A window in a gable, or pointed at the top like a gable.

Girder - The principal piece of timber in a floor, girding or binding the others together.

Gothic

A style of architecture with high and sharply pointed arches, clustered columns, etc.

Groined Arch

An arch having an angular curve, made by the intersection of two half-cylinders or arches, as a groined ceiling.

Gutter

A channel at the eaves of a roof to carry off the rain.

Hanging Buttress

A buttress supported on a corbel, and not resting on the solid foundation.

Helix

The little volute under the flowers of the Corinthian capital.

Hip-knob

An ornament placed upon the roof of a building, either upon the hips or at the point of the gable.

Hip-moulding

A moulding on the rafter or beam which forms the hip of a building.

Hip-roof

A roof having sloping ends and sloping sides.

Hood-moulding

A projecting moulding over the head of an arch.

Interlacing Arches

Arches usually circular; so constructed that their curves intersect or interlace.

Ionic Order

An order whose distinguishing feature is the volute of its capital. The column is more slender than the Doric and Tuscan, but less slender and less ornamented than the Corinthian and Composite.

Jamb

The side-piece or post of a door or window, or any other aperture in a building.

Kerf

To saw a notch in wood, to make it flexible or easily bent.

King-post

A post rising from the tie-beam to the roof.

Lattice

Any work of wood or iron made by crossing laths, rods, or bars, and forming a network.

Lancet Window

A high and narrow window, pointed like a lancet.

Lintel

A longitudinal piece of wood or stone placed over a door, window, or other opening; a head-piece.

Louver Window

An opening in a bell-tower church-steeple, crossed by a series of bars or sloping boards, to exclude the rain, but allow the passage of sound from the bells.

Mantel

The work over a fireplace in front of a chimney, especially a narrow shelf above the fireplace; called also Mantel-piece.

Minaret

A slender, lofty turret on the mosques of Mohammedan countries, rising by different stages or stories, and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the people are summoned to prayer.

Mitre

This term is applied to pieces meeting at an angle, and matching together on a line bisecting the angle: generally, however, an angle of 45° is called a mitre, sometimes called a square mitre; that is to say, a mitre for a square or rectangular figure.

Modillion

The enriched block or horizontal bracket generally found under the cornice of the Corinthian entablature, and sometimes less ornamented in the Ionic, Composite, and other orders.

Mullion

A slender bar or pier which forms the divisions between the lights of windows, screens, etc. One of the divisions in panellings resembling windows.

Mutule

A projecting block worked under the corona of the Doric cornice, in the same situation as the modillion of the Corinthian and Composite orders.

Nave

The middle or body of a church, extending from the choir or chancel to the principal entrance; also the part between the wings or aisles.

Newel

The upright post about which the steps of a circular staircase wind; also the principal post at the angles and foot of a staircase.

Niche

A cavity or recess, generally within the thickness of the wall, for a statue, bust, or other ornament.

Nosing

That part of the step-board of a stair that projects over the riser; also any like projection.

Ogee

A moulding consisting of two members, one concave, the other convex, or a round and a hollow.

Oriel Window

A large bay-window in a hall or chapel.

Ovolo

A round moulding; the quarter-round.

Pavilion

A temporary movable building or tent. The name is sometimes given to a summer-house in a garden.

Pedestal

The base or foot of a column. It consists of three parts, - base, dado or die, and cornice.

Pediment

The triangular, ornamental facing of a portico, or a similar decoration over doors, windows, gates, etc. The name is also applied to arched and circular ornaments of a like kind.

Pendant

A hanging ornament, used in roofs, ceilings, etc., much used in Gothic architecture.

Pilaster

A square column, usually set within a wall, and projecting a fourth or a fifth part of its diameter.

Pinnacle

A slender turret, or part of a building elevated above the main building.

