ENGLISH STYLES
Colonial (generally considered to be up to 1776)
Georgian
Federal (1780-1820)
THE CLASSICAL STYLES
Greek Revival (Classical Revival)
Italianate (Renaissance Revival) (1850s to 20th century)
Beaux-Arts (Academic) Classicism
THE ROMANTIC STYLES
Gothic Revival (mid- to late nineteenth century)
Italian Village (1840s)
Richardsonian Romanesque (Romanesque Revival) (1880s)
Second Empire
Queen Anne (turn of the 20th century)
Spanish Colonial (Mission) (1600 – mid nineteenth century)
Tudor (turn of the century – 1930s)
TWENTIETH-CENTURY STYLES
Chicago School
Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie Style
Bungalow
Catalog Houses (1900 to 1940)
Art Deco/Moderne (1930s)
Modern (International) Style (1920s)
Postmodern Style (1960s)
Glossary
ARCHITRAVE The main beam that sets on column capitals and forms the lowest part of an entablature.
BALUSTRADE: A railing composed of a series of Upright members, often in a vase shape, with a top rail and often a bottom rail.
BARGEBOARD: A decorative board running along the edge of a gable (often called verge-board).
BATTLEMENT A parapet wall at the edge of a roof with alternating slots and raised portions.
BAY: A unit of a building facade, defined by a regular spacing of windows, columns, or piers.
BAY WINDOW: An exterior wall projection filled with windows; if curved, called a bow window; if on an upper floor, called an oriel window.
BOND: The pattern of overlapping brick joints that binds them together to form a wall (e.g.,
common bond, Flemish bond, English bay bond).
BRACKET: A decorative element supporting a wall projection, cornice, or other exterior feature.
BUTTRESS: A mass of masonry or brickwork projecting from or built against a wall to strengthen it.
CANTILEVER: A projecting structural member, the end of which is support¬ed on a fulcrurn and held by a downward force behind the fulcrum.
CAPITAL: The top portion of a column or pilaster.
CARRARA GLASS: Pigmented structural glass (commonly black) with a reflec¬tive finish, used commonly in the 1930s and 1940s.
CASEMENT WINDOW: Window with hinges at one side.
CINQUEFOIL Decorative element representing a five-leafed form.
CLAPBOARD SIDING Tapered wood boards lapped
one over another to form horizontal siding.
CLERESTORY: Windows located at the highest point of an exterior wall, usually for sunlighting of the interior.
COLUMN ELEMENTS:
CAPITAL: The top, crowning feature of a column.
PLINTH: The lower square form at the base of a column.
FLUTING: Concave grooves running vertically up it column.
CORBEL: An incremented wall projection used to support additional weight. most commonly. constructed of brick.
CORNICE: The decorative projecting element at the top of an exterior wall.
CRESTING: An ornamental ridging at the top of a wall or the peak of a roof.
CUPOLA: A small (ionic rising above a roof, usually with a hand of small windows or openings.
DENTILS: Rectangular toothlike elements forming a decorative horizontal band in a cornice.
DORMER WINDOW: A window and window struc¬ture that project from the slope of a roof.
DOUBLE-HUNG WINDOW: Window with two sash¬es, one above the other, each of which slides ver-tically.
EAVE: Lower edge of a roof extending beyond the exterior wall.
ENGAGED COLUMN: A column integral with a wall surface, usually half round in form.
ENTABLATURE: The larger horizontal form setting on and spanning column capitals; it includes the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice.
ENTASIS: The subtle bulge in the vertical Form of a classical column.
FACADE: Usually the front exterior elevation or face of a building.
FANLIGHT: Fan-shaped window, usu¬ally located over an entrance door.
FASCIA BOARD: A flat, horizontal board between moldings, typically used with classical styles.
FINIAL: A decorative ornament placed at the peak of a roof.
FRIEZE: A decorative horizontal band
located just below a cornice or gable.
GABLE: The triangular section of exte¬rior wall just Under the caves of a double-sloped roof.
GAMBREL ROOF: A double-sloped barnlike roof, often associated with Dutch colonial architecture.
HIP ROOF: A roof with slopes in the direction of each elevation, com¬monly in four directions.
KEYSTONE: Center stone 11’1 a masonry arch.
LABEL: A molding over a door or win¬dow.
LANTERN: A small turret with openings or windows all around, crowning a roof peak or dome.
LINTEL: The horizontal support over a door or window. MANSARD ROOF: A steeply sloped roof covering the exterior wall of the top floor of a building, named after the French architect Mansart and commonly associat¬ed with the Second Empire style.
MODILLIONS: A series of simple brackets usually found in a cornice.
MULLION: The vertical member separating windows, doors, or other panels set in a series.
MUNTIN: Wood pieces separating panes of glass in a window sash.
NEWEL POST: Wooden post located at the top or bottom of a stairway balustrade.
OCULUS: A round window.
ORIEL WINDOW: A projection from an upper floor of an exterior wall surface that contains one or more windows.
PALLADIAN WINDOW: Large window unit with an arched window in the center and smaller windows on each side.
PARAPET: An extension of an exterior wall projecting above the roof plane, com¬monly used to hide the plane of a low ¬sloped roof.
PEDIMENT: The gable form at the top of the facade of a classical style structure: also used over windows and doors.
PILASTER: A Hat, rectangular partial col¬umn attached to a wall surface.
PITCH or ROOF: The angle of a root slope expressed in a ratio of vertical to hori¬zontal (e.g., h:12).
PORTE COCHERE: A covered entrance for coaches or vehicles, usually attached to the side elevation of a building.
PORTICO: A covered porch attached to the main facade of a building- supported by classical order columns.
QUATREFOIL: A decorative element repre¬senting a four-leafed form.
QUOINS: Decorative stones at the corner of a building.
RAKE: The extension at the end of a gable or sloped roof.
RUSTICATION: Large stone. blocks or stone forms with deep reveal masonry joints.
SEGMENTAL ARCH: A partial arch form usually made of brick and located over window or door openings.
SHAKE Split wood shingle.
SHED ROOF: A single-pitched roof, often over a room attached to the main structure.
SIDELIGHT: Narrow window located immediately adjacent to an entrance door.
SINGLE-HUNG WINDOW: Window with two sashes, one above the other, the lower of which slides vertically.
SOFFIT: The underside of an architectural element.
TERRA-COTTA: Clay blocks or tiles, usually glazed, Used for roof tiles or decorative surfaces.
TRACERY: Traditional intersecting orna¬mental work found in windows. TRANSOM: A small window located immediately above a door.
TREFOIL: Decorative element representing a three-leafed form.
TURRET: A small tower located at the cor¬ner of a building, often containing a staircase.
VERGEBOARD: See bargeboard.
Sources Cited
Tyler, Norman. Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Key Stats
At time of upload on July 8, 2004:
- 68 duplicative terms of those already existing in the Architectural Dictionary
- 2 original terms
- 70 total terms in source
- 2.9% original terms in source
- 11 sources in dictionary
- 752 unique terms in dictionary
- 1,987 total terms all sources in dictionary
- 37.8% unique terms in dictionary