Glossary of Architectural Terms
- Ashlar masonry
- Squared blocks of stone laid in courses. Random ashlar employs blocks of varying sizes laid together. Coursed ashlar employs equal sized blocks in regular courses.
- Baluster
- Vertical members supporting a cap rail or hand rail forming a balustrade.
- Bay
- A vertical division of a building marked by fenestration.
- Bay window
- An angular projection from the building face filled with fenestration.
- Bellcast
- A curve built into the bottom edge of a roof surface or a wall surface.
- Bracket
- A support, often scroll-shaped, supporting an overhang.
- Bulkhead
- A small panel at the ground level of a storefront window or opening; usually of decorative tile or wood.
- Capital
- The head of a column, sometimes carved in one of the classical orders.
- Clinker brick
- Bricks of irregular quality, damaged during the firing process, used for their picturesque effects.
- Column
- An upright member, usually rounded, consisting of a base, shaft, and capital.
- Coping
- A protective capping to a wall.
- Corbel
- A projecting block, supporting an overhang.
- Corbelling
- Masonry courses, each built out from the one below.
- Cornice
- A projection crowning a wall surface.
- Dentil
- Small square blocks in series that decorate a cornice.
- Dormer
- A structure projecting from the slope of a plane of a roof; a hipped dormer has a roof sloping to all three exposed sides, a gable dormer has a roof sloping to two sides, and a shed dormer has a single pitched roof.
- Drop finial
- A carved ornament on a roof line or at a roof crest, pointing down.
- Drop siding
- Weather boarding with a deep groove on the top outer edge that fits into a slot on the rear bottom side of the board above.
- Eave brackets
- Brackets, often decorative, under the lower edge of a roof.
- Eaves
- Horizontal roof edges.
- Facade
- The front face of a building.
- False front
- A false facade applied to a building to increase its street presence.
- Fascia
- A plain horizontal band, as part of a cornice string course.
- Fenestration
- The design and disposition of windows and openings in a structure.
- Finial
- An ornamental termination at the top of a gable or pinnacle.
- Flashing
- The metal protective cap at the top of a wall, or a weatherproof strip at a roof edge.
- Gable
- A roof pitched to two sides, oriented to either the front or side; variations include hip-on-gable (also known as a half-hipped, hipped or jerkin-headed roof).
- Gable screen
- Wooden members arranged in an open-work pattern in a gable end.
- Gambrel roof
- A dual pitched gable roof with a shallower slope above a steeper one.
- Half-timbering
- Wooden members, infilled with plaster; a decorative treatment derived from medieval heavy timber construction.
- Hammerbeam
- A truss roof system, supported on corbelled blocks projecting from the wall.
- Head
- The top of a structural opening.
- Hip
- A roof with all four sides sloped.
- Jerkin-headed
- A gable roof end with a half hip; see
gable
.
- Keystone
- The central member of an arch, usually the most prominent, often carved.
- Leaded glass
- A window pane composed of smaller pieces of glass, held together by lead cames; usually straight or cross-leaded.
- Lintel
- A horizontal beam bridging an opening.
- Mullion
- A divider or upright that sections a window into lights.
- Oriel window
- A bay window projecting from an upper storey.
- Parapet
- The extension of a wall or railing above a roof line; subject to a variety of decorative treatments.
- Pediment
- A triangular feature over a structural opening, or capping a wall.
- Pilaster
- An engaged vertical segment.
- Pitch
- The steepness of a roof.
- Porch
- A covered entry to a building.
- Purlin
- A longitudinal roof member perpendicular to the rafters.
- Rafter
- A roof member sloping from the wall plate to the ridge.
- River rock
- A naturally rounded stone; sometimes called cobbles.
- Reveal
- The surface at the side of an opening indicating the thickness of a wall.
- Rubble masonry
- Walls made with rough uncut stones of varying sizes.
- Saddlebag dormer
- A pair of low-slung shed roof dormers, one on each side of a roof ridge.
- Sidelights
- Narrow vertical windows beside an entry door.
- Sill
- The horizontal base element of a window or door.
- Soffit
- The underside of an architectural feature, usually a cornice.
- Spandrel
- The panel between the head of one window and the sill of the window immediately above. Alternately, the triangular area contained by one side of an arch.
- Stained glass
- Coloured or painted glass panels, usually assembled with lead cames.
- Stair cheeks
- The solid exterior sides of a staircase.
- Stringcourse
- A continuous projecting horizontal band or course, running horizontally around a facade; also known as a beltcourse.
- Surround
- A border to an opening or a panel.
- Terra cotta
- Fired masonry units, usually glazed; translates literally as
burnt earth
.
- Transom
- A horizontal bar dividing a window; alternately a crosspiece dividing a door or window from a panel, or fanlight above it, within the same structural opening. Also the window above such a crosspiece.
- Twin-coursed shingles
- Rows of cedar shingles with alternating narrow and wide exposure.
- Verandah
- An open gallery, usually supported on a row of columns.
- Verge Boards
- Facing boards, often decorated, hung from the projecting edge of a sloping roof; sometimes called "barge boards."