In architecture, a dado is that part of a pedestal included between the base and the cornice (or surbase), and in a wall, that part of the basement included between the base and the base course. In interior decoration, the dado is the lower part of the wall of an apartment when adorned with mouldings, or otherwise specially decorated. Research Dado
In architecture, a dais, des or dese, is a raised floor at the head of a dining-room, formerly decorated with a canopy, designed for use by guests of distinction. Research Dais
In architecture, the term dead wall (also known as a blank wall or a blind wall) refers to a wall whose surface is unbroken by windows, doors or other openings. Research Dead Wall
The decorated style is a name given by some writers to the perfected English Gothicarchitecture also known as the second style of pointed architecture, which flourished from about 1300 to 1375 when it passed into the Perpendicular style. Rickman used the term to describe the period between the Early English and Perpendicular style, occupying most of the 14th century, and based his definition mainly upon window designs, many of which made use of the then new art of bar tracery.
The decorated style may be briefly distinguished from the Early English, from which it was developed, by the more flowing or wavy lines of its tracery, especially of its windows, by the more graceful combinations of its foliage, by the greater richness of the decorations of the capitals of its columns, and of the mouldings of its doorways and niches, finials, etc, and generally by a style of ornamentation more profuse and naturalistic, though perhaps somewhat florid. The most distinctive ornament of the style is the ball-flower, which is usually inserted in a hollow moulding.
The Decorated style has been divided into two periods: the Early or Geometrical Decorated period, in which geometrical figures are largely introduced in the ornamentation; and the Decorated style proper, in which the peculiar characteristics of the style are exhibited. To this latter period belong some of the finest monuments of British architecture.
The Decorated style exhibits the most complete and perfect development of Gothicarchitecture, which in the Early English style was not fully matured, and in the Perpendicular style began to decline. The most prominent characteristic of this style is to be found in the windows, the tracery of which is always either of geometrical figures, circles, quatrefoils, etc, as in the earlier instances, or flowing in wavy lines, as in the later examples: the forms and proportions of the windows differ very considerably; when the heads are pointed, the arches are, perhaps, most usually equilateral, although abundant instances are to be found in which arches of different proportions are used;
sometimes they are segmental and pointed segmental, sometimes, especially in Northamptonshire, they are Ogees, and not infrequently the heads are perfectly flat. There are also some very fine circular windows of this style, as in the south transept at Lincolncathedral.
The doorways. of this style have frequently a close resemblance to those of the Early English, and, are chiefly distinguished by the ornaments. Sometimes a series of niches, with figures in them, is carried up the sides and round the heads of the doorways; and sometimes foliatedtracery, hanging free from one of the outer mouldings of the arch, is used in doorways, monumental recesses, etc; these have a very elegant effect, but occur usually in rich specimens only. A weather-moulding, or dripstone, is generally used over the heads of doorways, windows, niches, etc, the ends of which are supported on corbel heads, or bosses of foliage, or are returned in various ways; this is not infrequently formed into an ogee and crocketed, and surmounted with a finial so as to become a canopy, and sometimes it is formed into a triangularcanopy, or a triangularcanopy is placed above the weather-moulding; this arrangement is exceedingly common in this style, and not very prevalent in either of the others.
The pillars in rich buildings are either of clustered shafts, or moulded; in plainer buildings they are usually either octagonal or circular; when of clustered shafts the plan of the pillar very frequently partakes of the form of a lozenge: the capitals are either plain or enriched with foliage, which, like most of the ornaments in this style, is usually very well executed. Niches are very freely used, either singly, as on buttresses, etc, or in ranges, so as to have the effect of a series of deeply sunk panels, and both are usually surmounted by crocketed canopies.
The mouldings of the Decorated style generally consist of rounds and hollows separated by small fillets, and are almost always extremely effective, and arranged so as to produce a very pleasing contrast of light and shade; the hollows are frequently enriched with running foliage, or with flowers at intervals, particularly the ball-flower, and a flower of four leaves, which succeeded the tooth ornament of the preceding style; this is often carved with a bold projection and produces a very fine effect, as on the outside of some of the windows at Kingsthorpechurch, Northamptonshire.
