How to Study Architecture by Charles H. Caffin (reading the story of the .TXT) 📖

Fleche: specifically, a wooden spire surmounting a roof.

Fluting: the vertical grooving, used to enrich the shaft of a column or pilaster.

Flying Buttress: See Buttress.

Foil: a leaf-like division in carved ornamentation; especially in the tracery of a Gothic window or the panelling of walls and bench-ends. According to the number of foils included, the design is distinguished as trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil, etc.

Formeret: See Rib.

Fresco (lit. fresh or damp): see Secco and Tempera; terms used in Mural Painting (which see). After the wall had thoroughly dried out, a portion, such as the artist could cover in one day was spread with a thin layer of fine, quick-drying plaster. While the latter was still fresh or damp, the artist, having prepared his drawing or “cartoon,” laid it in place and went over the lines with a blunt instrument, which left the design grooved in the plaster. Then he applied the tempera colours, finishing as he proceeded, for the colour sank into the plaster and rapidly dried with it, so that subsequent touchings up or alterations could only be applied by painting in Secco. As long as the surface of the wall remains intact, the colours are imperishable and retain their vivacity and transparence. They have, too, the appearance of being part of the actual fabric of the wall, as the bloom of colour upon fruit. Thus Fresco is the fittest and most beautiful process of mural painted decoration.

Frieze: specifically, the middle division of an Entablature, between the Architrave and the Cornice (which see). Also the continuous band of painted or sculptured decoration that crowns an exterior or interior wall.

Gable: the upper part of the wall of a building, above the eaves; triangular in shape, conforming to the slope of the roof. Compare the Classic Pediment. If the edge of the gable rises in tiers it is distinguished as Stepped.

Gaine (lit. a sheath): a sculptured decoration of a half-figure, terminating below in a sheath-like pedestal.

Galilee: a porch or chapel, sometimes attached to an English Gothic cathedral, usually at the west end. For the use perhaps of penitents. Compare Narthex.

Gambrel: applied to a roof, the slope of which is bent into an obtuse angle.

Gesso-work: a decorative design in Relief (which see) executed in fine, hard plaster.

Gothic (lit. of, or pertaining to the Goths): a term applied to Mediæval architecture by the Italians of the Renaissance to mark their contempt for what was non-Classic. The term without reproach has been continued to designate the architectural style between the Romanesque and Renaissance, during the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The French have tried to substitute the term, Ogival. See Ogee.

Grille: a wrought metal screen of openwork design.

Grisaille: a style of painting in greyish tones, in imitation of bas-relief.

Groin: the angle or edge at which the surfaces of a cross or groined vault meet. See Vault.

Groined Vault: See Vault.

Guilloche (pr. Gil-losh): an ornament composed of the repeated intertwining of two or more bands; frequently used to decorate a Torus (which see).

Gutta (lit. “drop”): one of the small truncated cones, attached to the underside of a Regula (which see) and the Mutules (which see) of a Doric Entablature.

Half-Timbered: when the construction has a timbered frame, the interstices of which are filled in with masonry or concrete.

Hammer-beam roof: late form of timber roof construction, without continuous Tie Beams (which see).

Harmony: a principle of Beauty, that governs the variety in unity of a work of art, relating all the parts in an accord of feeling.

Header: in masonry, a brick or stone, laid across the thickness of the wall. See Bond, Stretcher.

Heart-leaf and Dart: an ornament composed of a heart-or leaf-shaped form and a dart or tongue. Used specifically on Cyma Reversa mouldings.

Hexastyle: See Portico.

Hip-roof: a roof that rises from all the wall-plates and, accordingly, has no gable.

Honeysuckle: ornament. See Anthemion.

Hypæthral: completely or partially open to the sky.

Hypostyle: having the roof beams supported on columns.

Impluvium: the cistern sunk in the Atrium (which see) of a Roman house to receive the rain water.

