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In architecture a cable or cable moulding is a moulding, shaft of a column, or any other member of a convex rounded section, made to resemble the spiral twist of a rope.
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In architecture, cabling is the decoration of a fluted shaft, column or pilaster with reeds, or rounded mouldings, which seem to be laid in the hollows of the fluting. These are limited in length to about one third of the height of the shaft.
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Caen Stone is a soft, fine-grained, light-coloured form of limestone quarried near Caen in Normandy and extensively used in buildings in Paris, and from the 11th to 15th centuries in buildings in Britain. Caen stone is too absorbent to be used outside, but was widely used for interiors and was used in the construction of Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Eton College.
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In architecture, a caisson was originally a sunken panel of ceilings or soffits. The term has come to also describe the wooden, metal or concrete shells used for building foundations underwater and on quicksand and peat.
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In architecture a calotte designates a flattened dome.
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In architecture, a camber is an upward concavity in the under side of a beam, girder, or lintel. The term is also applied to a slight upward concavity in a straight arch.
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In architecture, a camber arch is an arch whose intrados, though apparently straight, has a slightly concave curve upward.
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In architecture, a camber beam is a beam whose under side has an upward concave curve.
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In architecture, a camp ceiling is a kind ceiling often used in attics or garrets, in which the side walls are inclined inward at the top, following the slope of the rafters, to meet the plane surface of the upper ceiling.
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A campanile is a bell-tower detached from the church to which it belongs and having arcaded openings at several levels. It is a common feature in Italian architecture. Amongst the most remarkable examples are the beautiful campanile of the cathedral at Florence, designed by Giotto, and the famous leaning tower of Pisa.
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The cannon pot or cannon head pot is a slightly ornamental, traditional style of British clay chimney pot. They were produced in various heights ranging from 30 cm to 180 cm with usually a 30 cm base.
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In architecture, a canopy is a miniature roof above a stall, screen, niche or effigy. Canopies are usually ornamented, and late mediaeval canopies were elaborate structures clustered with pinnacles and gables.
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In architecture, a canted column is a column polygonal in plan.
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In architecture, a cantilever is a bracket to support a balcony, a cornice, or the like.
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A cantilever bridge is a bridge in which the principle of the cantilever is applied. It is usually a trussed bridge, composed of two portions reaching out from opposite banks, and supported near the middle of their own length on piers which they overhang, thus forming cantilevers which meet over the space to be spanned or sustain a third portion, to complete the connection.
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Cantilever scaffold, also known as jib scaffold and trussed scaffold, is a scaffold formed with the tubes cantilevered out of an opening in the building, perhaps a window, so as not to obstruct the thoroughfare below.
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In architecture the term cantoned refers to having the angles marked by, or decorated with, projecting mouldings or small columns; for example a cantoned pier or pilaster.
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In architecture, a cap is the uppermost of any assemblage of parts; for example the cap of a column (a capital) , door, etc.; the term also applies to a coping, cornice, lintel, or plate.
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In architecture a capital is the cap of a column. It supports the entablature. Capitals are often very ornate, and vary widely in decoration depending upon the style of the column.
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The corner-stone of the Capitol building at Washington was laid by President George Washington, September 18, 1793. The north wing was completed on November 17th, 1800. The south wing-was completed in 1808, and the interior of both was burned by the British on August 24th, 1814. Reconstruction was begun in 1815. The foundation of the main building was laid on March the 24th 1818, and the whole was completed in 1827. The act of September 30, 1850, provided for an extension. President Fillmore laid the corner-stone of the extension July 4, 1851, and Daniel Webster delivered the address. It was finished in 1867.
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The Captain pot is a long, slender, elegant round chimney pot on a polygonal base with a lozenge patterned body, each lozenge containing a flower design, and topped with battlements.
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In architecture, the term caracole is applied to a staircase in a spiral form.
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Cardiglio marble is a variety of highly decorative marble quarried in Sicily. Cardiglio marble is a grey variety of cipollino marble, having grey veins and bands instead of green.
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In architecture, the term carol described a small closet or enclosure built against a window on the inner side, to sit in for study - like a bay window. The term was used until about the 16th century.
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In architecture, the term carolitic describes something which is adorned with sculptured leaves and branches.
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In architecture, a carriage porch is a canopy or roofed pavilion covering the driveway at the entrance to a building. It was intended as a shelter for those alighting from vehicles at the door.