The Decorated style prevailed throughout the greater part of the fourteenth century; it was first introduced in the reign of Edward I, some of the earliest examples being the celebrated crosses erected to the memory of Queen Eleanor, who died in 1290; but it was in the reigns of his successors, Edward II and Edward III, that this style was in general use. Research Decorated Style
In architecture, a dentil or dentel is one of a series of small square projecting blocks in the moulding of an Ionic, Corinthian or Compositecornice. They were originally employed as a decorative representation of the beam-ends of a wooden roof, the term has been extended to apply to objects made of wood. Research Dentil
A diaper is a device employed in Gothicarchitecture for decorating the plain surface of a wall. It is a pattern of leaves and flowers, and sometimes it is worked into squares or lozenges. Diapers are sometimes carved in stone and sometimes painted and are generally used only in interior work. Research Diaper
Diastyle is an arrangement of columns in Grecian and Roman architecture in which the inter-columniation or space between the columns is equal to three, or according to some four, diameters of the shaft. Research Diastyle
Dinas Brick is an infusible kind of brick made of a peculiar rock, containing 98 per cent of silica, with a little alumina, which occurs at Dinas, in the vale of Neath, in south Wales. The rock is crushed, moistened and moulded by a machine. Research Dinas Brick
In architecture, a discharging arch or relieving arch is an arch over a door, window, or other opening, designed to distribute the pressure of the wall above and thus relieve the part which is below it from the superincumbent weight. Such arches are commonly used over lintels and flat-headed openings. Research Discharging Arch
In painting and decorating, distemper is properly a composition of common white bound with either glue size or casein. The term is loosely, and inaccurately, frequently applied to any form of water paint or water thinned material. Research Distemper
In architecture the term distyle refers to a structure having two columns in front. It is used to describe a temple, portico, or the like. Research Distyle
In architecture, a ditriglyph is an interval between two columns admitting two triglyphs in the entablature. This arrangement of the intercolumniations was peculiar to the Doric order. Research Ditriglyph
In architecture the term dodecastyle refers to a structure having twelve columns in front. It is used to describe a temple, portico, or the like. Research Dodecastyle
In architecture the term dog-legged describes a flight of stairs, consisting of two or more straight portions connected by a platform (landing) or platforms, and running in opposite directions without an intervening well hole. Research Dog-Legged
A dome is a vaulted roof of spherical or other curvature, covering a building or part of it, and forming a common feature in Byzantine and also in Renaissancearchitecture. Cupola is also used as a synonym, or is applied to the interior, dome being applied to the exterior. Domes of the 19th century were semielliptical in vertical section, and were constructed of timber or cast-iron; but the ancient domes were nearly hemispherical and constructed of stone. Research Dome
A donjon is the grand central tower or keep of a Norman or mediaeval castle, frequently raised on an artificial elevation. It was the strongest portion of the building, a high square tower with walls of enormous thickness usually detached from the surround buildings by an open space walled, called the Inner Bailey, and another beyond called the Outer Bailey. Here, in case of the outward defences being breached, the garrison retreated to make their last stand. The donjon contained the great hall, and principal rooms of state for solemn occasions, and also the prison of the fortress. Research Donjon
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-Morthenchurch, 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 Lincolncathedral. The ornaments were used almost entirely on the outside, the inside usually being (as in all the styles of Gothicarchitecture) 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 Saxoncalendar.
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 Forestmarble, 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 cinquefoilarch, 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 BeverleyMinster, 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 YorkMinster, 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 featheredtracery, 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. Research Door
A door-nail is the plate or knob upon which a door-knocker strikes. From the door-nail comes the expression 'dead as a door-nail' an illusion to the numerous heavy blows upon the head that a door-nail receives, which must leave little capacity for life. Research Door-Nail
The Doric Order is the oldest and simplest of the three orders used by the Greeks, but it is ranked as the second of the five orders adopted by the Romans. The shaft of the column, has twenty flutings, which are separated by a sharp edge and not by a fillet as in the other orders, and they are less than a semicircle in depth. The moulding below the abacus of the capital is an ovolo, the architrave of the entablature is surmounted with a plain fillet, called the tenia: the frieze is ornamented by flat projections, with three channels cut in each, which are called triglyphs; the spaces between these are called metopes. Under the triglyphs and below the tenia of the architrave are placed small drops or guttae. Along the top of the frieze runs a broad fillet, called the capital of the triglyphs; the soffit of the cornice has broad and shallow blocks worked on it, called mutules, one of which is placed over each-metope and each triglyph. On the under surface are several rows of guttae or drops. In these respects the order, as worked both by the Greeks and Romans, is identical, but in other points there are considerable differences.
