Abacus The flat slab on top of a capital. It's part of a column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Acanthus A plant whose shape was used on carved ornaments of Corinthian and Composite capitals. A capital is part of a column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Acroterion A plinth for a statue or an ornament on top of a pediment (plural; acroteria).
Addorsed Two animals on a capital are addorsed if they are placed back to back.
Aedicule The framing of a door or window with columns or pilasters, topped with a gable lintel or pediment. Click door cases or windows for a full article.
Affronted Two animals on a capital are affronted if they are placed face to face.
Aggregate Crushed stone or sand used as the hard material in concrete, mortar or plaster.
Ancones Consoles or brackets on either side of a door, supporting a cornice above the door.
Anthemion A floral motif, usually based on honeysuckle flowers and leaves, adapted by Neo-Classical architects from the Greeks and Romans.
Apex Stone The top stone in a gable end, sometimes called the saddle stone. Click roofs for a full article on roof features.
Apophyge The curve at the top and bottom of a column where the shaft joins the capital or the base. Click order for the full explanation about columns.
Architrave Originally it meant the lower part of the lintel running from one column to another in an ancient temple. So in Period houses it can mean a Greek-like lintel supported by columns. Click order for the full explanation about columns. It is also used more loosely for the moulded frame round a door or window. Click door cases for a full article on the subject of door surrounds.
Area The space between the front of a basement and the pavement, which is below street level and usually protected by railings.
Arris The sharp edge of a stone block or a piece of wood.
Ashlar Any block of stone which has been cut into a rectangular brick-like shape as opposed to just being rubble. Click stonework for a full article on the subject of stonework.
Astragal A strip covering the gap between a door and the door frame to reduce draughts.
Attic Storey A storey above the entablature or the main cornice of a building or within the sloping roof of a house.
Baluster The posts supporting the handrail of a staircase are balusters. So are the pillars supporting a coping along the top of a building, which together form a balustrade.
Band Course A moulding like a raised ribbon in stucco or stone and running horizontally.
Barge Boards (or Verge Boards) On the sides of a pitched roof, barge boards (often decorated) would be placed against the inverted “V” to hide the ends of the roof timbers. Click roofs for a full article on roof features.
Basement A storey of a building wholly or partly below ground level. Unlike a cellar, a basement is living space.
Bay Space added to a room by advancing the window beyond the wall line. Also a recess. So a bay can be concave or convex. Bay windows in Victorian houses are often "canted bays" with three faces, all straight. The front face is parallel to the facade and the two sides are at an oblique angle.
Bead A strip of wood with a rounded face.
Blocked A column is blocked if it has rectangular blocks projecting from its surface at regular intervals
Bracket A flat-topped projection from a wall which supports a shelf or a beam etc.
Building Line A notional line to which the front face of a series of buildings is built.
Canopy A hood projected or suspended over a door or window. Click door cases for a full article on the subject of door surrounds.
Canted Tilted or sloping. A canted face is at an oblique angle to the adjoining face.
Cantilevered Projecting beam, secured at one end, like a pirate’s plank.
Capital The head or crowning feature of a column or pilaster. A capital is part of a column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Capstone The coping stone on top of a wall.
Casement Window A metal or timber window hinged to the side of the frame to open in or out. Click windows for a full article on the different types.
Cast Iron An alloy of iron and carbon. Cast iron has more carbon than wrought iron. The result is that things made from it do not bend out of shape.
Chamfer The surface produced by cutting away the arris or sharp edge of a stone block or piece of wood.
Chimney Bar The bar above the fireplace opening which supports the front of the chimney breast. Click fireplace for a full article on the subject.
Chimney Breast The stone or brick structure containing the fireplace and flue, and often projecting into the room. Click fireplace for a full article on the subject.
Chimney Stack The brickwork containing a number of individual flues above the roof with chimney pots on top. Click fireplace for a full article on the subject.
Cladding A covering or skin stacked on top of a wall surface. Click stucco for a full article on the subject.
Coade Stone Hard-wearing ceramic used on buildings to mimic stone or plaster, invented by Eleanor Coade in Lambeth in 1769.
Composite. It's a style of column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Console A curved ornamental bracket.
Coping Flat or sloping stone on top of a wall, intended to deflect rain.
Corbel A projecting block or series of blocks on which a beam can rest.
Cornice A projecting ornamental moulding along the top of a wall. Also the top projecting part of an entablature, which is part of a column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Corinthian It's a style of column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Course A row of stones or bricks in a wall.
Coving or Cove Concave moulding covering the join between the top of a wall and the ceiling.
Cover Fillet A strip of moulding to cover a joint between wood panels.
Dado Rail or Chair Rail A moulding round a room at hip level to prevent chairs being pushed against the walls and damaging the wall surface.
Dentil A small square block used in Ionic, Corinthian, Composite and Doric cornices like a row of gappy teeth. Click order for a fuller explanation of such cornices.
Doric It's a style of column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Dormer Window A window placed vertically in a sloping roof and with a small roof of its own above it. The resulting room was usually sleeping quarters, hence the name.
