Within the 1878 North Fitzroy Conservation Study I found there were a number of terms that I was not familiar with, so I have created this glossary to assist others like me that may need some help 🙂 These definitions come from a range of places on the internet – I have provided the link to Buffaloah, while this is an American site, it has lots of images to assist with understanding.
- Acanthus – A common plant of the Mediterranean, whose stylized leaves form the characteristic decoration on Corinthian and Composite capitals; also appears on acanthus capitals, friezes, panels and modillions.
- Acroterion – Blocks or flat pedestals resting on the apex and on the lowest ends of the pediment to support statues or carved ornaments (Buffaloah)
- Aedicule – an opening such as a door or window, framed by columns on either side and a pediment above (Collins).
- Archivolt – One of several parallel curved and often decorated, mouldings on the inside of an arched opening. An arch set immediately inside a larger arch; a band or moulding that surrounds an arch (An archivolt is the equivalent of a curved architrave).
- Baluster / Balustrade – A railing or wall on a balcony or staircase of upright supports.
- Columns / Pilasters – A column is a full column where as a pilaster is a shallow decorative pillar attached to a wall. They are often Tuscan, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian in Fitzroy.
- Consoles – a decorative bracket in the form of a vertical scroll that supports a cornice or entablature over a door or window (Buffaloah). Also known as ‘ancone’ which is Greek for elbow or hollow. They are often decorated with Acanthus leaves.
- Corbel – a bracket usually of stone or brick (Collins). They are generally decorated with acanthus leaf (see acanthus above).
- Cornice – a strip of plaster, wood or stone which goes along the top of a wall or building (Collins).
- Dentillated – A small rectangular block with a tooth like cube – used in a series forming a moulding under Ionic and Corinthian and some times Doric cornices.
- Façade – the exterior face of a building which is the architectural front
- Foliated crocket – Decorated leaf carving jutting out at regular intervals. Usually on the top of a column (the capital) or on spires.
- Frieze – a decoration high up on the walls of a room or just under the roof of the building. It consists of a long panel of carving or a long strip of paper with a picture or a pattern on it (Collins).
- Gable – the part of the wall immediately under the end of a pitched roof, cut into a triangular shape by the sloping sides of the roof (Buffaloah).
- Hoodmold – A projecting moulding above a door, window or archway to throw off rain (Buffaloah)
- Oculas – A window that has an oval or circular shape resembling an eye; or the round opening at the top of some domes; or the centre of the volutes or spiral scrolls in Ionic Columns (Buffaloah). The latter is the meaning most often used for Fitzroy.
- Ogee – Is a moulding having a cross section in the form of a letter s (Collins). Below are common verandah finishes:
- Palisade – A fence of posts which are driven into the ground (Collins).
- Parapet – A parapet is a low wall along the edge of something high such as a bridge or roof. (Collins)
- Patera – A bas-relief decorative oval or circular ornament, resembling a shallow dish. It is similar to a rosette which is not as shallow in depth as a patera (Buffaloah). Also known as a ’roundel’
- Pediment – A large triangular structure built over a door or window as decoration (Collins). Pediments have different shapes, they can be pointed, curved or broken (to name a few).
- Pilaster – see column.
- Polychrome brickwork – is a style of architectural brickwork wherein bricks of different colours are used to create decorative patterns or highlight (Wiki).
- Quatrefoil – a four-lobed circle or arch formed by cusping. Foil is French for leaf. The number of foils involved is indicated by the prefix.
- Raking cornice – the sloping edges of a pediment
- Spandrel panel – in a multistory building, a wall panel filling the space between the top of the window in one story and the sill of the window in the story above. (Buffaloah).
- Transom – a small window above a door or above another window, this is also known as a ‘fanlight’. (Collins) The transom bar is the piece of timber between the door and the window (Buffaloah).
- Tympanum – the space inside the pediment. It is ideal for bold sculpture as in Greek temples (Buffaloah).
- Urn – a vase of varying size and shape usually having a footed base or pedestal (Buffaloah). In Fitzroy these are often on the top of the parapet on the far sides of the terrace. A draped urn is one with the look of material or a veil draped over the top or sides.
- Vermiculated – Type of emphatic rustication in which the face of each stone is carved with curvilinear formations resembling patterns left by worms (Buffaloah).
- Verandah / Veranda – a roofed platform along the outside of a house (Collins).
- Volutes – the spiral scroll as on an Ionic, Corinthian or Composite capital (Buffaloah).
- Voussoir – one of the wedge shaped blocks forming the curved parts of an arch or vault (Buffaloah). The central voussoir is known as the ‘keystone’.
Example:
