A-frame: A building with a steep pitched roof extending from the foundation to the roof ridge forming an A shaped front façade. Acanthus: A representation of the leaf of a plant native to the Mediterranean region. The leaf form is the distinguishing characteristic of the Corinthian column capital. Adaptive Re-use: Altering a building to accommodate a use other than that for which it was built, for example converting an old warehouse into apartments. Arch: A curved masonry structure over an opening designed to support the weight of the wall above that opening. An arch may be round, elliptical, pointed or trefoil. Parts of an arch Keystone- The wedged-shaped top member of a brick arch that transfers the weight at the top of the arch to the adjacent solid walls. Voussoir- Wedge-shaped stones or brick at either side of the keystone. Springer- Bottom stone or brick where an arch intersects a wall or column. Parts of an arch: Shapes of an arch: basket-handle cusped Gothic horseshoe Adobe: Sun-dried brick made of clay with straw as a bonding material. ogee round Tudor Antebellum: Refers to American historic/cultural era, not a particular building style. In Latin antebellum means before war and is used to describe the 30-year time period before the American Civil War. Antebellum architecture is frequently associated with the plantation homes built in the South before the Civil War. These buildings were a mix of many styles popular at the time including the Greek Revival and Federal styles. Arcade: A series or row of arches supported by columns or walls. Architect: A formally trained and licensed designer of buildings. Architects must graduate from an accredited university (5 to 6 years of study) and then work for up to 3 years as an intern under the supervision of a registered architect. In order to become a Registered Architect he/she must pass a 7-part Architectural Registration Examination. The title Architect cannot be legally used without passing the examination. The purpose of the examination is to insure that buildings are safe to build and use. The initials RA and / or AIA designate that an individual is a Registered Architect.
Architecture: The art and science of designing and constructing buildings suitable to their purpose, one of which is beauty. Art Deco: A style popular between 1900 and 1945. Art Deco utilized sleek lines, bands of color, complex geometric shapes, cubic forms, and zigzags, this style symbolized the modern machine age. Art Moderne: A sleek, streamlined almost plain style of architecture popular from 1930-1945. Embraced by the public as a symbol of speed and technology the style was used in many types of public and private buildings. Features may include: a smooth outer skin, horizontal orientation, a flat roof, white walls, and rounded corners often with wrap-around windows. In place of stone ornamentation or wooden trim, aluminum and stainless steel were often used. Glass blocks or horizontal rows of windows or stripes gave these buildings the impression of speed or wind-blown movement. Art Nouveau: An art movement in Europe and America from the 1890s through early 1900s. The name originated with a Paris shop operated by Siegfried Bing who employed the leading designers of that time. The style was based on sinuous organic curves found in nature especially the lily. The movement s goal was to raise crafts and the decorative arts to the level of fine art. Art Nouveau influenced building design with the addition of fanciful curving wrought-iron grillwork and curved rooflines. Arts and Crafts: An artistic movement in the late 19th century supporting a return to handicrafts and natural forms. Californians Charles Greene and Henry Greene (Greene and Greene) were two of the first American designers to incorporate these ideas in home plans. Popular from 1905-1930 many different types of houses used arts and crafts elements including: prairie-style, bungalows, mission, foursquare, and western stick. The features found in an arts and crafts building can include: wood, stone, or stucco siding, a low-pitched roof, wide eaves with triangular brackets, a porch with stone supports, and many windows often with stained or leaded glass. With open floor plans, the houses had few rooms. Beamed ceilings, built-in cabinets, shelves, and seating with dark wood details are characteristics of arts and crafts influences. Attic: A low story of a building just under the roof. Balustrade: A railing or parapet consisting of a handrail on a series of miniature columns or other upright forms (balusters). Bauhaus: The 1920s German school of architecture led by architect Walter Gropius. The school promoted the theory that architecture could be a force for social change in post World War I Germany. (The word is German for house for building.) Bauhaus architects rejected ornamentation and embraced Classical forms. In the 1930s the Nazis disbanded the school and Gropius fled to the United States. The American version of Bauhaus is known as International(e) Style. A Bauhaus building may have any or all of these features: a flat roof, smooth outer skin, cubic shape, and open floor plans. Specially designed functional furniture in white, gray, beige, or black was another feature of this style. Bead Molding: A rounded, ornamental molding resembling a string of beads. Beam: A horizontal, weight-supporting member of a structural frame.