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Carton-pierre is a papier-mache formerly used in statuary and architectural decorations. It is a mixture of paper pulp, bole, chalk and glue and was made to imitate stonework.
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In architecture, a cartouche is a scroll-like ornament.
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In architecture, caryatides are figures of women dressed in long robes, serving to support entablatures in place of a column or pilaster. Male figures are called atlantes.
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In architecture a case-bay is the space between two principals or girders. The tem is also applied to one of the joists framed between a pair of girders in naked flooring.
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In architecture a casemate is a hollow moulding, chiefly in cornices.
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In architecture, a casement is a window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted.
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A casing wheel is a circular cutter mounted on a wooden handle used in paperhanging, where it is used for cutting wallpaper quickly and cleanly around architrave, door casings and the like.
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A castle (from the Latin castellum, meaning fortress) is an edifice serving at once as a residence and as a place of defence, especially such an edifice belonging to feudal times. Castles differed somewhat at different times and in different places, but they had all several features of similarity. Early castles in Europe followed the basic Saxon burh design, ditches surrounding a raised earthen hill (the motte) surmounted with a wooden palisade enclosing a courtyard (called a bailey). The motte supported a wooden, defensive building known as the keep.
Later developments substituted stone for wood and utilised more elaborate defensive architectural detail. After the introduction of gunpowder in the 14th century, castles became less defensible and increases in civil order led to their replacement by unfortified manor houses by the 16th century. Large stone fortifications became popular again in the 18th century, particularly those modelled after the principles of fortification introduced by the French architect Vauban, and were built as late as the first half of the 19th century. In the late 19th century, castle-like buildings were built as residences for the wealthy as part of the Romantic revival in Europe and America.
The first defence of a castle was usually the moat or ditch, that sometimes comprised several acres; and behind it was the outer wall, generally of great height and thickness, strengthened with towers at regular distances, and pierced with loopholes through which missiles could be discharged at the assailants.
The main entrance through the outer wall was protected by the barbican, with its narrow archway, and strong gates and portcullis, and inside there were usually an outer and an inner court, and the strong more or less detached building known as the keep, which formed the residence of the owner and his family. This was the most strongly constructed of all the buildings, to which the defenders retreated only in the last extremity. In English Edwardian castles (so named from Edward III) the solid keep becomes developed into an open quadrangle, defended at the sides and angles by gatehouses and towers, and containing the hall and state apartments ranged along one side of the court. Around this inner court two or three lines of defence are disposed concentrically. Such castles frequently enclose many acres, and present an imposing appearance. The parts of a perfect Edwardian castle are: the inner bailey or inner court; the walls of the enceinte, single, double, or triple; the middle and outer baileys, contained between the walls; the gatehouses and posterns, or small doors in the wall; and the moat or ditch, which was usually filled with water. The walls were all strengthened by towers, either circular, square, rectangular, or multi-angular, projecting both outwards and inwards. Such towers were capable of being defended independently of the castle.
The gatehouses are distinct works covering the entrance; they contain gates, one or two portcullises, and loopholes raking the passage. From the front of these gatehouses the drawbridge was lowered over the ditch. The gateways had frequently a barbican attached. This was a passage between high walls, in advance of the main gate, and having an outer gate of entrance, which was defended by towers and the parapet connected with the main gateway. The top of the wall was defended by a battlemented parapet, and frequently pierced by cruciform loopholes.
Castles were known in Britain prior to the Norman conquest of 1066, but it was the Normans who developed the later and more familiar style of stone castle. The Normans' first castles, over five hundred of them in England, were Motte and Bailey designs made of wood. The first stone castle and the blueprint for further Norman castles was the Tower of London. After the death of William the Conqueror, the Norman lords switched from building a multitude of wooden castles, to instead building a single, large, stronger, more impressive stone castle based upon the Tower of London design.
Outstanding examples of castles are the 12th-century Krak des Chevaliers, Syria (built by crusaders); 13th-century Caernarfon Castle in Wales; and the 15th-century Manzanares el Real in Spain.
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A cathedral is the principal church of a diocese, so called from its possessing the episcopal chair or cathedra. This is really what distinguishes a cathedral from other churches, though most cathedrals are also larger and more elaborate structures than ordinary churches, and have various dignitaries and functionaries connected with them.
