The Probert Encyclopaedia of Architecture

DOOR

In architecture a doorway or door is the entrance into a building, or into an apartment of a building. Among the ancients doorways were usually rectangular in form, though occasionally the opening diminished towards the top, until architecture became corrupted in the latter times of the Roman empire, when they were sometimes arched; when not arched they generally had a suit of mouldings, called an architrave, running round them, and there were often additional mouldings over the top supported by a large console or truss at each end. The doors were of wood, or metal, and occasionally of marble, panelled, and frequently, if not always, turned on pivots working in sockets.

In the architecture of the middle ages doorways are striking and important features, and afford in the character of their mouldings and ornaments clear evidence of the styles to which they belong. In the Saxon style they are always plain, with very little, if any, moulding, excepting in some instances a crude impost, and even that is frequently a plain stone slightly projecting from the face of the wall, as at Laughton-en-le-Morthen church, Yorkshire. The arches are semicircular, and (like all the rest of the work) crudely constructed, but in some instances the head of the opening is formed by two straight pieces of stone placed upon their ends on the impost, and leaning together at the top so as to produce the form of a triangle, as at Barnack and Brigstock churches, Northamptonshire.

In the Norman style doorways became more ornamental, though at its commencement very little decoration was used. In the earliest examples the jambs and archivolt were merely cut into square recesses, or angles without mouldings, with a simple impost at the springing of the arch but as the style advanced, mouldings and other enrichments were introduced, and continued to be applied in increasing numbers until they sometimes nearly or quite equalled the breadth of the opening of the doorway, fine examples of which remain at Lincoln cathedral. The ornaments were used almost entirely on the outside, the inside usually being (as in all the styles of Gothic architecture) perfectly plain. Norman doorways differ considerably in their character and ornaments, scarcely any two being alike.

The arch is commonly semicircular, though occasionally segmental or horseshoe, the mouldings and enrichments are numerous, but are generally bold and good, and, though not so well worked as those of the later styles, they generally equal and sometimes surpass them in richness and force of effect. The outer moulding of the arch sometimes stops upon the impost, producing the effect of a weather-moulding, although it does not project from the face of the wall. Weather-mouldings also are very frequently used, and they either stop upon the impost or terminate in carved corbels. Shafts are often, but not always, used in the jambs. They are generally circular, but occasionally octagonal, and are sometimes ornamented with zigzags or spiral mouldings. The capitals are usually in some degree enriched, and are often carved with figures and foliage. The impost-moulding above the caps generally runs through the whole jamb, and is frequently continued along the wall as a string.

Some of the most usual ornaments in Norman doorways are zigzags of various kinds, and series of grotesque heads, set in a hollow moulding, with projecting tongues or beaks overlapping a large torus or bead. Small figures and animals are also frequently used, and occasionally the signs of the zodiac, as at Iffley, Oxfordshire, and St Margaret's, York, where there are thirteen, according to the Saxon calendar.

The actual opening of the doorway is often flat at the top, and rises no higher than the springing of the arch; the tympanum, or space between the top of the opening and the arch, is sometimes left plain, but is generally ornamented, and frequently sculptured with a crude representation of some scriptural or legendary subject.

Early English doorways generally have pointed arches though a few have semicircular, and occasionally the top of the opening is flat. In large examples the mouldings are very numerous, and the jambs contain several small shafts which usually stand quite free, and are often of Purbeck or Forest marble, or some fine stone of a different kind from the rest of the work. The jamb is generally cut into recesses to receive these mouldings between each of them. In small doorways there is often only one shaft in each jamb, and sometimes none. The capitals are generally enriched with delicate leaves, but they often consist of plain mouldings. The archivolt, and the spaces between the shafts in the jambs, are frequently enriched with the toothed ornament, or with leaves and other decorations characteristic of the style, but in some very good examples they have only plain mouldings.

The opening of the doorway is often divided into two by a single shaft, or a clustered column, with a quatrefoil or other ornament above it. There is almost invariably a weather-moulding over the arch, which is generally supported on a head at each end.

In many instances the inner mouldings of the head are formed into a trefoil or cinquefoil arch, the points of which generally terminate in small flowers or leaves, and in some small doorways the whole of the mouldings follow these forms. Fine examples of the doorways of this style remain at the cathedrals of York, Lincoln, Salisbury, Chichester, and Lichfield, (this last with some singularities,) at Beverley Minster, and at St Cross, Hampshire.

There are also small doorways of this style with a straight top, with the lintel supported at each end on a corbel, which projects into the opening so as to contract its width, having very much the appearance of a flattened trefoil. In the northern parts of the United Kingdom this form is by no means confined to the Early English style, but in other districts it is not very often found in later work.

Decorated style doorways are not in general so deeply recessed as those of the Early English style, but they very much resemble them in the mouldings and shafts in the jambs. There are .a few examples, chiefly early in the style, in which the opening is divided into two, as at York Minster, but this is not the usual arrangement. The shafts in the jambs are usually of slighter proportions than in the Early English style, and, instead of being worked separate, form part of the general suit of mouldings. The capitals consist either of plain mouldings, or are enriched with leaves of different kinds characteristic of the style.

Many small doorways have no shafts in the jambs, but the mouldings of the arch are continued down to the plinth, where they stop upon a slope. The arch in large doorways is almost invariably pointed. In smaller doorways the arch is frequently an ogee and sometimes segmental. The mouldings are very commonly enriched with flowers, foliage, and other ornaments, which are sometimes in running patterns, but very often placed separately at short intervals. The most prevalent are the ball-flower, and another of four leaves, which is frequently worked with a bold projection that produces a very fine effect; both these are characteristic of the Decorated style. Occasionally a series of small niches, with statues in them, like a hollow moulding, are carried up the jambs and round the arch and sometimes doubly feathered tracery, hanging quite free from some of the outer mouldings, is used in the arch, and has a very rich effect.

Small buttresses or niches are sometimes placed at the sides of the doorways. A weather-moulding is almost universally used. It is generally supported at each end on a boss of foliage, or a corbel, which is frequently a head, but it sometimes terminates in a curl or a short return. It is seldom continued along the wall. Occasionally it is crocketed and surmounted at the top by a finial, especially when in the form of an ogee, or it has a finial and no crockets.

In rich examples canopies are common over Decorated style doorways they are either triangular, or ogees with crockets and finials, the space between them and the mouldings of the arch being filled with tracery-panels, foliage, or sculpture.

In the Perpendicular style a very considerable change took place in the appearance of the doorways, from the outer mouldings being constantly formed into a square over the arch, with the spandrels feathered or filled with ornaments, either tracery, foliage, or sculpture; this square head however is not universal. Shafts are often, though by no means always, used in the jambs. They are usually small, and are always worked on the jamb with the other mouldings, and frequently are not clearly defined, except by the capital and base, the other mouldings uniting with them without a fillet, or even an angle to mark the separation. The capitals usually consist of plain mouldings, but in some instances they are enriched with foliage or flowers. There are generally one or more large hollows in the jambs, sometimes filled with niches for statues, but more often left plain. These large hollows are characteristics of the Perpendicular style. In this style the four-centred arch was
brought into general use, and became the most prevalent for doorways as well as other openings. Many, however, have two-centred arches, and in small doorways ogees are sometimes used. A very few have elliptical arches.
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