Beaux Arts: If it was big, grand, and built in America from 1885-1925, the architectural style was often Beaux Arts. Combining Greek, Roman, and Renaissance ideas this style was a favorite for public buildings and the mansions of the Gilded Age. A Beaux Arts building may have these features: massive, made of stone with columns, balustrades, cornices, pilasters, arches, excess interior ornamentation, and a grand stairway. Blueprints: Reproductions of drawings printed with a process that produced white graphics on a blue background. The blueprinting process is no longer used having been replaced by digital technology. Brick: A masonry unit made of a kiln-burned clay mixture. Builder/contractor: A licensed professional hired to put together a team to construct a home or other building from plans or designs. The team may include the surveyor, excavator, licensed plumbers and electricians, masons, and carpenters. Building Code: A set of laws created by the governing body of a city, county, parish to regulate building construction to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare of the people living in the locality. The Chief Building Official is the government official who enforces the code. Built Environment: Man-made surroundings Bungalow: An American home style popular from 1905-1930. There are many different types of bungalows including California, Craftsman, and even Spanish Colonial Revival. William Gibbons Preston designed the first American example in Massachusetts in 1879. California architects Greene and Greene are credited with popularizing the style. A bungalow may have some of these features: 1 and 1/2 stories with all rooms except bedrooms on the first floor, a living room at the center of the house, low-pitched roof, few hallways, and built-in cabinets, bookshelves, and seats. Buttress: A support, usually made of brick or stone, built against the outer wall of a structure to give it strength. California Mission: Popular from 1890-1920 and inspired by historic Spanish churches built by early settlers in California, this style is also known as Mission or Spanish Mission. It became popular when California residents rediscovered their cultural past. Though the style spread across America it was most common in the southwest. The following features are often found in California mission buildings: smooth stucco outer walls, parapets, arched windows or entry doorways, large square pillars and/or twisted columns, ornamental iron work and red tile roof. Cast Iron: A hard, brittle, nonmalleable alloy of iron, carbon, and silicon formed in a mold. In the 18 th century with new production methods, cast iron became a cheap and plentiful building material. When the influential New York architect James Bogardus advocated its use as a modern material, cast iron became a favorite with Victorian America. Cheaper than stone and paintable, the metal was used extensively in the elaborate facades of Victorian residential, commercial and industrial buildings.