The cathedral establishments in England regularly consist of a dean and chapter, presided over by the bishop, the chapter being composed of a certain number of canons. The dean and chapter meet in the chapter-house of the cathedral; in them the property of the cathedral is vested, and they nominally elect the bishop on a conge d'elire from the crown. There are often a certain number of honorary canons, also 'minor canons' who assist in the performance of the choral services, choristers, etc.
As regards architecture cathedrals naturally vary much. Those in England are almost all in the Gothic style, cruciform or cross-shaped in arrangement, and having connected with them a chapter-house, side chapels (varying in number and position), cloisters, crypt, etc. This style and arrangement are also common on the continent of Europe, and in most modern cathedrals; but the Romanesque, Renaissance, and Byzantine styles of architecture are also employed. Many cathedrals furnish the most magnificent examples of the architecture of the middle ages; and as they were intended to accommodate great numbers of people, and to exhibit imposing religious services, they are often of great size. Among the most notable cathedrals are St Peter's, the largest of all, founded in 1450; the cathedral at Milan, founded in 1386, built of white marble; the cathedral at Florence, begun about 1294, one of the finest specimens of the Italian-Gothic style; Cologne Cathedral, commenced in 1248 (and only finished in the 19th century); Notre Dame, at Paris, begun in 1163; and those of Amiens, Chartres, and Rheims. The most noteworthy English cathedrals are St Paul's, London (1675-1711), in the Renaissance style, and those of Canterbury, Ely, Exeter, Lichfield, Lincoln, Norwich, Salisbury, Wells, Westminster, and York. The cathedrals of Glasgow and Kirkwall are the only entire cathedrals in Scotland, exclusive of modern edifices.
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In architecture, a cavetto is a concave moulding. They were used chiefly in classical architecture.
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A cavity-wall (formerly called a hollow-wall) is a wall built in two thicknesses with an empty space in the middle for the purpose of maintaining an equal temperature in rooms, or of preventing wet from being driven through.
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In architecture a ceiling is the inside lining of a room over-head.
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In architecture a cell is the space between the ribs of a vaulted roof.
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In architecture, a cella (also known as a cell) is the part enclosed within the walls of an ancient temple, as distinguished from the open porticoes.
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A cellar is a room or rooms under a building, and usually below the surface of the ground, where provisions and other stores are kept.
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In archaeology a celt is a weapon or implement of stone or metal, found in the tumuli, or barrows, of the early Celtic nations.
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A Celtic cross is a Latin cross, that is a cross with the lower member longer than the other three, and a circle surrounding the point where the members meet. Celtic crosses are often decorated with curved and flowing geometric patterns.
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Centering is the framing of timber by which the arch of a bridge or other arched structure is supported during its erection. The same name is given to the woodwork or framing on which any vaulted work is constructed. The centering of a bridge has to keep the stones or voussoirs in position till they are keyed in, that is, fixed by the insertion of the requisite number of stones in the centre.
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In architecture, chain moulding is a form of moulding in imitation of a chain. It was used in the Normal style.
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In architecture, a chain tie is a tie consisting of a series of connected iron bars or rods.
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In British architecture, a chalet is a Swiss-style cottage or bungalow made of wood.
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In architecture, a chambranle is an ornamental bordering or frame like decoration around the sides and top of a door, window, or fireplace. The top piece is called the traverse and the side pieces the ascendants.
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In architecture, a champ is the field or ground on which a carving appears in relief.
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The Champion Pot is an ornamental, and very expensive, clay chimney pot resembling an elongated jelly-mould topped with a serrated crown. The Champion pot is from 120 cm tall and has open bottomed tubes or flutes around the body to allow the wind to enter creating an up draught to draw the smoke up the chimney, and is used where there is little or no draw. The pot also reduces downdraughts by wind entering the top of the pot and exiting via the flutes, rather than the fireplace below.
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A chancel is that part of a church, reserved for the use of the clergy, where the altar, or communion table, is placed.
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A chancel aisle is the aisle which passes on either side of or around the chancel.
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A chancel arch is an arch which spans the main opening in a church, leading to the chancel.
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In architecture, a chancel casement is the principal window in a chancel.
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In architecture a chaplet is a small moulding, carved into beads, pearls, olives, etc.
