A Concise Dictionary of Architectural Terms

by John Henry Parker

Overview

John Henry Parker's remarkably timeless dictionary of architecture, first published in 1846, became such a success that he continued to revise it for several years. A profusely illustrated manual that is valuable as a reference or as a portable guide on visits to historical buildings, this authoritative glossary of nearly 500 words used in Greek, Roman, Italian, and Gothic architecture remains highly instructive and informative.
Accurate engravings complement many of the author's incisive descriptions — from a buttress in Glastonbury Abbey to zig-zag mouldings in a Norman doorway. Extended entries cover arches, windows, tombs, and other architectural elements; while shorter notes define less commonly used terms such as cavetto, dado, and embrasure.
An indispensable reference for architects and students of architecture, the text includes a topographical index to the illustrations, identifying the many British cathedrals, castles, and parish churches used as examples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486142913
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	04/30/2012
Series:	Dover Architecture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	26 MB
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A Concise Dictionary of Architectural Terms

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By John Henry Parker

Dover Publications, Inc.

Copyright © 2004 Dover Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-14291-3

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CHAPTER 1

A CONCISE

Glossary of Architecture.

ABACUS (Lat. from Gr. abax = a board). This name is applied in architecture to the uppermost member or division of a capital: it is a very essential feature in the GRECIAN and ROMAN orders.

In the Grecian Doric the abacus has simply the form of a square tile without either a chamfer ora moulding.

In the Roman Doric it has the addition of an ogee and fillet round the upper edge.

In the Tuscan a plain fillet with a simple cavetto under it, is used instead of the ogee and fillet. In all these orders the abacus is of considerable thickness ; and the moulding round the upper edge is called the cimatium of the abacus.

In the Grecian Ionic it is worked very much thinner, consisting of an ovolo or ogee, generally without any fillet above it, and is sometimes sculptured.

In the Roman Ionic it consists of an ogee or ovolo, with a fillet above it.

In all the preceding orders the abacus is worked square, but in the modern Ionic, the Corinthian, and the Composite, the sides are hollowed, and the angles, with some few exceptions in the Corinthian order, truncated. The mouldings used on the modern Ionic vary, but an ogee and fillet like the Roman are the most common. In the Corinthian and Composite orders, the mouldings consist of an ovolo on the upper edge, with a fillet and cavetto beneath.

In the architecture of the MIDDLE AGES, the abacus still remains an important feature, although its form and proportions are not regulated by the same arbitrary laws as in the Classical orders: in the earlier styles there is almost invariably a clear line of separation to mark the abacus as a distinct division of the capital; but as Gothic architecture advanced, with its accompanying variety of mouldings, the abacus was subject to the same capricious changes as all the other features of the successive styles, and there is often no really distinguishable line of separation between it and the rest of the capital.

It not unfrequently happens that the abacus is nearly or quite the only part of a capital on which mouldings can be found to shew its date ; it is therefore deserving of close attention.

In early buildings of the style spoken of as being perhaps Saxon, that is, previous to the twelfth century, the abacus is, in general, merely a long flat stone without chamfer or moulding ; but it sometimes varies, and occasionally bears some resemblance to the Norman form.

The Norman abacus is flat on the top, and generally square in the earlier part of the style, with a plain chamfer on the lower edge, or a hollow is used instead. As the style advanced, other mouldings were introduced, and in rich buildings occasionally several are found combined : it is very usual to find the hollow on the lower edge of the abacus surmounted by a small channel or a bead. If the top of the abacus is not flat, it is a sign that it is verging to the succeeding style.

In the Early English style, the abacus is most commonly circular; it is, however, sometimes octagonal, and occasionally square, but not frequently in England, except early in this style. The most characteristic mouldings are deep hollows and overhanging rounds; in general, the mouldings in this style have considerable projections with deep and distinct hollows between them.

In the Decorated style, the form of the abacus is either circular or polygonal, very frequently octagonal. The circular abacus is especially an English feature; the octagonal abacus being most common on the Continent, especially in France. Hollows are not so frequently to be found, nor are they in general, when used, so deeply cut; the mouldings and the modes of combining them vary considerably, but rounds are common, particularly a roll or scroll-moulding, the upper half of which projects and overlaps the lower, as in Merton College Chapel; this moulding may be considered as characteristic of the Decorated style, although it is to he met with in late Early English work. The round mouldings have often fillets worked on them, and these again are also found in Early English work.

In the Perpendicular style, the abacus is sometimes circular but generally octagonal, even when the shaft and lower part of the capital are circular; when octagonal, particularly in work of late date, the sides are often slightly hollowed : in this style the mouldings are not generally much undercut, nor are they so much varied as in the Decorated. A very usual form for the abacus consists of a waved moulding, (of rounds and hollows united without forming angles,) with a bead under it, as at Croydon, Surrey; the most prominent part of this mouldingis sometimes worked flat, as a fillet, which then divides it into two ogees, the upper being reversed: the ogee may be considered as characteristic of the Perpendicular capital: the top of the abacus is sometimes splayed and occasionally hollowed out. [For further illustrations see Capital, Saxon, Norman, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular.]