Classicism: An important architectural language originating in ancient Greece and Roman and still used today. Based on a set of precise rules and architectural elements, Classicism defined standards of beauty. Marcus Vitruvius, Roman architect in the first century BC, established the importance of mathematical principles when building large public structures: without symmetry and proportion no temple can have a regular plan. Clay Tile: Roofing material made from fired clay, usually with a curved shape that interlock with the adjacent tiles. Coffer: A recessed panel in a flat or vaulted ceiling Colonial Revival: First appearing at the US Centennial Exposition in 1876, this style was the most popular home built in America through the mid-1950s. Based on elements from both Federal and Georgian architecture, it was considered simpler than Victorian. A Colonial Revival building may have the following elements: 2 or 3 stories, brick and/or wood siding, simple details, gable roof with dormers, pillars and columns, multi-paned and double-hung windows with shutters, fireplaces, and a portico topped with a pediment. This home style was usually rectangular in shape and featured a central entry hall with living areas on the first floor and bedrooms in the upper floors. Column: A supporting pillar that may be structural or decorative. Columns may be a simple vertical shaft or, as in Classical architecture, consist of 3 primary parts governed by strict rules or orders for their design and proportions. Column Types or Orders Doric - the capital is plain Tuscan - simplified Doric with even less detail Ionic - the capital is decorated with scrolls (volutes) or eyes. Corinthian - the capital is decorated with acanthus leaves Composite - the capital is decorated with leaves and scrolls Solomonic - thought to originate in the design of the Temple of Solomon, the shaft is twisted like a corkscrew. Parts of column: Base: lowest part Shaft: center or middle Capital: top Parts of a Column:
Competition: A method for selecting an architect for an important project. Open to all or by invitation only, this process is viewed as a way to find new talent. Professional ethics restricts participation of architects to competitions that are to be primarily judged by a professional jury that includes other architects. Conical: A cone-shaped architectural feature such as a roof tower. Corbel: A bracket form, usually produced by extending successive courses of masonry or wood beyond the wall surface. Cornice: The upper member of a classic entablature. A decorative form at the top of a wall or just below the roof of a building. Course: A single horizontal row of bricks or stones. Craftsman Style: Any house, furniture or interior detail incorporating ideas of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Taken from the name of a popular magazine published (1901-1916) by Gustav Stickley, an authentic craftsman home was built from plans found in his publication. Through time popular craftsman-like details were often incorporated into customs homes, pattern books or mail order kits. Bungalows are an example of a type of home that embodied craftsman design ideas. Cupola: A small ornamental dome on a circular or polygonal base found on a tower or larger roof. Also known as a belvedere. Custom Built House: A residence designed by an architect to meet the specific requirements of the person for whom it is designed. Dado: The plain space on an interior wall usually below the chair rail, decorative molding or lower part of a sill. In carpentry a dado is an incised groove in a piece of wood into which another piece of wood will fit snugly. Developer: A person or group who directs a real estate or building project from the idea to actuality. This process can include buying and preparing the raw land, hiring an architect, applying for the appropriate permits, building the structure, and leasing or selling the finished building. While they often work with others, developers assume the financial risks but also receive the financial rewards. Dormer: A window that projects from a roof. Dutch Door: A door in two horizontal parts. The top and bottom parts can be opened independently. Eave: The underside of a roof that projects beyond the exterior wall of a building. Elevation: A straight on view (front, rear, side, or interior) of any wall of a building showing the vertical and horizontal features of the design. Dormer Eyebrow: A dormer, usually of small size, with an arched or curved roof line. Façade: Face of a building, usually the front. Fanlight: An over-door or window transom, semi-circular in shape with decorative radial muntins. Eyebrow
Federal (or Adams): An American style of architecture (1780-1840) noted for its graceful details. Inspired by the 18th century designs of the Scottish Adams brothers and Greek and Roman temples, these buildings personified a new American national identity. Federal style buildings may have circular, elliptical, or Palladian windows, semicircular fanlights over entries, recessed wall arches, oval-shaped rooms, low pitched or a flat roof with balustrade, shutters, and many decorative details such as garlands and swags. The Oval Office in the White House is an example of an oval-shaped room in a Federal style building. Fenestration: The organization or design of windows in the front of the building used as a decorative element or light source. Finial: The terminal form at the top of a spire, gable, gatepost, pinnacle or other point of relative height. Foyer: The area just inside the entrance between the main interior rooms to which it leads. Finial French door: A door or pair of doors consisting of a perimeter wood frame and many small panes of glass. Frieze: A decorative (carved or painted) horizontal band above doorways or below the cornice. Gable: The triangular wall under the ridge of a pitched roof. Gargoyle: A grotesque sculptural projection from a roof scupper used to drip water away from walls, a characteristic of Gothic church architecture. Gable Geodesic Dome: A structural system for building domes invented by Buckminster Fuller in 1954 using the tetrahedron as the basic geometric shape. Fuller believed this structure was the strongest, most economical, and lightweight building form in the world. Georgian: An architectural style developed in England during the reigns of Queen Anne and George I, II, and III (1702-1830). As an American style the symmetrical Georgian Colonial was a popular house type for most economic classes in New England and the South. Copied from pattern books the American version was simpler than the English. A Georgian style building may have any or all of the following: paneled front door with a decorative crown, square or rectangular columns, paired chimneys, medium pitched roof with minimal overhang, and five windows across the front. Geodesic Dome Glass Block: A hollow glass structural unit with a plain or textured surface, it is laid up with mortar joints. Googie: An American roadside building style popular in the 1950s designed to attract car-driving customers. Outrageous, futuristic and garish these commercial buildings were often the work of carpenters, contractors, marketers and not necessarily architects. Gothic Revival: Early European and American versions of this architectural style were often made of stone and brick and looked like medieval castles and churches. The abundance of wood and factory-made architectural trim in the United States created a distinctly American version that became the dominant home style during the mid-1800s. A Gothic Revival home may have: a steep pitched roof with gables, pointed details such as windows and arches, vertical board and batten siding, and a one-story porch.