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Originally a chapter house was a room in a monastery where monks assembled daily to hear read a chapter from the Rule of their Order, and to transact communal business. Later canons and secular clergy built chapter houses. Early chapter houses were low, rectangular, stone-vaulted buildings built on the east of the cloister below the dormitory. In the 13th century large, splendid chapter houses were built adjoining cathedrals to serve the secular canons. In England circular of polygonal chapter houses were often built, the vault being supported by a single central column.
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A Charnel-house is a chamber or building under or near churches where the bones of the dead are deposited.
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In British architecture, a chateau is a grand, decorative house in the style of a French castle.
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A chevet is the extreme end of the chancel or choir in a church; the term being properly used to describe the round or polygonal part.
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In architecture, a chevron is a zigzag moulding, or group of mouldings, common in Norman architecture.
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Chillon is a castle, in Switzerland, on the Lake of Geneva, south-east of Vevay. It was once an important stronghold of the Counts of Savoy, and the prison-house of Francis Bonnivard, prior of St Victor, Geneva, from 1530 to 1536. It has acquired interest from Byron's poem, The Prisoner of Chillon.
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A chimney is a channel or flue by which smoke or fumes from a fire, furnace or engine ascends and escapes away from the occupants of the building. In this sense the first chimneys we hear of are no earlier than the middle ages. The longer a chimney is the more perfect is its draught, provided the fire is great enough to heat the column of air in it, because the tendency of the smoke to draw upwards is in proportion to the difference of weight between the heated air in a chimney and an equal column of external air. Smoky chimneys may be caused either by the presence of other buildings obstructing the wind and giving rise to irregular currents of air, or by improper construction of the fireplace and adjacent parts of the chimney. The first may generally be cured by fixing a chimney-pot of a particular construction, or a revolving cowl, on the chimney top, in order to prevent the wind blowing down; in the second case the narrowing of the chimney throat will generally create a better draught.
Britain has a rich history of chimneys ornamented with pots - the clay or stone tubes atop of the chimney structure, over five hundred different designs at one time being catalogued, such as the very common and plain ogee pot, and the ornamental Ryburn, knight and bishop pots. Towards the end of the 20th century, with the decline in coal fires, fireplaces and as a result chimneys started to decline in British buildings.
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A chimney pot is a hollow tube, usually of stone or clay, placed at the top opening of a chimney. A wide variety of chimney pots have been produced in Britain, over 500 being catalogued, some plain, some ornate, some short and some tall.
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In architecture, a chimney-breast is the horizontal projection of a chimney from the wall in which it is built. The term is commonly applied to its projection in the inside of the building only.
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In architecture, a chimney-piece is a decorative construction around the opening of a fireplace.
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In architecture, a choir screen is a screen or low wall separating the choir from the aisles in a church.
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A chum is a Nentsy tepee shelter made from reindeer hide.
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Churrigueresque describes the extravagant and ornamental Baroque style of architecture found in Spain and in Spanish America. Although named after Jose de Churriguera, the style was actually created by Hurtado and subsequent architects. Churrigueresque first appeared in the later part of the 17th century, and early Churrigueresque is characterised by the use of the twisted column or Salomonica.
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In architecture, a ciborium is a canopy usually standing free and supported on four columns, covering the high altar, or, very rarely, a secondary altar.
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In architecture, a cimbia is a fillet or band placed around the shaft of a column as if to strengthen it.
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In architecture a cincture is the fillet, listel, or band next to the apophyge at the extremity of the shaft of a column.
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Cinque-cento is a term employed in reference to the decorative art and architecture belonging to that attempt at purification of style and reversion to classical forms introduced soon after the beginning of the 16th century in Italy. The term is often loosely applied to ornament of the 16th century in general, properly included in the term Renaissance.
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In architecture, cinque-foil is an ornament in the Gothic style, consisting of five foliated divisions, often seen in circular windows.
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A cinter is the framing erected between piers to hold up the stones of an arch during the making of the arch.
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Cipollino marble is a highly decorative species of marble with a whitish ground traversed by veins of green.
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In architecture, a cippus is a small, low column, sometimes without a base or capital, and most often bearing an inscription. In ancient times cippus were used as mile stones indicating the distance to remote places along a road, as memorial stones and boundaries, and in some cases to receive the inscribed decrees of the Roman senate.
