A wooden frame filled with leaded glass, or with glass set in wooden bars or muntins. There are two sash in a window and the lower sash is movable up and down. It differs from a casement in having this vertical motion while a casement swings out. It appears in England at Whitehall in 1685.
saw pit. A pit over which the log to be sawed was laid and in which the “pit man” stood at the lower end of the vertical “pit saw” while the “top sawyer” stood over the log above.
scotia. A moulding the reverse of the Torus, q. v.
scroll. A spiral turn at the end of a stair rail at the beginning of the lowest run.
sheathing. Boards one inch thick, or even less, generally of pine, soft or hard, but sometimes of whitewood or chestnut or even of oak. The boards are set vertically or horizontally—the z latter is usual on the side and end walls of studded houses. The edges of the boards are moulded, or are feathered, for the joints and narrow boards are inserted between the wide ones at intervals.
shiplapping. Shaving the ends of clapboards and beveling, the edges of outside boarding to keep out water.
shouldered dovetail. Where part of the dovetailed beam is let into its supporter.
shutter box. A space or pocket on each side of a window to receive the folded double-hung shutters.
shutter. A solid blind, used inside or outside. The early inside shutter slid in a groove or on a track on the window stool and its continuation, the chair rail. Later the shutter was hung double on each side as in England.
sill. The heavy timber on the foundation of a building. It carried the posts and studs of the walls, and the framing of the first floor as well. See Frame, Ground Sill. The bottom crosspiece of a window frame. See Stool Casing. A threshold.
single window. One opening.
slitwork. Sawing three-inch plank, or even one-inch boards lengthwise to reduce their thickness to one inch or even one half inch.
snibell hinge. This is the true hinge. A long bar sometimes with a well-wrought outer end and an inner end formed as an eye which went over a snibell (possibly snipe bill), a word now superseded by “pintle.” —immix. From old Fr. iumel (jumeau) a twin. An inseparable hinge. The snibell form could be taken apart, since the door could be lifted off. With the jimmer the hinge must be taken from the frame to release the door.
soffit. The underside of a projection, as a cornice, or of an architrave. See Plancer. Also used of the intrados, q. v., of a vault, q. v.
solid newel. Dog-leg. In this type the strings, with the rail and balusters are over each other, so that there is only one post at the turn and thus no open well.
solid step. Two parallel sloping beams—the “pair of stayers” to which are pinned sections of wood beams split or sawed on their diagonals. A few cellar stairs of this type have been found.
spire. The staged and pointed portion of a steeple above the tower.
stack of chimneys. What we understand by chimney —the whole mass fireplace, flues, and outside stack. 1662.
staff bead. The moulding around a window or door frame in a brick wall, close to the brick-work, to stop water.
stair. A succession of steps leading from one floor to the next above or below.
stayer. See Stair, Block Step.
steeple. The combination of tower and spire.
step bracket. An ornament on the string at the end of a step, jig-sawed or carved, often very elaborately.
step. Originally a block of stone on a masonry foundation; or a short beam bevelled and fastened to two “stayers.” See Stair, Block Step. Later steps were built up of a horizontal board for the tread and a vertical board for the riser.
stile. The vertical strip at the side of a panel and between two panels. See Rail.
stool casing. The flat member with the moulding and “apron” below it on the inside of the sill of a window.
string. The support of the steps of a stair.
stud. The upright stick, roughly 3 x 4, which, in a stud house, fills the spaces between the sills, posts, girts and plate. It is an old English provincial word which came over with the settlers. The usual English word for what we still call a “stud” is “quarter.”
summer. The heavy beam which crosses the ceiling of a room from girt to girt and carries the joists of the floor above.
sunk bead. A bead which does not project. It is necessarily quirked on both sides.
surbase. The upper moulding of a Pedestal, q. v., or of low panelling, or carried around without panels.
tenon. A short projection from the end of a beam. It is pinned into a mortise, q. v. See also Tusk.
thatch. Coarse grass used for roofing as in England.
three-decker. A common name for an early pulpit, with its three parts, Pulpit, Reader’s desk, q. v., and “Clark’s” desk.
thwartwise beam. Parallel with the end wall and thus at right angles with the front wall.
tie beam. A beam connecting the feet of the principal rafters of a truss to prevent them from spreading. In the ordinary houses the girts in the third floor act as ties.
torus. A moulding which is a half-round or a little more, in section. See Moulding.
transom window. With a horizontal division, with or without mullions.
transom. A piece of wood framed between or across the mullions of a window, or across an arched window or door. See Mullioned Window.
treenails. Pins used in framing.
triglyph. A slightly projecting rectangular slab in the Doric frieze.
truss. Essentially a triangle formed by two rafters and a tie beam, q. v., for the support of a roof with or without collar joist. To this may be added a king post, q. v., or two queen posts, q. v., and certain braces.
Tuscan order. This has few distinguishing features.
tusk and tenon. A tenon with a tusk below it, used in large beams.
tusk tenon. A sort of tenon with one sloping shoulder used in early floor joist.
type. An old word, common in Wren’s time and even much later, for the sounding board of a pulpit.
underpinning. The stone or brick wall which rose a foot or more above the ground to support a wooden building—where there was no cellar it was generally only “shovel deep.” When there was a cellar it stood on the cellar wall and formed a continuation thereof.
valley. The reentrant angle formed by the meeting of two roof-slopes, the ridges of which are at right angles. Two parallel roofs, the eaves whereof meet, also form a valley, at the bottom. Such construction was used in England and not unknown here.
vault. A ceiling arched in various ways. I.
Venetian door. In England, a door with sidelights. See Window, Venetian.
venetian 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. See Palladian. Perhaps any window with sidelights and an elliptical top-light. See Venetian Door.
vernition 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. See Palladian. Perhaps any window with sidelights and an elliptical top-light. See Venetian Door.
voussoir. One of the wedge-shaped stones or one of the bricks of which the ring of an arch is built.
wainscot. Originally this meant quartered oak. It was later transferred to the panelling made of it. Our ancestors used it to mean sheathing or ceiling (sealing). See Winthrop’s rebuke to Ludlow in his Journal.
wall string. The finished string against the wall.
water table. A slope, plain or moulded, at the top of the underpinning or at the first floor level or offset.
weather boarding. Wide boards, bevelled on one edge, and lapped like clapboards.
well hole. The opening around which a stair run is built, an open newel. See Newel.
wind brace. A brace from a principal rafter to a purlin.
winders. Steps with radiating risers and thus narrowing treads. See Flyers.
window. Varieties include single window, mullioned window, casement window, transom window, sash window, Venetian window, and others.
zig-zag stair. Box steps alternately on one side and the other between walls.

Sources Cited

Isham, Norman Morrison. A Glossary of Colonial Architectural Terms. The Walpole Society, 1939.

Key Facts

At time of upload on January 6, 2021:

273 duplicative terms of those already existing in the Architectural Dictionary
46 original terms
319 total terms in source
0% original terms in source
75 sources in dictionary
9,761 unique terms in dictionary
27,511 total terms all sources in dictionary
38.2% unique terms in dictionary