Double Pile House A house with rooms at the front and rooms behind. Most pre-18th century houses were single pile, with just one room per floor.
Dressings Stones used around a window or angle, with smooth or moulded faces. Click stonework for a full article on the subject of stonework.
Drip The projecting part of a cornice from which rainwater drips, so it does not run down the wall.
Eaves The underpart of a sloping roof overhanging a wall.
Elevation The side view of a building.
Engaged Column A column partly sunk into or attached to a wall.
Entablature The structure at the top of an order, which is then further divided into architrave, frieze and cornice, or the mouldings at the top of a façade.
Fabric The main structural part of a building.
Façade The front of a building.
Fanlight A semi-circular window above a door in some Georgian and Regency houses. Glazing bars radiating from the centre make it look like a fan. Click fanlights for a full article on the subject.
Fascia A plain horizontal band projecting slightly from the surface of a wall or in an architrave.
Fenestration Windows. Click windows for a full article on the subject.
Fillet A narrow, flat, raised band running down a shaft, separating the flutes in a column. Also the mortar used to fill the gap between two surfaces, such as a wall and a roof.
Finger Plate A metal plate fixed above or below a door handle to protect the door from finger marks. Click door furniture for a full article on the subject.
Finial An ornament stuck on the top of a canopy or gable.
Flashing Lead or zinc strips covering the angles of a roof or the joints between the roof and any chimneys, dormers or gables to give a waterproof join.
Fluting Shallow grooves running vertically down the shaft of a column or pilaster. They may join in an arris or be separated by a fillet.
Footing The projecting base of a pier or wall.
Frieze It originally meant the middle section of the entablature between the architrave and cornice. The entablature was the lintel on top of columns in a Greek temple, which together made up an order. Click order for the full explanation. It is often decorated with carvings or motifs. In houses, frieze is also used for a decorated band below a cornice on a wall.
Frog The recess in the top face of a brick so it can be filled with mortar. Click bricks for a full article on the subject of bricks.
Gable The triangular portion of a wall at the end of a pitched roof. It can have straight sides, but a Dutch gable has curved sides rising to a pediment, and a hipped gable has the uppermost part sloping back. Click roofs for a full article on roof features.
Gadrooned A column which has convex curves running down it (as opposed to fluting which has curves cut into it) is said to be gadrooned.
Garret A room partly or entirely in the roof.
Hip The external angle between two roof surfaces. A hipped roof is one where the two ends of the roof slope back from the vertical, not just the two sides. Click roofs for a full article on roof features.
Hood Click door cases for a full article on the subject of door surrounds.
Hood-Mould A moulding projecting over a door or window to protect it from the rain.
Ionic It's a style of column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Jamb The vertical face of a doorway or window. The part between the glass or door and the outer wall surface is called a reveal. Click windows for a full article on the subject.
Keystone The central wedge-shaped stone at the crown of an arch, inserted last, and often carved.
Label Stop or Head Stop A carved boss at either end of a hood mould. Click door cases for a full article on the subject of door surrounds.
Lights Openings between the mullions of a window. Click windows for a full article on the subject.
Lintel A beam of stone across the top of an opening.
Loggia A gallery or room, sometimes pillared, but open on one or more sides.
Mantelpiece A frame around a fireplace which may include an over-mantel or a mirror above. It can be made of wood, brick, stone or marble. Click fireplace for a full article on the subject.
Mansard A roof whose slopes are each in two parts, the lower part being steeper than the upper part. Click roofs for a full article on roof features.
Marquise A canopy over an entrance door, usually made of metal and glass.
Mathematical Tiles Tiles made to look like fake bricks so that a cheap wall will look like a brick wall. Also much used as ornamentation in Regency times. Click bricks for a full article on the subject of bricks and tiles.
Metopes They are standard decorative features of columns or orders. Click order for the full explanation.
Mews A row of stables with accommodation above, behind a town house, usually in London.
Mitre A way of joining two pieces of wood at right angles by cutting the ends of each piece at 45 degrees.
Modillion A scroll shaped bracket, under a cornice or supporting a projecting structure
Mortice and Tenon Joint A joint formed by a projecting piece (the tenon) of one piece of wood slotting into a corresponding socket (the mortice) of another piece.
Moulding A projection or groove running round a wall. Click internal mouldings for a full article on the subject of bricks.
Mullion Any vertical upright piece of wood separating panes of glass in a window. Click windows for a full article on the subject.
Newel A larger post at either end of a balustrade or handrail.
Order The columns used in classical architecture became stylised into types which were given the names of Doric (the plainest), Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite (the most elaborately decorated). Each one is an order. Click order for the full explanation.
Oriel A window which projects from an upper storey.
Overmantel A framed mirror over a fireplace. Click fireplace for a full article on the subject.
Ovolo A moulding made in the shape of a quarter of a circle.
Palmette A decorative motif in a leaf or flower pattern.
Panel Any flat surface sunk below or raised above a framework.
Parapet A low wall at the top of a house to stop people falling over the edge.