Greek Revival: In the first half of the 19 th century educated, wealthy Americans took their cultural, political and architectural inspiration from the ancient Greeks. As a patriotic gesture after the War of 1812, Americans often shunned all things British and commissioned architects to design public buildings and large homes in the Grecian style. Carpenter s guides and pattern books spread this style s popularity across the east coast. A Greek Revival building may have the following: a symmetrical shape, heavy cornice, wide, plain frieze, and simple moldings. Often the building had a columned or pillared entry porch and narrow windows around the front door. Header: A masonry wall unit laid so that the short end of the brick is exposed. Home Styles: The architectural terms used to describe the characteristics of a home usually referring to the building s appearance, structure, materials used and historic period. Traditional A traditional home is the most common residential style in the U.S. and is a mix of many historic design features. Built of wood, brick, or a combination, the house has little ornamentation, simple roofline and regularly placed windows. Ranch The ranch style home was popular from 1945-1980 and is an American architectural invention. The design was described as style-less because of its simplicity. The ranch style quickly spread to housing developments across the country. Built as a single-story of natural materials with a low-pitched, gable roof and deep-set eaves, these houses were configured in a rectangular, L, or U-shape and always included an attached garage. Large windows were an important design element and were double-hung, picture windows, or as sliders. Split-level The split-level house was a popular variation of the ranch. Always divided into several parts and built on 3 or more levels or half floors this style was popularized by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Contemporary Popular after 1965 this house style is a mix of many building styles with no set list of required characteristics. A contemporary design may include odd shapes, a variety of rooflines, little ornamentation, large panes of glass, open floor plans with fewer rooms, and use of natural building materials. House Shapes (square, rectangle, L-shaped, U-shaped, H-shaped, etc.): All building designs including houses are based on geometric shapes and mathematical ratios and principles. Interior Decorator: An individual involved in the design and execution of an architectural interior plan primarily concerned with surface decoration or aesthetics i.e. selection of paint colors, fabric, furnishings, lighting, and other materials. Decoration is often characterized as the furnishing or adorning of a space with appropriate things, often fashionable or attractive. Interior Designer: An individual who is professionally trained to create a functional and quality interior environment. Qualified through education, experience and examination, a professional designer can identify, research and creatively resolve issues and lead to a healthy, safe and comfortable physical environment (ASID - American Society of Interior Designers). Interior design is the art and science of understanding the relationship of human behavior to our physical surroundings to create functional spaces. In some states designers are required to have a license, usually by successfully passing the NCIDQ exam. This license certifies that the designer is a qualified professional who has the background and schooling required to make complex decisions about interior spaces.