Pitch of a Roof

The inclination or slope of the sides; sometimes expressed in parts of the span, as 1/3rd or 4th pitch, that is, the rise is that part of the span; sometimes by the length of the rafter in parts of the span, as 2/3rds or 3/4ths pitch, that is, the length of rafter is that part of the span. Also the Gothic pitch, where the length of rafters is the same as the span. Elizabethan pitch, in which the length of rafters is greater than the span. Grecian pitch, in which the rise is 1/9th to 1/7th of the span; and the Roman pitch, in which the rise is 1/5th to 2/9ths of the span.

Plate

A piece of timber which supports the ends of the rafters.

Plinth

A square, projecting, vertically faced member, forming the lowest division of the base of a column. The plain, projecting face at the bottom of a wall, immediately above the ground.

Planceer or Plancher

The under side of a cornice; a soffit.

Porch

A kind of vestibule at the entrance of temples, churches, halls, and other buildings; hence, an ornamental entrance-way.

Portico

A covered space, enclosed by columns, at the entrance of a building.

. Purlin. - A piece of timber extending from end to end of a building or roof, across and under the rafters, to support them in the middle.

Putlog

A piece of timber on which the planks of a stage are laid, one end resting on the ledger of the stage, and the other in a hole in the wall, left temporarily for the purpose.

Queen-post

One of the suspended posts in a truss-roof, framed below into the tie-beam, and above into the principal rafter.

Quirk

A small, acute channel, by which the rounded part of a Grecian ovolo or ogee moulding is separated from the fillet.

Rail

The horizontal part in any piece of framing or panelling.

Rake

Pitch or inclination of a roof.

Recess

Part of a room formed by the receding of the wall, as an alcove, a niche, etc.

Return

The continuation of a moulding or projection in a different direction.

Seat of a Hip, or Plan of a Hip

A level line over which a hip-rafter stands.

Scotia

A concave moulding used in the base of a column, between the fillets of the tori, and in other situations. Its outline is a segment of a circle, often greater than a semicircle. The moulding which is put under the nosing of steps.

Scroll

A convolved or spiral ornament. The volute of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals.

Soffit

Under side of stairways, archways, entablatures, cornices, or ceilings.

Spire

A body that shoots up in a conical form; a steeple.

Stall

A small apartment, where merchandise is exposed for sale, as a butcher's stall.

Stile

The upright piece in framing or panelling.

Stucco

Plaster of any kind used as a coating for walls, especially a fine plaster composed of lime or gypsum, with sand and pounded marble; used for internal decoration and fine work.

Surbase

A cornice or series of mouldings on the top of the base of a pedestal, podium, etc. The surbase of a room is sometimes called a chair-rail.

Tie-beam

A beam acting as a tie at the bottom of a pair of the principal rafters, and prevents them from thrusting out the walls.

Torus

A large moulding used in the base of a column. Its profile is semicircular.

Tower

A lofty building, much higher than it is broad, either standing alone or forming a part of another edifice, - of a church, castle, etc.

Threshold

The door-sill; the plank, stone, or piece of timber or board, that lies at the bottom or under a door of a house or other building.

Transom

A horizontal cross-bar over a door or window, sometimes used for the purpose of supporting a sash over a door.

Tracery

An ornamental divergency of the mullions in the head of a window into arches, curves, and flowing lines, enriched with foliations; the sub-divisions of groined vaults, etc.

Trellis

A structure or frame of cross-barred work, used for various purposes, as for screens for supporting plants.

Transept

A part of a church at right angles to the body of the church. In a cruciform church it is one of the arms of the cross.

Turret

A little tower or spire attached to a building, and rising above it.

Tuscan Order

The most ancient and simple of the orders of architecture. The capital is plain, unornamental, and much like that of the Doric order.

Veranda

A kind of open portico, formed by extending a sloping roof beyond the main building.

Vestibule

The porch or entrance into a house; a hall or ante-chamber next to the entrance, and from which doors open to the various rooms in the house.

Volute

A kind of spiral scroll used in • the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders of architecture.

Well-hole

The open space in the middle of a staircase beyond the ends of the steps.