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A cist was a place of interment of an early or prehistoric period, consisting of a rectangular stone chest or inclosure formed of rows of stones set upright, and covered by similar flat stones. Such cists are found in barrows or mounds, inclosing bones. In rocky districts cists were sometimes hewn in the rock itself.
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A citadel was a key feature of a Greek city, being the stronghold around which large communities originally developed. When a city expanded, and a protective encircling wall was built to protect the citizens' houses, the citadel lessened in importance, though it often became a religious centre and housed the public treasury. The acropolis of Athens is the most famous example.
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Claircolle (clearcole) is diluted glue size to white whiting has been added. Claircolle is used on walls and ceilings to reduce the porosity prior to applying a coat of distemper.
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A clapper bridge is a roughly made bridge constructed of crude stones. Clapper bridges of granite slabs were constructed on Dartmoor by the tin miners of the Middle Ages. Other clapper bridges are made of a plank placed over a stream.
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In architecture, the term classical refers to designs which have plans, details and facades based upon Greco-Roman styles. Classical design architecture is common from the 16th century onwards.
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In architecture, the term clavy is another name for a mantelpiece.
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Cleopatra's Needle is an Egyptian obelisk that was originally erected by Thothmes III at On (Heliopolis) around 160 BC, and removed to Alexandria by Augustus about 23 BC. It was acquired for Britain by Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1801 or presented to Britain by Mehemet Ali in 1819, there are conflicting accounts. However, the obelisk remained lying next to its still erect sister obelisk in Alexandria. The British government lacked the funds to transport the monument, and it remained lying in the sand. Over the years several individuals pressed the British government to transport the obelisk to Britain, but it wasn't removed to Britain until 1881 when it was loaded onto the Cleopatra - a specially designed cylindrical boat - at the expense of James Erasmus. During its voyage the Cleopatra, accompanied by the Olga hit a violent gale which claimed six lives and the Cleopatra was abandoned. The Cleopatra was later found by a passing steamer, the Fitzmaurice which towed it to Ferrol, whence it was towed by the Anglia arriving in London in January 1878.
The obelisk was erected on the Thames Embankment between Charing Cross and Waterloo bridges on the 12th of September 1878. It is made of granite and stands roughly 21 meters tall and weighs about 180 tons.
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The clerestory is that part of the walls of a Gothic church which rise above the aisle and contains a row of windows. Its purpose being to admit as much light as possible to the nave.
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A cloaca was a Roman sewer.
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A cloister is a covered passage or ambulatory on one side of a court; the term is also applied to a series of such passages on the different sides of any court, especially that of a monastery or a college.
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In architecture, a cloister garth is the garden or open part of a court enclosed by the cloisters.
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In architecture a clustered column is a column which is composed of, or appears to be composed of several columns collected together. They are sometimes attached to each other throughout their whole height, and sometimes only at the capital and base.
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In decorating, a coat is a film of paint, varnish or similar decorative liquid applied to a surface in a single application.
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Cob is a mixture of damp clay, chopped straw and small stones used in a British West Country building technique.
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A cobbled house is a round house with dry-stone walls and a domed roof.
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In architecture, a coffer is a panel or compartment deeply recessed in the ceiling of a vault, dome, or portico and of an ornamental character, usually enriched with mouldings, and having a rose, pomegranate, etc, in the centre.
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In masonry, cofferwork is a term used to describe rubblework faced with stone.
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In architecture, a collar beam (also known simply as a collar) is a horizontal piece of timber connecting and tying together two opposite rafters.
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A colonnade is a row of columns, frequently covered with a roof projecting from an adjacent building. Colonnades were common in ancient Greece. When in front of a building, it is called a portico; when surrounding a building or an open court or square, it is called a peristyle.
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The Colosseum is a famous building in Rome. Its construction started under Emperor Vespasian in 72 and was completed in 80. The Colosseum was intended for gladiatorial combats and is shaped in a large ellipse with tiers of stone benches around a central space, and no roof.
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Colour combing is the production of patterns by means of lifting or combing wet colour to reveal a differently coloured ground.
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In decorating, a colour wash is a broad area decorated with a coat of inexpensive material such as soft distemper or lime wash.
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In Roman antiquities, a columbarian was a place of sepulture for the ashes of the dead after the custom of burning the dead had been introduced. Columbaria consisted of arched and square-headed recesses formed in walls in which the cinerary urns were deposited, and were so named from the resemblance between these recesses and those formed for the doves to build their nests in in a dove-cot.