International(e) Style: A term created in 1932 by historian/critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson to describe the American version of German Bauhaus architecture. While the Bauhaus School emphasized the positive social engineering aspect of architecture, the American International Style became associated with monumental commercial and public projects such as the United Nations Secretariat in New York and oversized homes of the wealthy. This style is often characterized as pure, functional and impersonal. Italianate: Designing a home to look like an imaginary Italian villa was popular in England after the 1840s. In 1860 when this architectural style reached the United States, America builders modified it to suite local interests and aesthetics. Design flexibility, less expensive building materials, and mass production of cast-iron and press-metal decorative details allowed even modest buyers an opportunity to own an Italian villa. Italianate style homes may include: a low-pitched or flat roof, rectangular shape, 2 or more stories, overhanging eaves with brackets and cornices, square cupola, tall, narrow, double-paned windows with moldings, double doors, pockets doors, and arches above windows and doors. Landscape: The natural vegetation and constructed elements surrounding a building. Landscape Architect: A person involved in the analysis, planning, design, management and oversight of the natural and built environments. A landscape architect has advanced education, professional training and must be licensed in 49 states. Light: A pane of glass. Lintel: A horizontal piece across the top of an opening used to carry weight of the wall above it. Masonry: Stone or brickwork with mortar. Millwork: Wood used to finish a carpentry project such as baseboards, trim, crown moldings, or any type of decorative wood finish. This wood is supplied by specialty mills and is more expensive than lumber and plywood. Mission Revival: A style of American home inspired by the early Spanish churches in the southwest and Spanish architecture. Popular from 1890 to 1920 these homes were first built in California. The shaded porches and dark interiors were especially appreciated in the hotter areas of the country. A Mission Revival house may have the following: smooth stucco siding, parapets, square or twisted pillars or columns, an entry porch, red tile roof, arches over windows or entryways, and ornamental ironwork. Muntin: A real or illusionary strip of wood or similar material separating panes of glass. Before the 20th century it was too expensive to manufacture large sheets of glass so smaller panes of glass were held together with strips of wood to create a larger window. Today thin strips of aluminum or plastic can be sandwiched between double-paned glass and achieve the illusion of muntins. Neoclassical: The U.S. Capital Building in Washington, D.C. is an example of new or neo classical architecture. Neoclassical is not a style, but an approach to design inspired by the architecture of Greece and Rome. The new American nation rejected the elaborate public buildings of Europe and incorporated the simplified principles of classical architecture for the country s government building (Giacomo da Vignola The Five Orders of Architecture and Palladio The Four Books of Architecture). Neoclassicism remained popular for American government buildings from 1730 through the Twentieth Century. A neoclassical building may have the following: symmetrical shape, tall columns that are the full height of the building, a domed roof, and a triangular pediment.
New Formalism: Form and visual relationships are the important design elements of this architectural style. Monumental in scale and built with rigid geometric shapes and lines, the majority of these late 20 th century buildings were designed as high-rise commercial spaces or for public use such as a national museum. Palladian: An architectural motif featuring three arched openings with the center arch larger than the other two openings. First used by the 16 th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio and based on classical principles. The design is one of the most copied architectural features in the Western world. Parquet Floor: Small sections of wood flooring laid to form geometric patterns. Pediment: The triangular of a roof gable. In classical architecture the pediment is a low gable between the roof and the frieze held up by columns. Pilaster: A flat representation of a column attached to a wall with a base and capital. Parquet Floor Plinth: The base block of a column, pedestal or other isolated object; the base block at the juncture of baseboard and trim around a door opening. Porte-Cochere: A French phrase meaning carriage porch. A structure including part of the roof extending from the front entrance of a building over the driveway to shelter people getting in or out of a vehicle. Pediment Portico: An entrance porch composed of a roof supported by columns. Postmodern: An architectural style that combines or blends new ideas with traditional forms often in a surprising or unconventional way. Prairie: An American style made popular in 1901 with the publication of Frank Lloyd Wright s article A Home in a Prairie Town in Ladies Home Journal. Wright believed Victorian homes were too confining for Americans living in the new century. With an open plan, built-in furniture, leaded glass detail, wood trim and plaster exterior, the Prairie style was popularized through pattern books and may have: a low pitched roof, overhanging eaves, low horizontal lines, central chimney and an open floor plan. Prefabricated: A building or structure with substantial parts or sections manufactured in advance off site. Quoins: A French masonry term for corner. The finished stones at the corners of buildings laid in a pattern to make the corner stronger. Revival: The reuse of stylistic features from an earlier historic architectural period. Quoins Ridgepole: The horizontal beam at the top of a roof where rafters are attached. Riser: The vertical space between the treads of a stair. Romanesque: A style of architecture inspired by historic buildings (700-1200 A.D.) and characterized by round arches, vaults and heavy use of stone. In the U.S. the popularity of Romanesque type buildings (1870s - 1900) began with architect Henry Richardson s designs for a courthouse in Pittsburgh and Boston s Trinity Church. Expensive to build with arches, parapets, towers and massive amounts of rough-faced stone, Romanesque was a style reserved for impressive public buildings and expensive homes.