Abutment, the solid part of a pier or wall, etc., against which an arch abuts, or from which it immediately springs, acting as a support to the thrust or lateral pressure. The abutments of a bridge are the walls adjoining to the land which supports the ends of the road-way, or the arches at the extremities. Also the basement projecting to resist the force of the stream, and on which the piers rest.

Acanthus (Lat. from Gr.), a plant, the leaves of which are imitated in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders.

ABACISCI (Lat. deriv.), small tesseræ for pavements or square tablets.

ABAMURUS (Med. Lat.), a buttress.

ABBEY. See Monastery.

ABREUVOIR (Fr.), jointing in masonry.

ABSIS, Apsis, or Apse.

Acroteria (Gr.), pedestals for statues and other ornaments placed on the apex and the lower angles of a pediment. They are also sometimes placed upon the gables in Gothic architecture, especially in canopy work.

Aisle or Aile (Fr. from Lat. ala = a wing), the lateral division of a church, or its wings, for such are the aisles to the body of every church. They may also be considered as an internal portico. In England there are seldom more than two, one on each side of the nave or choir, and frequently only one, but examples may be found of two aisles on one side, and one on the other, more rarely two occuron either side. In many cases the aisles have had their origin in chantry chapels. [See Church.]

Almery (literally a place for the alms), a cupboard; when by the side of an altar employed to contain the sacred vessels which were locked up, and hence the word Locker.

ACHELOR, ACHILER, ACHLERE = Ashlar.

ACUTE ARCH = Lancet Arch.

ADIT (Lat.), the approach to a building.

ADYTUM (Gr.), the innermost and secret part of a temple.

AEDES, generally a temple, but often used for any public building.

AILLETTES. See illustrations to Brass.

ALB, part of priests' robes. See illustrations to Brass.

ALLEY, ALLYE : used for Aisle.

It is evident, however, from many passages in ancient writers, that a more extended signification was sometimes given to the word, and that in the larger churches and cathedrals the Almeries were not only recesses in the wall, but were detached pieces of furniture, and were very numerous ; they were placed in various parts of the church, or in the cloisters : they were frequently of wainscot, and sometimes of considerable size, answering to what we should now call closets. The word is also used in domestic architecture in the sense of a cupboard. It is often called the Aumbry. [See Locker.]

Almonry, (also called Aumbry). This always signified the room where alms were distributed : in monastic establishments it was generally a stone building near the church, sometimes on the north side of the quadrangle, or removed to the gate-house.

Altar (Lat.), an elevated table, slab, or board in Christian churches, consecrated for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. In the third and fourth centuries, the sarcophagus or stone coffin of a martyr was frequently used as an Altar, since Pope Felix [A.D. 269—274], according to the Liber Pontificalis, "ordered masses to be celebrated over the sepulchres of the martyrs." One instance of this, as it is supposed, remains in the catacomb of S. Priscilla, with a small platform behind it for the priest to stand upon to officiate over it. [See Cemetery.] That they were frequently of wood during the first four or five centuries of the Christian era, is shewn by the fact that the Council of Epone in France, A.D. 517, commanded that "no altars should be consecrated with the chrism of holy oil, but such as were made of stone only." And we find this included amongst the Excerptions of Egbriht, Archbishop of York, issued about A.D. 740, in this country. Later on, that is, at the Council held at Winchester, A.D. 1071, the fifth of the Canons related to altars, "that they be not of stone." And soon after, i.e. A.D. 1080, Bishop Wulstan (so William of Malmesbury records) demolished throughout his diocese the wooden altars still remaining.

ALORING, the parapet wall protecting the Alur.

ALTAR. The Latin Altare is derived either from alta ara = high altar, or (more probably) from altus only. In describing the arrangements of an altar its sides are termed the Epistle and Gospel sides or horns respectively. The Epistle side is at the left hand of a person standing with his back to the altar, and is therefore south in all churches which look eastward ; the Gospel side is the north or opposite side.

Throughout the series of benefactions to the Roman churches made by successive Popes during the first seven or eight centuries, Anastasius frequently refers to their gifts of altars, and nearly always they are recorded to be covered with pure silver, and sometimes with gold. From the record of the great weight of the silver, it may be assumed that the altar was chiefly composed of the precious metal, perhaps a wooden framework only being used to keep the plates of metal in place.

It would be natural that the early Christians of Rome and elsewhere should, when they were enabled to possess or build churches, borrow much from the ancient Jewish ritual, and that the altar should thus be introduced ; and it is also to be observed that some of the Basilicœ or justice-halls, which exercised so important an influence on the plan and design of the Christian Church, had also their altars on the chord of the bema or apse for taking oaths upon. But how far one or other of these circumstances influenced the introduction, use, or position of the altar in the very early churches, is a matter which must be left very much to conjecture, from the scanty references which we possess to ecclesiastical details of this early period. Anastasius records that Pope Sixtus, A.D. 260, ordered that altars "should be built in all the churches, and that the Sacred Mysteries should be celebrated upon them publicly before the congregation, which used not to be done before."