In the pure Grecian examples of the Doric Order the column has no base, and its height rises from about four to six and a half diameter; the capital has a perfectly plain square abacus, and the ovolo is but little if at all curved in section, except at, the top where it is quirked under the abacus. Under the ovolo are a few plain fillets and small channels, and a short distance below them a deep narrow channel is cut in the shaft; the flutes of the shaft are continued up to the fillets under the ovolo.
In the Roman Doric the shaft is usually seven diameters high, and generally has a base, sometimes the Attic and sometimes that which is peculiar to the order, consisting of a plinth and torus with an astragal above it; the capital has a small moulding round the top of the abacus, and the ovolo is in section a quarter-circle, and is not quirked. Under the ovolo are two or three small fillets, and below them a collarino or neck. According to the Roman method of working this order, the triglyphs at the angles of buildings must be placed over the centre of the column, and the metopes must be exact squares. Sometimes the mutules are omitted, and a row of dentils is worked under the cornice. Research Doric Order
In architecture a dormant (also known as a dormant-tree or dormond) is a large beam in the roof of a house upon which portions of the other timbers rest or sleep. Research Dormant
In architecture a dormer is a window pierced in a roof, and so set as to be vertical while the roof slopes away from it. The term also applies to the gablet, or house like structure, in which it is contained. Research Dormer
A dormitory is a sleeping apartment. The term was originally generally used with reference to the sleeping room of the inmates of monasteries and religious establishments, which was of considerable size, and sometimes had a range of cells parted off on each side, as in the Bede-house at Higham Ferrars, Northamptonshire, and St. Mary's hospital, Chichester. In more modern times the term came to describe any sleeping apartment in which a large number of beds were placed - as contrasting to a bedroom with only one or a few beds. Research Dormitory
In architecture, dosel are the hangings round, the walls of a hall, or at the east end, and sometimes the sides, of the chancel of a church: the name arises from their being placed at the back of the priests officiating at the Altar, and behind the seats in a hall. They were made of tapestry or carpet-work, and for churches were frequently richly embroidered with silks, and gold, and silver. The term is also sometimes applied to the covering of the back of a seat, and occasionally cushions of the same set are enumerated with them. Research Dosel
In architecture, a double-vault is one vault built over another so that a space is left between the two. It is used in domes or vaulted roofs when the external and internal arrangements require vaults differing in size or shape, the outer and upper vault being made to harmonize with the exterior of the building, the inner or lower with the interior. Research Double-Vault
In masonry, the term draft describes a narrow border left on a finished stone, worked differently from the rest of its face, and also a narrow border worked to a plane surface along the edge of a stone, or across its face, as a guide to the stone-cutter. Research Draft
A drawbridge is a bridge with a lifting floor, such as were formerly used for crossing the ditches of fortresses, or any movable bridge over a navigable channel where the height of the roadway is insufficient to allow vessels to pass underneath. Modern drawbridges across rivers, canals, the entrances of docks, etc, are generally made to open horizontally, and the movable portion is called a bascule, balance, or lifting bridge, a turning, swivel, or swing bridge, or a rolling bridge, in accordance with the mode in which it is made to open. Swing-bridges are usually divided into two parts meeting in the middle, and each moved on pivots on the opposite sides of the channel, or they may move as a whole on a pivot in the middle of the channel. Rolling bridges are suspended from a structure high above the water, and are propelled backwards and forwards by means of rollers. Research Drawbridge
A drawing-room was traditionally a room to which the ladies withdrew (whence the name) or retired to after dinner, leaving the men to their port, cigars and talk. In general terms, drawing-room became a room appropriated for the reception of company; a room in which distinguished personages hold levees, or private persons receive parties. Research Drawing-Room
In architecture, dressings are the mouldings and sculptured decorations of all kinds which are used on .the walls and ceilings of a building for the purpose of ornament. Research Dressings
In architecture the drip is that part of a cornice, sillcourse, or other horizontal member, which projects beyond the rest, and is of such section as to throw off the rain water. Italian architects call it a corona. Research Drip
In architecture, a dripstone (also called a hood moulding, label, weather-moulding, water-table, or hoodmould) is a projecting tablet or moulding over the heads of doorways, windows, archways, niches, etc, in Norman and Gothicarchitecture, either for ornament or to throw off the rain. It is used both in internal and external work. It is not in general carried below the level of the springing of the arch, except over windows in which the tracery extends below that level, when it is usually continued to the bottom of the tracery; occasionally it descends the whole length of the jamb, as at the north doorway of Othamchurch, Kent.