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In architecture, a column is an upright support in a building, usually of stone, with a decorated base and capital.
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In architecture, a compass window is a circular bay window or oriel window.
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A compluvium was a space left unroofed over the court of a Roman dwelling, through which the rain fell into the impluvium or cistern.
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The Composite order refers to an architectural style made up of elements of the four other orders: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian.
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In architecture, a concha is a plain semi-dome of an apse; sometimes the term is used to describe the entire apse.
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Concrete is a composition used in building, consisting of hydraulic or other mortar mixed with gravel or stone chippings about the size of a nut. It is used extensively in building, particularly under water, for example, to form the bottom of a canal or sluice, or the foundation of any structures raised in the sea; and it is also frequently used to make a bed for asphalt pavements, or to form foundations for buildings of any kind. It is has sometimes even used as the material with which the walls of houses are built, the concrete being firmly rammed into moulds of the requisite shape, and then allowed to set. Following the Second World War, with so many homeless people in Britain large swaythes of concrete social houses were erected as temporary homes, these buildings having an approximate life-span of fifty years.
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In architecture the term conduit applies to both a structure forming a reservoir for water and a narrow passage used for private communication.
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In Roman Catholic churches and chapels, a confessional is a kind of enclosed seat in which the priest sits to hear persons confess their sins. The confessional is often not unlike a sentry-box, the priest sitting within and the penitent kneeling without and speaking through an aperture. Many confessionals are in three divisions or compartments, the centre, which is for the reception of the priest, being closed half-way up by a dwarf door, and having a seat within it. The side compartments, which communicate with the centre by grated apertures, are for the penitents.
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Properly a conservatory is a plant-house in which the plants are raised in a bed or border without the use of pots, the building being frequently attached to a house. The principles of their construction is in all respects the same as for the greenhouse, with the single difference that the plants were in the free soil, and grow from the floor instead of being in pots placed on shelves or stages.
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In architecture, a console is a projecting ornament or bracket having for its contour generally a curve of contrary flexure. It
is employed to support a cornice, bust, vase, or the like, but is frequently used merely as an ornament.
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Coping is the highest or covering course of masonry in a wall, often with sloping edges to carry off water. It is sometimes called capping.
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In architecture a corbeil is a sculptured basket of flowers.
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A corbel is a bracket supporting a superincumbent object, or receiving the spring of an arch.
Corbels were employed largely in Gothic architecture. A common form of corbel consists of courses of stones or bricks, each projecting slightly beyond the next below it.
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A corbel-table is a horizontal row of corbels, with the panels or filling between them.
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In architecture, corbelling refers to blocks stacked upon one another, each one projecting beyond the ones below. A corbelled arch is held in position by the weight of the superstructure operating on the cantilever principle. Examples of corbelled arches are to be found in the Mycenaean theolos tombs.
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In architecture, corbiesteps or crowsteps are the steps in which a gable wall is often finished in place of a continuous slope. They are common in old Scotch architecture, into which they were probably introduced from France.
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Corfe Castle is an English castle in Dorsetshire, now in ruins, standing a little north of a small town, to which it gives its name, and with which it is connected by a bridge of four arches. Corfe Castle was built by King Edgar, and at its gate his son Edward the Martyr was murdered in 979.
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The Corinthian order of architecture was a light, ornamental style of architecture invented by the Greeks, but more commonly used by the Romans. It is characterised by ornate bases and even more ornate capitals, often decorated with graceful foliated forms. The column is generally fluted, with a fillet between the flutings, and stands upon a base. The entablature is variously decorated, especially the cornice ; the frieze may be quite plain, or sculptured with foliage and animals.
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A corner knife is a broad, sharp-edged knife mounted on a light wooden handle and used in the decorating trade in a manner similar to a casing wheel for rapidly trimming surplus wallpaper from around skirtings and architraves.
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In architecture a cornice is any horizontal, moulded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as for example the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house.
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In architecture, a corona is the projecting part of a Classic cornice, the under side of which is cut with a recess or channel so as to form a drip.
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A corridor is a gallery or passageway leading to several apartments of a house.
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The term cottage was originally applied to a small house without land, and is mentioned in 1275. By 1900 the term cottage was being applied to a small country residence or detached suburban house, adapted to a moderate scale of living, yet with all due attention to neatness, comfort, and refinement. By the later 20th century, cottages were no longer small houses compared to the small terrace houses and apartments being constructed.
