GLOSSARY OF COMMON TERMS
1. Turret
2. Finial
3. Dormer
4. Wood shingles in gable peak
5. Brackets
6. Gable detailing on porch
7. Grouped columns set on brick piers
8. Brick arch
9. 1 over 1 double hung sash windows
10. Stone belt course
11. Stone water table
12. Cut stone foundation
Addition -- New construction added to an existing building or structure.
Alteration -- Work which impacts any exterior architectural feature including construction, reconstruction, or removal of any building or building element.
Baluster -- A turned or rectangular upright member supporting a stair rail.
Balustrade -- An entire railing system with top rail and balusters.
Bargeboard -- A board which hangs from the projecting end of a gable roof covering the end rafters, and often sawn into a decorative pattern.
Bay Window -- A window in a wall that projects at an angle to another wall.
Board and Batten -- Siding fashioned of boards set vertically and covered where their edges join by narrow strips called battens.
Bracket -- An ornamental or structural member or both set under a projecting element, such as the eaves of a house.
Bungalow -- Common house form of the early 20th century distinguished by horizontal appearance, wide eaves, large porches and multi-light doors and windows.
Capital -- The head of a column or pilaster.
Colonial Revival -- House style of the early 20th century based on interpretations of architectural forms of the American colonies prior to the Revolution.
Column -- A vertical support, usually supporting a member above.
Corbel -- In masonry, a projection, or one of a series of projections, each stepped progressively farther forward with height and articulating a cornice or supporting an overhanging member.
Corinthian Order -- Most ornate classical order. Characterized by a capital with ornamental acanthus leaves and curled fern shoots.
Cornice -- The uppermost projecting part of an entablature, or a feature resembling it. Any projecting ornamental molding along the top of a wall, building, etc.
Cresting -- Decoration applied along roof ridges generally consisting of ornamental metal.
Dentils -- A row of small tooth-like blocks in a classical cornice.
Doric Order -- A classical order with simple, unadorned capitals.
Dormer Window -- A window that projects from a roof.
Double Hung Window -- A window with two sashes, one sliding vertically over the other.
Eaves -- The edge of a roof that projects beyond the face of a wall.
Efflorescence -- A white powdery deposit on masonry or plaster caused by mineral salts migrating to the surface as a result of evaporation.
Elevation -- Any one of the external faces of a building.
Ell -- The rear wing of a house, generally one room wide and running perpendicular to the principal building.
Engaged Column -- A round column attached to the wall.
Entablature -- The band of moldings near the top of a facade, divided into cornice, frieze, and architrave.
Facade -- The face or front of a building.
Fanlight -- A window, usually semi-circular over a door, with radiating muntins suggesting a fan.
Fenestration -- The arrangement of windows on a building.
Finial -- A pointed ornament at a gable peak
Fluting -- Shallow, concave grooves running vertically on the shaft of a column, pilaster, or other surface.
Fretwork -- Ornamental woodwork, cut into a pattern, often elaborate.
Frieze Board -- A flat board at the top of a wall directly beneath the cornice.
Gable -- The triangular section of a wall to carry a pitched roof.
Gable Roof -- A roof with a central ridge and one slope at each side.,
Greek Revival Style -- Mid-19th century revival of forms and ornament of architecture of ancient Greece.
Hipped Roof -- A roof with uniform slopes on all four sides.
Hood Mold -- A projecting molding above an arch, doorway or window.
Ionic Order -- A classical order characterized by a capital with spiral scrolls, called volutes.
Lattice -- An openwork grill of interlacing wood strips used as screening.
Lintel -- A horizontal beam or stone bridging an opening.
Mansard Roof -- A roof with two slopes on all four sides, with the lower slope almost vertical and the upper almost horizontal.
Metal Standing Seam Roof -- A roof composed of overlapping sections of metal such as copper-bearing steel or iron coated with a terne alloy of lead and tin. These roofs were attached or crimped together in various raised seams for which the roofs are named.
Modillion -- A horizontal bracket, often in the form of a plain block, ornamenting, or sometimes supporting, the underside of a cornice.
Mullion -- A vertical strip dividing the panes of a window.
Muntin -- A secondary framing member to hold panes within a window or glazed door.
Neo-Classical Style -- Early 20th century style which combines features of ancient, Renaissance, and Colonial architecture; characterized by imposing buildings with large columned porches.
Palladian Window -- A window with three openings, the central one arched and wider than the flanking ones.
Pediment -- A triangular space in an gable closed on all three sides.
Pilaster -- A square pillar attached, but projecting from a wall, resembling a classical column.
Porte-cochere -- A porch large enough to enclose wheeled vehicles.
Portico -- A roofed space, open or partly enclosed, forming the entrance and centerpiece of the facade of a building, often with columns and a pediment.
Pyramidal Roof -- A roof with four identical sides rising to a central peak.
Queen Anne Style -- Popular late 19th century revival style of early 18th century English architecture, characterized by irregularity of plan and massing and variety of texture.
Quoins -- Stone blocks or bricks ornamenting the outside walls of a building.
Sash -- The movable framework containing the glass in a window.
Sill -- The bottom crosspiece on a window frame.
Siding -- The exterior wall covering or sheathing of a structure.
Spalling -- Flaking of the outer face of masonry, often caused by expanding moisture in freezing conditions.
Terra Cotta -- Cast and fired clay units, used as ornamentation.
Transom -- Horizontal window like element above the door.
Vergeboard -- The vertical face board following and set under the roof edge of a gable, sometimes decorated by carving.
Weatherboard -- Wood siding consisting of overlapping boards usually thicker at one edge than the other.
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