Roof: The weatherproof top covering of a building. Roof Types Arched Rowhouse: One of a group of attached houses that share common a sidewall. Sash: The frame for a window. Flat Gable Hip Shed Gambrel Mansard Schematic: A diagram descriptive of the layout mechanical and electrical systems used in construction. Shingles: A wedge-shaped piece of wood or other material used in overlapping courses to cover a roof or an outside wall surface, shingles may be used as a decorative element. Sidelight: Windows on either side of a door. Sill: The horizontal closure at the bottom of a window or door frame. Sidelight Soffit: The finished underside of any structural member such as a beam, arch, eave, or overhang. Spanish Clay Tile: Red roofing material made from fired clay. Stairway: Parts include risers, treads, and banister Stoop: From the Dutch stoep, a broad platform step at the entrance to a house. Stucco: A plaster finish or a cement coating spread over metal screens, chicken wire or wooden lath to form or cover interior or exterior walls. Stairway Sustainable Building: An approach to construction used by green architects and designers, builders, planners, and developers to create buildings and communities that do not deplete natural resources but preserve them by minimizing greenhouse gases and reduce global warming through the use of local materials, renewable resources, and non-polluting construction practices. A green design uses eco-friendly materials and methods to safeguard the environment. Adaptive reuseof older buildings is an example of a sustainable building. Terracotta: Cast and fired clay units, usually larger and more intricately molded than brick. Terrazzo: Flooring material made of cement and marble chips. After hardening the floor is polished smooth to reveal the colored stone. Tread: The horizontal space between steps, usually with a rounded edge overhanging the riser. Truss: A structural framework used to span large spaces in order to support upper floors or the roof.
Tudor Style: First built during the reign of the Tudor kings this style of house was reinvented in Victorian England and America in the 1890s. While the original used half-timbers for structural engineering, the half-timbering in the modern Tudor is purely decorative. Popular in the 1920s and 1930s and revived again in the 1970s and 1980s, this style was flexible enough to fit every price point. A Tudor style house must have some of the following characteristics: half-timbering, a steeply pitched roof, cross gables, tall narrow windows with small glass panes, and massive chimneys with decorative chimney pots. Vault: A brick or stone structure forming a ceiling or roof using the principle of the arch in its construction. Wainscot: The lower section of an interior wall that is covered with paneling and has a different finish from the rest of the wall. Wrought Iron: An almost pure form of iron that is softer than steel or cast iron that can be reshaped by hammer or forge. Windows: A glazed opening in a wall for natural light and ventilation into an interior space. Window Types Single Hung - one sash moves, vertical sliding Double Hung - two sash, both move, vertical sliding. Casement - side hinged Awning - top hinged Oriel - projects from a top story and supported by a bracket Picture - fixed sash Horizontial sliding - two or more sash designed to slide one over another Bay - a set of three of more windows that protrude from the wall Jalousie - glass slats similar in look to a Venetian blind Skylight - A window in a roof Working drawings: a graphic representation of a building at a stated scale with dimensions to facilitate the construction of a building, also called Construction Documents.