This page defines a lot of the architecture jargon I use frequently across my posts, with visual aids, and sources if they aren’t my own pictures. It may be helpful to use as a reference while reading. I try to make my posts layperson-accessible, but I understand that they may not always be in practice. Since this page is long with all the images, use Ctrl + F to search for a term.
This page doesn't include definitions of architectural styles, those are on the "Entries by Style" page.
Left: Church floor plan with aisle highlighted (Churches of Rome Wiki). Right: Romanesque aisle, Abbey of St. Germain (11th century).
Aisle - smaller passageways that surround the nave in church architecture, separated by a colonnade and having shorter vaulted ceilings
Left: Church floor plan with ambulatory highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Gothic ambulatory of Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis (1144).
Ambulatory - the counterpart to an aisle in the chevet of a church, which is separated from the choir and apse by a colonnade and leads to the chapels
Left: Classical anthemia (bottom) along cornice of Erechtheion (406 BCE, Wikimedia). Right: Beaux-Arts anthemia on Derby Hall (1928 alteration).
Anthemion (plural anthemia) - a form of classical ornamentation employing natural motifs, seen as both a repeating pattern on a course or free-standing units along a cornice or pediment
Left: Annotated church floor plan with the apse highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Richardsonian Romanesque apse, Trinity Church (1877).
Apse - a semicircular space behind the altar of a church which has a vaulted ceiling, originating in Byzantine churches and continuing through the Gothic
Left: Ancient Roman arcades of the Colosseum (80, Wikimedia). Right: Romanesque Revival Cleveland Arcade (1890).
Arcade - a type of colonnade that supports arches instead of an entablature; a predecessor to the shopping mall that features many shops along a dominant axis
Left: Annotated image highlighting the architrave on a Doric entablature (ICA). Right: Beaux-Arts Ionic architrave of Thompson Library (1913).
Architrave - a decorative beam supported by columns below, often the lower third of a classical entablature
Left: Gothic archivolts on Sainte-Chapelle (1248). Right: Richardsonian Romanesque archivolts of Orton Hall (1893).
Archivolt - the equivalent of an architrave used in vaulting, a band that follows the curve of the arch along the intrados
Articulation - the conveyance of a building’s aesthetics, meaning, defining idea, etc.; a synonym of expression
Left: Gothic Revival ashlar facade of Covenant Presbyterian (1926). Right: Renaissance Revival ashlar base on Page Hall (1903).
Ashlar - rectangular-cut stone blocks
New Classical Doric column in the courtyard of Knowlton Hall (2004). The astragal is the circular band right below the capital and above the fluting.
Astragal - a type of semicircular molding most commonly seen on classical columns, specifically Doric
Left: Art Nouveau atrium, La Samaritaine (1891). Right: Renaissance Revival atrium, Columbus Museum of Art (1931).
Atrium - a large, open space that is either open to the elements or shielded by a skylight
Beaux-Arts axis of Thompson Library (1913). The axis is emphasized by the placement of the furniture and sculpture.
Axis - an imaginary line employed in a building’s organization, used for visual continuity, circulation, and to draw the eye in a certain direction
Beaux-Arts balconette on Ramseyer Hall (1932).
Balconette - a decorative false balcony
Left: Romanesque Revival balustrade in New York County Courthouse (1881, HABS). Right: Beaux-Arts balustrade on top of Browning Amphitheater (1926).
Balustrade - in classical architecture, a decorative row of balusters supporting a railing, which could line a terrace, staircase, or parapet
Left: Columned bays of the Baroque St. Mary le Strand (1724). Right: Bays of the Stripped Classical Ohio Judicial Center (1933).
Bay - either the space between classical columns or pilasters, or the windows if neither are present
Left: Ancient Roman bead-and-reel on the Sanctuary of Jupiter Heliopolitanus (2nd century, Wikimedia). Right: Egyptian Revival bead-and-reel on the Egyptian Theater (1929).
Bead-and-reel - a style of classical ornament employing oval elements alternating with smaller bead-shaped ones
Left: Gothic Revival bifora with quatrefoil, Old Columbus Post Office (1912 alteration). Right: Richardsonian Romanesque church window, with two nested bifora inside a larger one, First A.M.E. Zion (1900).
Bifora - a window divided into two openings via a trumeau or mullion, may have an oculus above the openings, most common on Romanesque and Gothic architecture and their revivals; similar windows are known as monofora (one window), trifora (three openings), quadrifora (four openings), polifora (5+ openings)
Left: Beaux-Arts blind arch in the vestibule of Thompson Library (1913). Right: Postmodern blind arches on 209 West 18th Avenue (1993).