Impost: the member above the capital of a column, on which the arch rests, usually composed of mouldings.

In Antis: See Portico.

Ionic: the order of architecture, developed by the Hellenes of Asia Minor and adjoining islands, and borrowed and modified by the mainland Hellenes.

Insula: Roman term for a residential building, housing many families.

Intercolumniation: specifically in Classic architecture, the space between any two columns, or between a column and the wall of the Cella.

Interlace: in decoration, an ornament composed of interwoven bands or lines.

Jambs: the side members of the openings of doors and windows.

Kaaba: the cube-like shrine in the Mosque of Mecca.

Keystone: the central stone of an arch.

King-Post: in timber roof-construction; a central post, resting on one of the Tie-beams (which see) to support the ridge. See Queen-Post.

Lady-Chapel: a chapel in an English cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, usually situated at the back of the altar.

Lancet: applied to an arch or window that has a sharply pointed, lance-shaped opening.

Lantern: a superstructure that rises above the roof level, open below and admitting light through its sides. Called in Spanish a Cimborio.

Lierne-rib: See Rib.

Lintel: the horizontal beam, supported on two uprights or posts, covering an opening and supporting weight, e.g., the top member of the frame of a doorway or window.

Loggia: a covered gallery, open to the air on one or more sides.

Longitudinal: parallel to the direction of the main axis. Specifically applied to the arches and ribs of the vaulting of a nave or aisle in the direction East or West. Compare Diagonal and Transverse.

Louver: a lantern-like cupola on the roof of a mediæval building, originally the flue for smoke from the fire in the centre of the hall.

Lunette: a space somewhat resembling a half-moon, with the curve uppermost. Especially the wall-space, enclosed by the ends of a barrel-vault; or by the wall-arch of a groined or rib vault.

Lych-Gate (lit. “corpse-gate”): covered gateway at entrance to a churchyard, where the coffin rests during the first portion of the burial service.

Machicolation: the opening between a wall and a parapet, when the latter is built out on Corbels (which see). Through it missiles or burning liquids could be showered upon assailants.

Mansard or Mansart: applied to roofs which have a hip or angle—instead of a continuous slope—on all four sides. Named after the French architect who popularised, though he did not invent, it.

Mastaba: an Egyptian tomb, so-called from its construction resembling the ordinary Egyptian bench, which is composed of a horizontal board, supported upon boards that slope inward toward the seat.

Mausoleum (mō-so-lée-um): tomb of more than ordinary size and architectural pretensions. So called from the tomb erected at Halicarnassus in 325 B.C., in memory of Mausolus, King of Caria, by his widow, Artemisia.

Megalith (lit. huge stone): Megalithic, composed of such. See Cyclopean.

Megaron: Homeric word for palace or large hall.

Member (lit. limb): any component part of a structural design that has a specific function to perform.

Menhir: a prehistoric monument, consisting of a single rough or rudely shaped stone, usually of large size (megalithic); perhaps originally connected with fetish worship, to ward off evil spirits; then as a memorial of a dead chieftain or a victory. The prototype of the Obelisk.

Merlons: See Battlements.

Metope: the space between any two of the Triglyphs (which see) of a Doric Frieze. Originally left open, later filled and often with sculptured relief.

Mezzanine: a low story situated between two higher ones.

Mihrab: a niche in the wall of a mosque that marks the “Kibleh,” or direction toward the Kaaba (which see) at Mecca.

Minaret: the tall slender tower, attached to a Mosque, from a balcony of which the muezzin summons the people to prayer.

Modillions: the decorated blocks ranged under the Cornice of a Corinthian or Composite Entablature.

Monolith (lit. single stone): usually of large size. Monolithic, composed of such.

Mosaic (lit. belonging to the muses, the goddesses of the arts): decorative designs composed of particles, usually cube-shaped, of marble, stone, glass or enamel, used to enrich the surfaces of vaults, walls and floors. See Opus.