In the Norman style the dripstone does not in general project much from the face of the wall, and it usually consists of a few very simple mouldings, often of a flat fillet with a splay or slight hollow on the lower side, and it is frequently enriched with billets or other small ornaments; sometimes it is continued horizontally on the wall as a spring, level with the springing of the arch, but it oftener stops upon a corbel or on the impost-moulding, which is prolonged far enough to receive it.
In the Early English style, the dripstone is generally rather small, but clearly defined, with a deep hollow on the lower side; it varies however considerably in mouldings and proportion. It usually terminates with a small corbel (very frequently a head), or a boss of foliage, sometimes with a short horizontal return, and sometimes it is carried along the wall as a string.
In the two preceding styles the dripstone follows the general shape of the arch, but in the Decorated style it frequently takes the form of an ogee, while the arch is of a simple curve, and in such cases it is very commonly surmounted by a finial and is often crocketed, when it is sometimes called a canopy. It is very rarely continued along the wall in the Decorated style, but terminates with a short return, as at St. Martin's Canterbury; or on a corbel head, a boss of foliage, or some other sculptured ornament; or the end is tuned up or curled in several ways, which are characteristic of the style, as at Chippenham.
In the Perpendicular style, when the outer mouldings of doorways and other openings, etc, are arranged in a square over the arch, the dripstone follows the same form. In other cases it follows the curve of the arch or is changed to an ogee, and has sometimes a finial and crockets on it, as in the Decorated style it is not infrequently continued horizontally along the wall as a string, but this is not the most usual arrangement. It very commonly terminates with a head, an animal, or other sculptured ornament, sometimes with a shield or an heraldic device, as at the west doorway of Crowhurstchurch, Sussex. It also frequently ends in a circular, square, or octagonal return, which usually encloses a small flower or other ornament; a plain horizontal return is likewise very common. Research Dripstone
In architecture, a drum is one of the cylindrical, or nearly cylindrical, blocks, of which the shaft of a column is composed. The term is also applied to a vertical wall, whether circular or polygonal in plan, carrying a cupola or dome. Research Drum
In architecture, a dry well, also known as an absorbing well or a waste well, is a well used for draining away surface water and carrying it underground where it may be soaked up by the surrounding ground. Research Dry Well
Dry-out is a plastering term for when plaster which has had accelerators added dries before it is set. Subsequent decoration can result in water present in the decorating substance being absorbed by the plaster and the setting process restarted resulting in the skimming coat to buckle and flake off. Research Dry-Out
The Dublin can was a style of elegant, yet simple, British clay chimney pot, slightly tapering with a thick bulge below the top and a thicker base. Research Dublin Can
Properly, a dungeon is the principal tower or keep of a castle. It was always the strongest and least accessible part of the building, and was of greater height than the rest. When the ground on which the castle stood was uneven the dungeon was usually placed on the most elevated spot. Sometimes it was built on an artificial mound, as at Gisors in Normandy. In general the approach to it was through the outer courts or ballia of the castle, and there was frequently a deep ditch round the walls of the dungeon. The dungeon was the last retreat of the garrison in case of siege, and in the lower story were vaults for the keeping of prisoners, hence the term dungeon became general for a place of close confinement. The dungeon also contained the apartments of the governor. From their great solidity the dungeons or keeps of ancient castles are usually far more perfect at this day than any other parts of the building, and many remain in a nearly perfect condition, with the exception of the floors and roofs, as the White Tower of London, the keeptowers at Rochester, Guildford, Conisborough, and Norwich; Gisors and Falaise in Normandy; and Loches in Touraine. Research Dungeon
Dunnottar Castle is an extensive ruin on the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on a precipitous rock rising from the sea. It dates from the close of the 14th century, and was long the stronghold of the Keiths, earls marischal. During the Commonwealth this castle was selected for the preservation of the Scottish regalia; and in 1685 it was used as a state prison for Covenanters. It was dismantled in 1720. Research Dunnottar Castle
Duplex paper is quality embossed wallpaper, reinforced with an additional backing paper that takes most of the strain when the paper is hung and reduces the tendency for the embossing to be misshapen or flattened during hanging. Research Duplex Paper
A durbar was an audience-room in the palaces of the native princes of India; and hence the name was given to a general reception by a ruler in British India or by any officer of rank. Research Durbar
A duster brush (jamb duster) is a painter's large brush, about ten centimetres wide and three centimetres thick with long bristles, about eight centimetres long. A duster brush is used for removing dry grit, dirt and dust prior to painting. Research Duster Brush
Abbreviations
Architecture
Research Dado