Blind - as relating to an arcade or arch, set into a wall without an opening, in the manner of a pilaster
Left: Brutalist brise-soleils on Cunz Hall (1969). Right: Contemporary brise-soleils on the CBEC Building (2015).
Brise-soleil - common in Brutalist architecture and later styles, fins and overhangs that cast shadows over openings and passively cool a building
Left: Richardsonian Romanesque buttresses on St. Paul’s AME (1906). Right: Gothic Revival buttresses, St. Joseph Cathedral (1878).
Buttress - an element attached to a wall that supports the building from lateral thrust forces
Prairie School cantilevered balcony of Fallingwater (1937).
Cantilever - a horizontal extension of a roof or floor that is supported on only one end
Left: Ionic capital in Knowlton Hall courtyard (2004). Right: Gothic capital in modified Corinthian order, Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis (1144).
Capital - the top of a column or pilaster, typically lavishly decorated in one of the orders
Caryatid porch of the Erechtheion (406 BCE, Wikimedia)
Caryatid - a female statue which takes the role of a column
Left: Cathedral floor plan with chancel highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Gothic chancel, Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais (1578).
Chancel - the part of a cathedral with the altar, which includes the choir and sanctuary
Left: Cathedral floor plan with chapels highlighted. Right: Gothic chapel in Saint-Etienne-du-Mont (1624).
Chapel - a smaller worship place inside a larger church that has its own altar, usually dedicated to a saint, most commonly seen in “radiating” form off of the chevet but may also be placed onto the transepts or aisles
Left: Annotated church plan highlighting the chevet (Art History Glossary). Right: Gothic chevet exterior on Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois (1400s).
Chevet - in Gothic architecture, a collective term for the apse, ambulatory, and chapels, which all extend behind the crossing/altar
Left: Cathedral floor plan with choir highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Baroque choir in St. Paul’s Cathedral (1710).
Choir - a part of a church that is used for seating for the clergy and choir, which typically contains wooden choir stalls
Circulation - the methods of moving around inside a building (stairs, ramps, hallways)
Left: The Acropolis, ancient Greek classical architecture (5th century BCE, Wikimedia). Right: Pantheon, ancient Roman classical architecture (c. 126 CE, Wikimedia)
Classical - the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
Left: Gothic clerestory of Notre-Dame de Paris (1345). Right: Contemporary clerestories, Columbus Metropolitan Library (1991 addition).
Clerestory - openings above eye level, usually directly below or on the roof, used for light or ventilation
Left: Gothic cloister of Westminster Abbey (1269). Right: Abstracted Modernist cloister, St. Stephen’s Episcopal (1953).
Cloister - an open square or rectangular space formed by a surrounding colonnade or walkway, common in church architecture
Left: Beaux-Arts coffers, Ohio Stadium rotunda (1923). Right: Contemporary coffers, Louvre (addition 1993).
Coffer - a recessed panel in a dome or arch, historically used to add texture and reduce weight
Left: Ancient Egyptian colonnade of Amenhotep III (1400 BCE, Mark Ryckaert). Right: Beaux-Arts colonnade, Hamilton County Courthouse (1915).
Colonnade - a long row of columns supporting an entablature, sometimes used as a walkway or entrance
Colonnettes supporting entrance portal, Westminster Abbey (1269).
Colonnette - a slender, typically decorative column
Terra-cotta coping, People’s Federal Savings & Loan Association (1918).
Coping - the cap of a wall or parapet
Left: Renaissance Revival corbels, Indianola Junior High (1909). Right: Italianate corbels, Francis Crum House (1844).
Corbel - a type of bracket used to support a cornice or parapet above, typically structural but sometimes decorative
Corbusian residential design, Katanienbaum Twin Houses (2011, Architizer).
Corbusian - evoking the architecture of Le Corbusier
Left: Beaux-Arts cornice, Thompson Library (1913). Right: Top of Atlas Building, which has a large, jutting Renaissance Revival cornice (1905)
Cornice - the top portion of a classical entablature; a crowning decorative element atop a building, typically very decorated, which projects outward from the wall plane
Crenellated end of a Columbus rowhome (20th century).
Crenellation - a parapet with rectangular projections on top, in the manner of a castle
Left: Cathedral floor plan with the crossing highlighted. Right: Ceiling of crossing, Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais (1578).
Crossing - in religious architecture, the moment where the nave and transepts meet
Cupola atop the Panthéon (1790).
Cupola - a small circular or octagonal structure, atop a dome or tower, which serves as a roof lantern
Left: Labeled illustration of dentil (Merriam-Webster). Right: Denticulation, with other ornamental patterns, on cornice of Union Station arch (1899).