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In architecture a couple-close is a pair of rafters framed together with a tie fixed at their feet, or with a collar beam.
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In architecture, a courier is a continuous level range of brick or stones of the same height throughout the face or faces of a building.
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A coursing joint is the mortar joint between two courses of bricks or stones.
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In architecture, a coussinet is a stone placed on the impost of a pier for receiving the first stone of an arch. The term is also applied to that part of the Ionic capital between the abacus and quarter round, which forms the volute.
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In architecture a cove is a concave moulding. The term is also applied to a member, whose section is a concave curve, used especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as around a skylight.
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A coved ceiling is a ceiling, the part of which next the wail is constructed in a cove.
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A coved vault is a vault composed of four coves meeting in a central point, and therefore the reverse of a groined vault.
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In architecture, coving is the series of coves fitted as the concaved surface under the overhang of a projecting upper story. The term is also applied to the splayed jambs of a flaring fireplace.
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In painting and decorating, cracking is a defect occurring in paintwork usually because of the application of a hard drying coat of paint over a softer and more elastic coat, with the result that the coats of paint contract and expand differently. Cracking can be caused by not allowing the undercoat enough time to dry.
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Crannogs is the name given in Ireland and Scotland to the platforms supported by piles in lakes, which were in use as dwelling-places and places of refuge among the old Celts.
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Crapaudine is an architectural term referring to a door which turns on pivots at the top and bottom.
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In architecture, creasing is a layer of tiles forming a corona for a wall.
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Crenelated Moulding is a kind of indented moulding used in Norman buildings.
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A crenelle is an embrasure in an embattled parapet or breastwork. The adjective crenellated is applied in architecture to a kind of embattled or indented moulding of frequent occurrence in buildings of the Norman style.
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In architecture, the ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc are called the crest.
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In Gothic architecture, a creste is a floriated ornament finishing the gable or roof of a building. They were prevalent during the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. A creste consists of a low screen of stone of beautiful workmanship , usually foliage, conventionally treated. Tiles were used and also later metal including brass, gilded iron and bronze.
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In architecture, cresting is an ornamental finish on the top of a wall or ridge of a roof.
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In architecture a cricket is a small false roof, or the raising of a portion of a roof, so as to throw off water from behind an obstacle, such as a chimney.
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In Gothic architecture, a crocket is an ornament often resembling curved and bent foliage, projecting from the sloping edge of a gable, spire, etc.
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In architecture, crockets are projecting knobs decorated with foliage designs. Crockets are to be found placed at regular intervals on spires, pinnacles and capitals of 13th century architecture.
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Crusaders are frequently represented on their tombs with their legs crossed. The depiction of a knight with his legs crossed indicates that the knight died in the Christian faith. If the legs are crossed at the ankles, it indicates that the knight went on one crusade; if the legs are crossed at the knees, it indicates that the knight went on two crusades; while legs crossed at the thighs indicates a knight who went on three or more crusades.
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In architecture a cross-springer is one of the ribs in a groined arch, springing from the corners in a diagonal direction.
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In architecture, cross-vaulting is vaulting formed by the intersection of two or more simple vaults.
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In architecture, a crosette is a return in one of the corners of the architrave of a door or window.
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Crossing is a decorating term referring to the distribution of paint evenly to a surface. In crossing, the paint is brushed on and then the brush taken across the work at a right angle to the direction of the previous stroke. With each stroke the pressure on the brush is reduced so as to eliminate brush marks.
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Crow's footing is a defect in a painted or varnished surface whereby small wrinkles resembling a crow's foot appear. Crow's footing is often caused by the formation of a surface skin.
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In architecture the term crown applies to the vertex or top of an arch. The term is generally applied to about one third of the curve, but in a pointed arch to the apex only.
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The crown pot was a British clay chimney pot, similar to the Bishop Pot, but having a serrated edge of six triangles rather than eight.
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In architecture the crowstone is the top stone of the gable end of a house.