Although amongst the writings of the Fathers of the first four or five centuries we do not discover evidence of more than one altar in any church, it became customary at an early period, say the sixth and seventh centuries, to have others beside the high altar, especially at the east end of the aisles and on the east side of the transepts, each dedicated to a particular saint, as is still the custom on the Continent. For instance, Bede speaks of Acca, Bishop of Hexham (A.D. 730) collecting the relics of saints, and erecting different altars with cells (porticos) for them in his church. In Canterbury, Gervase reckons up twenty-five altars previous to the year 1174. From the period that stone altars were introduced, it was usual to enclose the relics of saints in them, so that they often came to be considered the actual tombs of the saints themselves. The medieval idea of the altar being connected with the departed saint may well have had its origin in Scripture. (Rev. vi. 9.)

ALTAR, portable. A small slab of stone often incised or inlaid. The earliest existing is that found buried with S. Cuthbert, A.D. 687. It has the five crosses upon it. Bede mentions missionaries in 692, carrying with them a slab dedicated for an altar. See engraving of a good example, "Archæological Journal," vol. iv. p. 247.

Where the high altar is a pontifical altar, it is generally placed at the western part of the church, the priest standing behind it that he may face the east when performing the Mass. This is the case at St. Peter's at Rome, and in one or two churches specially privileged.

The slab forming the altar was sometimes supported on pillars, sometimes on brackets, but usually on solid masonry. It was frequently marked with five crosses cut on the top, in allusion, it is said, to the five wounds of Christ.

Ancient stone altars are very rare in this country. It is sometimes said that none exist, but this is not true. The influence of the Puritans, exercised on different occasions, has nearly swept all away ; but a few of them, and some of the chantry altars in the aisles and chapels, have escaped.

The high altar of Arundel Church, Sussex, appears to be original, and was probably in imitation of the early Christian altars at Rome; it was covered with wood until a recent period, and this fact probably preserved it from destruction.

At the Reformation the stone altars were first of all retained, and in the First Prayer-book of Edward VI. (1549), compiled under the direction of Archbishop Cranmer, the term 'altar' will be found frequently used; but in the revision of our English Liturgy in 1552, under the influence of the Continental Reformers, the word 'altar' was in all cases changed into 'table.' In the restoration of our Liturgy after Queen Mary's death, (1559,) it was a question whether to adopt Cranmer's Book of 1549, or the altered Book of 1552, there being strong parties in favour of each. The Book of 1552 was eventually adopted; but the Act of Parliament enjoining it contained the Proviso that (while the words of the 1552 Book were to be used) the ORNAMENTS of the church authorized by the Book of 1549 were to be retained.

Queen Elizabeth, in her Injunctions issued at the beginning of her reign, makes a special provision for the place of the "TABLES IN CHURCHES," to this effect :—"Whereas in many parts of the realm the Altars of the churches be removed and tables placed, and in some other places the Altars be not yet removed; in the order whereof, saving for an uniformity, there seemeth no matter of great moment, yet for observation of an uniformity through the whole realm, and for the better imitation of the law, it is ordered that no Altar be taken down, but by oversight of the Curate and Churchwarden. And that the Holy Table in every church be set in the place where the Altar stood; and there commonly covered, as thereto belongeth, and so to stand, saving when the communion of the Sacrament is to be distributed; at which time the same shall be so placed in good sort within the chancel, as whereby the minister may be more conveniently heard of the communicants, and the communicants more conveniently communicate with the said minister. And after the communion done, from time to time the same Holy Table to be placed where it stood before."

The object of this arrangement was to satisfy, as far as possible, both parties. The strong Puritan party were able to introduce the continental custom, and sit round the table; and in one or two rare instances the seats and large square tables remained, or were remaining, till a few years back (e.g. Deerhurst, Gloucestershire ; Langley Chapel, near Acton Burnel, Shropshire ; Shillingford, Berks, &c.) ; and in Jersey this Puritan position of the table is still very common: the injunctions, however, did not force the other party to move the Holy Table, provided that the communicants could hear, and be accommodated within the chancel.

The effect was, that the practices were very varied. To save the trouble, and also no doubt to prevent the irreverence ensuing from moving the Holy Table backwards and forwards, the law was seldom strictly followed. Most Curates, no doubt, left the Holy Table standing where the Altar stood, as the minister could be as well heard there as elsewhere when the communicants were gathered in the chancel. But the ultra-Puritans took advantage of the injunction to move the Holy Table, even out into the nave in some cases, and to assimilate the rite as far as possible to the Genevan model.

(Continues...)

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Table of Contents

Contents

DOVER BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE,
Title Page,
Copyright Page,
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.,
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.,
A CONCISE - Glossary of Architecture.,
TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.,