Dentil - a small, blocky projection commonly employed in classical architecture
Left: Richardsonian Romanesque dormer, Warder Public Library (1890). Right: Second Empire dormer, Madison County Courthouse (1892).
Dormer - a small gable that projects from a roof plane, typically featuring a window, that allows a roof to
be used as livable space
Eclectic - unusual or eccentric in design, also a style of architecture
Left: Neoclassical egg-and-dart on Ionic capital, Jefferson Memorial (1943, HABS). Right: Renaissance Revival egg-and-dart cornice, Townshend Hall (1898).
Egg-and-dart - a style of ornamentation from the Ionic order featuring alternating egg and V-shaped designs
Left: Illustration of classical entablature supported by columns (ThoughtCo). Right: Neoclassical entablature supported by pilasters, St. Martin-in-the-Fields (1726).
Entablature - the highly decorated beam that columns on a classical temple support, divided into the architrave, frieze, and cornice
Illustration of a primitive Doric column with entasis (Art History Glossary).
Entasis - the subtle outward curvature of classical temples in plan and their columns in section that visually corrects their tendency to appear to sink inward
Expression - the conveyance of a building’s aesthetics, meaning, defining idea, etc.
Left: Beaux-Arts Park National Bank in Newark before… (1908, Newark Walking Tour). Right: …and after its facadectomy.
Facadectomy - the act of removing an original facade in favor of a modern design
Left: Regular Art Deco fenestration, Law & Finance Building (1927). Right: Irregular Richardsonian Romanesque fenestration, Cincinnati City Hall (1893).
Fenestration - window placement, size, and form
Spandrel with festoon relief, Thompson Library (1913).
Festoon - an ornamental detail in the shape of a hanging garland, synonym for swag
Left: Top of Big Ben, with a finial at the very top (1859). Right: Roof finials atop the Charles Frederick Myers House (1896).
Finial - a pointed decorative element atop a dome, tower, or spire
Left: Gothic fleche of Sainte-Chapelle (1852). Right: Gothic Revival fleche, First Congregational Church (1931).
Fleche - a spire atop the crossing of a Gothic church
Left: Gothic flying buttresses on Westminster Abbey (1269). Right: Renaissance flying buttresses, Saint-Eustache (1633).
Flying buttress - a kind of buttress used in Gothic architecture, which has an arched portion that is not in contact with a ground level wall
Left: Carved frieze (Designing Buildings Wiki). Right: Beaux-Arts frieze with reliefs, Huntington National Bank Building (1926).
Frieze - the highly decorated or carved central portion of an entablature; more broadly a painted strip on an interior wall
352-354 King Avenue, a house with a gambrel roof (c. 1900-1920)
Gambrel roof - a roof with two different slopes, common on Dutch architecture and barns
Left: Gargoyles on chevet of Sainte-Chapelle (1248). Right: Gargoyles, Tour Saint-Jacques (1523).
Gargoyle - a carved animal or monster projecting from a facade or roof that serves as a water spout
Gothic Revival grotesques, Cristo Rey Columbus High School (1899).
Grotesque - any carved relief of an animal, person, or monster on a facade that is only decorative
Gutting - the act of removing a building’s original interior features in favor of modern replacements
Hierarchy - the relationship of elements through size, placement, or other means that determine their importance in respect to each other
Italianate window with hood mold, New Street School (1874).
Hood mold - a projection, typically masonry, which historically served to deflect rainwater from a window, used as a decorative element in later styles
Richardsonian Romanesque impost (the carved block), Medary Avenue Elementary School (1892).
Impost - a block on top of a column or within a wall that serves as the base for an arch's springer
Left: Annotated image with keystone highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Queen Anne keystone, Worly Building (1893).
Keystone - the central stone of an arch which is integral to its construction, literally its “key stone,” sometimes false and purely for decoration
Left: Engraved Renaissance Revival lintel, Beck Street School (1884). Right: Lintel with carved Mayan Revival detail, Aurora Elks Lodge (1926).
Lintel - a horizontal beam, usually structural, which spans an opening such as a door or window
Left: Venetian Gothic loggia, Buonconsiglio Castle (13th century, Wikimedia). Right: Richardsonian Romanesque loggia (lower open portion), Stewart Building (1894).
Loggia - a colonnade open on one side, typically used around a garden or on upper stories of a building
Left: Lunette transom window, Chicago Avenue School (1897). Right: Queen Anne picture window with lunette, W. C. Halliday House (1896).