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A crypt was originally a subterranean cell or cave, especially one constructed for sepulture, the term is now used for a chamber or compartment under a church or public building. In early Christian churches it was usually built to hold a saint's tomb or the relics of saints. A crypt is usually set apart for monumental purposes, but is sometimes used as a chapel. The crypt is a common feature of cathedrals, being always at the east end, under the chancel or apse. The largest in England is that of Canterbury Cathedral;
that of Glasgow Cathedral, formerly used as a separate church, is 'one of the most perfect pieces of architecture' in Britain.
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The Crystal Palace was a large building with a central hall, 1600 ft long, built entirely of iron and glass, with towers at either end 282 ft high, at Sydenham in London. It was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton and reconstructed in 1854 from the building used for the Great Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was originally designed as a great educational museum of art, natural history, ethnology, etc. It was composed entirely of glass and iron, and consists of a long and lofty nave intersected at regular distances by three transepts, of which the central was 384 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 168 feet interior height. It lay in about 200 acres of ground excellently laid out for recreation, and possessed many permanent attractions apart from the annual round of concerts , flower shows, pyrotechnical displays etc. Chief among these was the collection of casts of architectural ornaments and sculptures arranged in the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Alhambra, Byzantine, Mediaeval, Renaissance and Italian courts. The Crystal Palace and its grounds cost the Crystal Palace Company 1.5 million pounds, and by 1906 had still hardly paid for themselves.
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Crystal paper varnish was a very pale varnish usually made from spirit-soluble resins, formerly used for varnishing coloured papers in bathrooms and kitchens. Crystal paper varnish had a tendency to discolour over time and its use was replaced by pale synthetic resins during the later half of the 20th century.
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A cullis is a gutter in a roof; a channel or groove.
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A culvert is an arched walled underground watercourse, usually built of masonry or brickwork.
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In architecture, a cupola is a roof having a rounded form, hemispherical or nearly so. The term is also applied to a ceiling having the same form. When on a large scale it is usually called a dome.
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In architecture, a curb is an assemblage of three or more pieces of timber, or a metal member, forming a frame around an opening, and serving to maintain the integrity of that opening. The term also describes a ring of stone serving a similar purpose, as at the eye of a dome.
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In architecture a curb plate is a plate serving the purpose of a curb.
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In architecture, a curb roof is a roof in which the rafters, instead of continuing straight down from the ridge to the walls, are at a given height received on plates, which in their turn are supported by rafters less inclined to the horizon, so that this kind of roof presents a bent appearance, whence its name. It is also called also a Mansard Roof, from the name of its French inventor.
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A curbstone is a stone set along a margin as a limit and protection, as along the edge of a sidewalk next the roadway as an edge stone.
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In architecture the term curtain applies to that part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
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In painting and decorating, curtaining refers to the occurrence of sagging or 'curtains' in paint, enamel or varnish films applied to vertical surfaces and being due to uneven application, and which manifests itself in the formation of thick lines of paint resembling a slung curtain.
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In architecture a cushion capital is a capital so sculptured as to appear like a cushion pressed down by the weight of its entablature. The name is also given to a form of capital, much used in the Romanesque style, modelled like a bowl, the upper part of which is cut away on four sides, leaving vertical faces.
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In architecture a cusp is a triangular protection from the intrados of an arch, or from an inner curve of tracery.
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In painting and decorating, cutting down refers to the rubbing down of a painted surface with abrasives. The term is generally applied to the grinding down of a glossy surface.
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In painting and decorating, the term cutting in applies to finishing off a section of paintwork in a neat line.
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A cutting tool (or sash tool) is a decorator's round brush, about two centimetres in diameter, used for cutting in windows and the like.
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In ancient architecture, cyclopean works are masonry constructed with huge blocks of stone unhewn and uncemented, found in Greece, Sicily, Asia Minor, etc. A similar style of work is to be found in the British isles, as the Rock of Cashel in Ireland or the Laws near Broughty-Ferry in Scotland.
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In architecture, cylindrical vaulting is the most ancient mode of vaulting, called also a wagon, barrel, or tunnel roof. It is a plain half-cylinder without either groins or ribs.
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In architecture a cyma is a wavy moulding the profile of which is made up of a curve of contrary flexure, either concave at top and convex at bottom or the reverse. In the first case it is called a cyma recta; in the second a cyma reversa. It is a member of the cornice, standing below the abacus or corona.
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In architecture, a cymatium is a capping or crowning moulding found in classic architecture.
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In architecture a cyrtostyle is a circular projecting portion.
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Abbreviations
Architecture