Pargeting Stucco work with decoration cut into its surface. Click stucco for a full article on the subject.
Parquet Blocks of flooring made up of thin strips of hard wood glued together in squares and used as flooring. Click floors for a full article on the subject.
Party Walls Walls shared between two properties.
Paterae Flower patterns.
Pedestal The base supporting a column or colonnade. Click order for the full explanation.
Pediment A low pitched gable above a portico, or above doors or windows. If it is left open at the top – so it does not come into a point – it is called an open-topped or broken apex pediment.
Pendant A boss which is drawn out so that it hangs down.
Piano Nobile The main floor of an Italianate house where the reception rooms are placed. Its ceilings are higher than on other floors. It has a basement below and storeys above.
Pilaster A column appearing to be partly embedded in the wall.
Pillar A column which is either not cylindrical or does not conform to any of the standard orders.
Pinnacle The very top of a construction, sometimes ornamented.
Pitch The slope of a roof. A pitch roof has sides which rise to a top edge like two playing cards balanced together like a tent. Click roofs for a full article on roof features.
Plan Birds’ eye view of a building or a room.
Plinth The projecting base of a column, pedestal or a wall. For its role as part of a column or order, click order.
Plinth Block A block at the base of the architrave of a door or chimney piece, where the skirting of the wall stops.
Pointing The mortar joints between bricks or the act of inserting them.
Porch A covered entrance to a building. It is called a portico if it is made to look like an antique temple with columns on either side and a pediment on top. Click door cases for a full article on the subject of door surrounds.
Portico A porch made up of columns supporting a roof.
Profile The outline of a building or part of it.
Projection A geometrical drawing of a building, with all three dimensions flattened into one long line.
Quoins The word comes from the French word “coin” for corner. They are the dressed stones at the corners of buildings laid so that their long faces alternate on each wall. Click stonework for a full article on the subject of stonework.
Rail A horizontal part of the frame of a door, window or panel.
Rainwater Head The box into which gutters discharge water which then passes into the drainpipe. They were sometimes elaborately patterned.
Rebate A recess which goes back in steps. Sometimes known as a rabbet.
Reeding Moulding round a column like reeds laid side by side. It is the opposite of fluting. Reeding is a characteristic Regency moulding.
Rendering Plaster or stucco applied to an external wall. Click stucco for a full article on the subject.
Reveal The part between the glass or door and the outer wall surface.
Rusticated Column A column where square, rusticated blocks break through the shaft.
Rustication Roughly finished blocks of stone often used for dramatic effect in external walls. The stone was said to be vermiculated if curls were cut out like worm tracks. Other effects were frosted or diamond pointed rustication. Click stonework for a full article on the subject of stonework.
Sash Any frame for glass. A casement window which is hinged at the side is a hinged sash. Click windows for a full article on the subject.
Sash Window A window with two sashes sliding up and down inside grooves on pulleys. Click windows for a full article on the subject.
Scagliola Imitation marble made of gesso and pulverised selenite and used particularly for columns, pilasters and other interior features.
Scallop A decoration in the form of a shell.
Segment Part of a circle smaller than a semi-circle.
Shaft The main part of a column between the base and capital. Click order for the full explanation.
Sill The horizontal piece of wood at the bottom of a window.
Skirting A wood edging fixed to the bottom of an internal wall.
Stile The vertical piece of wood on either side of a sash window or a door.
Stock Brick A moulded brick burned in a kiln and usually mass produced. Click bricks for a full article on the subject of bricks and tiles.
String Course A band running horizontally round an exterior wall, and either cut into the surface or in the form of a projecting moulding. Click external moulding for a full article on the subject.
Stucco A slow-setting plaster made of gypsum, sand and lime. In England marble dust was used. It was mainly used as rendering to give an expensive look to cheap walls or for decorative effect. Click stucco for a full article on the subject.
Swag A moulding or pattern of hanging garlands of flowers. Also called a festoon.
Terrace A row of houses attached to each other and designed as one unit. They are usually built to a straight or curving building line at the front. Terrace also means a walking area in front of a building.
Terracotta Baked clay used for bricks or tiles, but in Victorian times often used for mouldings and sculptural effects. Click external moulding for a full article on the subject.
Triglyphs They are standard decorative features of columns or orders. Click order for the full explanation.
Tongue and Groove The term used for mortice and tenon joints when used for joining flat boards.
Torus A large semi-circular moulding round the base of a column. Click order for the full explanation.
Transom Any horizontal bar across the opening of a window or across a panel.
Trim A material framing or edging windows or doors, and differing from the surrounding material.
Tuscan. It's a style of column or order. Click order for the full explanation.
Vermiculation Decoration carved on masonry blocks to look like worm tracks. Click stonework for a full article on the subject of stonework.
Volute An elaborate spiral scroll often used on capitals of columns and on consoles. Click order for the full explanation.
Voussoirs An arch is usually made up of bricks or pieces of stone which are slightly wedge-shaped so that they form the necessary curve. These are vousoirs. The main wedge at the top of the arch is the keystone.
Wainscot Timber lining on a wall.