Lunette - a semicircular transom window filling the space of an arch above a window or door
Left: Mansard roof with slate tiles, Logan County Courthouse (1870). Right: Curved mansard roof profile, Madison County Courthouse (1892).
Mansard roof - a double-pitched roof steeply sloped at the base and abruptly becoming very shallow near the peak, which allows the roof level to be occupied, common on Second Empire architecture
Renaissance Revival mascaron on the New York Life Building (1889).
Mascaron - a decorative face sculpted onto a building, once believed to ward off evil spirits but later becoming ornamentation
Detail of stone and brick masonry, Milo Arts (1894).
Masonry - building materials that are laid by masons, e.g. brick, stone, cinder-block
Massing - a term for the 3D shape and geometry of a building
Left: Image illustrating location of metope (Art History Glossary). Right: A series of empty metopes on Bricker Hall (1924).
Metope - space between triglyphs on a Doric frieze, sometimes filled with sculpture or ornament
Fenestration detail of Denney Hall (1960). The vertical metal beams are Miesian, as he used similar ones on his skyscrapers.
Miesian - evoking the architecture of Mies van der Rohe
Beaux-Arts cornice on the A. B. Graham Memorial Building (c. 1900). The modillions are the largest stone blocks.
Modillion - a type of bracket used to support a Corinthian or Composite cornice, smaller than a corbel but larger than a dentil
Left: Richardsonian Romanesque brick and stone mullions, Medary Avenue Elementary School (1892). Right: Contemporary steel mullions on Scott Laboratory (2006).
Mullion - a larger vertical element dividing panes of a window
Left: Real muntins on a Queen Anne window in Columbus. Right: Faux muntins on a contemporary window (M. Gerwing Architects)
Muntin - a smaller strip that historically held the smaller glass lights of a larger window opening, now typically false and decorative
Left: Cathedral floor plan with narthex highlighted (Designing Buildings Wiki). Right: Looking west towards narthex of Notre-Dame de Paris (1345).
Narthex - the vestibule through which one enters a church before proceeding into the nave
Left: Annotated cathedral plan with nave highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Baroque nave of St. Paul’s Cathedral (1710).
Nave - the central area of a church where worshipers sit
Left: High Victorian Gothic niche with Civil War statue, Monumental Building (1877). Right: Empty Baroque Revival niche, Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral (1878).
Niche - a recess in a wall or parapet that houses sculpture, may also be empty
Left: “Ammonite order,” Gideon Mantell House (19th century, Wikimedia). Right: Quasi-classical nonce order, Beaux-Arts church (20th century).
Nonce order - a classical order created by an architect that uses different features from the five established orders, typically used on a single building
Oculus of the Pantheon (126 CE, Wikimedia).
Oculus (plural oculi) - a circular opening in a dome
Left: Gothic openwork, Notre-Dame de Paris (1345). Right: Gothic Revival rood screen with openwork, St. George’s Anglican (1870).
Openwork - ornamentation that employs gaps through a solid material, most commonly seen on Gothic buildings
Illustration of the five orders with their columns and entablatures (John Canning Co.)
Orders - ancient Greek and Roman methods of expressing and decorating their architecture, five of which exist and are the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders
Left: High Victorian Gothic oriel window, St. Pancras Station (1868). Right: Two Mid-Century Modern oriel windows, Siebert Hall (1957).
Oriel window - a type of bay window that does not touch the ground
Ornament/ornamentation - any form of applied decoration to a building, including the orders, carved panels, statues, etc.
Bolz Hall, a highly orthogonal Mid-Century Modern building (1960).
Orthogonal - building elements that are at strictly right angles
Varying profile on Stripped Classical parapet, Winders Motor Sales Company Building (1924).
Parapet - the portion of a wall extending beyond the roofline
Parti - a building’s overall “big idea”
Renaissance Revival paterae on Mendenhall Laboratory (1903).
Patera (plural paterae) - a dish-shaped ornament filling the metopes on a frieze
Left: Baroque pediment in Corinthian order, St. George’s, Bloomsbury (1731). Right: Beaux-Arts broken pediment, Ramseyer Hall (1932).
Pediment - the term for a classical temple’s triangular gable, called a “broken pediment” if not fully closed
Left: Diagram of pendentives (Wikimedia). Right: Neoclassical pendentive, Panthéon (1790).
Pendentive - a more efficient method of placing a dome over a square or rectangular room, which uses triangular sections of a sphere, replaced squinches
Left: Baroque Corinthian pilasters supporting the vaulting of St. Paul’s Cathedral (1710). Right: Beaux-Arts Doric pilasters on Ohio Stadium (1923).