Motive: in decoration, the form on which the ornament is based; e.g., the acanthus motive.

Mullion: one of the vertical stone bars dividing a Gothic window into two or more “lights.” Also one of the bars of a Rose-Window (which see). The horizontal bars are called Transoms.

Mural: of or pertaining to a wall; e.g., a mural decoration. See Secco, Fresco.

Mutule: one of a series of rectangular blocks under the Cornice of a Doric Entablature, studded on the underside with Guttæ (which see).

Naos: the principal chamber of an Hellenic temple, containing the statue of the deity. Entered from the front through an unwalled vestibule, called the Pronaos and from the rear by a corresponding vestibule, called Epinaos or Opisthodomos.

Narthex: the arcaded porch of a Christian basilica, where penitents, barred from full communion, worshipped. See Galilee.

Nave (from Naos, which see): central division of a church or cathedral; usually west of the choir.

Necking: the hollowed surface between the Astragal (which see) of the shaft and the commencement of the capital; specifically of a Roman Doric column.

Necropolis: city of the dead: an assemblage of graves or tombs.

Newel Post: the shaft around which a spiral staircase is constructed; also the principal post supporting the handrail of a staircase.

Norman: the style in England, preceding Early English: corresponding to Romanesque on the Continent.

Nymphæum (consecrated to the nymphs): a building containing ornamental water, plants and statuary.

Octastyle: See Portico.

Ogee (pr. O-jée): another term for the Cyma Reversa. See Cyma.

Ogival: term applied to the Pointed Arch, because it is composed of two contrasted curves. Owing to this arch being characteristic of the Gothic style, the French have proposed to call the latter Ogival.

Open Arcades: See Arcades.

Opisthodomos (Gk. “room behind”): same as Epinaos. See Naos.

Opus reticulatum (lit. “net work”): a veneering composed of equal square slabs, arranged so that their joints are diagonal and form a net-like mesh.

Opus Sectile (lit. “Cut-work”): a mosaic ornament, composed of glass or marble, cut into various shapes to form a pattern. The richest variety of it is known as Opus Alexandrinum.

Opus Spicatum: pavement composed of bricks laid in “herring-bone” fashion.

Opus tesselatum: a mosaic ornament composed of tesseræ or square blocks of glass or marble.

Order: specifically, in Classic architecture, the combination of Column and Entablature.

Organic: primarily used of the structures of animals and plants; secondarily, of any organised, whole, composed of parts that perform definite functions; always in this book with an implication that the relation between the whole and its parts partakes of the nature of a living, as opposed to a mechanical, structure.

Oriel-window: See Bay-window.

Orientation: the construction of a temple or church on a main axis, regulated to the position of the sun or a star on some particular day or night; or to the points of the compass, usually an east and west axis.

Ovolo (lit. “egg-like”): a Classic convex moulding—a quarter-round in Roman architecture; in Hellenic, the curve of conic section known as hyperbolic.

Palmette: See Anthemion.

Papier-maché: a tough plastic substance, formed of paper-pulp, mixed with glue, or of layers of paper, glued together; and modelled into ornamental forms.

Parapet: specifically, the portion of the wall of a building above the eaves of the roof. Generally, a retaining wall, or enclosing wall, e.g., the walls of a bridge, above the roadway.

Patio: the open, inner court of a Spanish or Spanish-American house.

Pavilion: specifically, a section of a building that projects from the plane of the main façade and has a distinct roof treatment.

Pediment: specifically, the triangular member surmounting the Portico of a Classic temple. It rests on the Entablature and terminates on each side in a raking Cornice, paralleling the slope of the roof. In Renaissance and later times, a triangular surface, framed by a horizontal and two sloping cornices, e.g., the embellishment surmounting windows and doors. The triangular space within the horizontal and raking cornices is called a Tympanum and is frequently decorated with sculptured figures or ornament. Tympanum is also used for the surface between a lintel