Pilaster - either a thickened, load-bearing element part of a wall expressed as a classical column, or one that does not bear a load for visual continuity
Left: Gothic pinnacles on Sainte-Chapelle (1248). Right: Gothic Revival pinnacles on Covenant Presbyterian (1926).
Pinnacle - a small spire atop a buttress or parapet used for decorative or structural purposes
Polychrome Carpenter Gothic bell tower, 4th Avenue Church of God (19th century).
Polychrome - incorporating a variety of colors, usually in masonry, paint, or ornamentation
Left: Romanesque triple portals, Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis (1144). Right: Gothic Revival portal, St. Joseph’s Cathedral (1878).
Portal - a decorated opening to a building, particularly on churches
Colonial Revival porte-cochere, Old Governor’s Mansion (1904).
Porte-cochere - a portico through which carriages or cars can unload passengers under, meant to protect occupants from the weather
Left: Classical Doric portico of the Parthenon (432 BCE, George Koronaios) Right: Neoclassical Corinthian portico, St. Martin-in-the-Fields (1726).
Portico - a porch with a classical colonnade, entablature, and sometimes a pediment
Proscenium arch of Garrick Theater during demolition (1892, Chicago Reader).
Proscenium - an imaginary vertical wall of space that separates theater performers from the audience, typically
expressed by an arch or vault
Beaux-Arts quoins on Bricker Hall (1924).
Quoin - thick blocks of stone at the corner of a wall, either providing structural support or meant to give the
appearance of doing so
Left: Gothic low relief sculpture on archivolts, Westminster Abbey (1269). Right: Beaux-Arts high relief on the Canada Life Building (1895).
Relief - a method of sculpture where the figures or letters project outward from a background of the same material, smaller depths are referred to “low relief” while figures that extend more than halfway outwards are in “high relief”
Revival - the act of designing in a historic language, “revival styles” are those that employ design features from an existing one
Beaux-Arts rosette inside a coffer on the rotunda of Ohio Stadium (1923).
Rosette - a rounded ornament in the shape of a flower
Richardsonian Romanesque rusticated masonry on Hayes Hall (1893).
Rustication - a method of cutting masonry in which the sides are squared off on all sides except the face, which is deliberately left rough and unfinished, to evoke a sense of strength and visual weight
Left: Diagram of a window, with the sill labeled with “1” (Wikimedia). Right: Chicago School sill (bottom) on Wyandotte Building (1898).
Sill - a horizontal structural member that supports the bottom of a vertical opening of some kind, the lower counterpart of a lintel
Beaux-Arts slipcover mid-construction, Huntington National Bank Building (1926).
Slipcover - the addition of a newer facade on top of an existing older building, unlike a facadectomy which removes the older facade entirely
Left: Mid-Century Modern window spandrels, Arps Hall (1959). Right: Angel relief in arch spandrel, Union Station arch (1899).
Spandrel - a decorative panel, often engraved with ornament, that divides windows; also the area formed between a rectangle and an inset arch
Squinches on Odzun Basilica (8th century, Rita Willaert).
Squinch - structural supports for a round or octagonal dome atop a square or rectangular space, placed at the corners, usage later supplanted by pendentives
Left: Richardsonian Romanesque string course along vaulting of Hayes Hall (1893). Right: Renaissance Revival string course with denticulation, Atlas Building (1905).
String course - a horizontal dividing feature on a building’s facade, typically masonry and sometimes carved with rnament
Design for a small bank with Sullivanesque ornamentation. (Chicago Patterns).
Sullivanesque - design, typically ornamentation, inspired by the work of Louis Sullivan
Spandrel with swag relief, Thompson Library (1913).
Swag - an ornamental detail in the shape of a hanging garland, synonym for festoon
Tectonics - the expression of a building’s construction through its design; a synonym for a building’s structure
Left: Gothic tracery, Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais (1578). Right: Gothic Revival tracery, St. George’s Anglican (1870).
Tracery - similar to muntins but more specific to Gothic architecture, the elaborate stone ribs that divide panes of a window
Left: Annotated plan of a cathedral with the transept shaded (Wikimedia). Right: Transept of Notre-Dame de Paris (1345).
Transept - projections from the crossing of a church that run perpendicular to the nave in plan, creating a cruciform hape
Left: Vernacular transom, Tremont Hotel (1892). Right: Prairie School transom on the Keystone Building (1923).
Transom - a small window or panel above a door or larger window, sometimes operable and used for ventilation before the advent of air conditioning
Left: Elevation of cathedral nave with triforium highlighted (Wikimedia). Right: Triforium (middle) of Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis (1144).
Triforium - a gallery on a cathedral with vaulted openings, below the clerestory windows and above the aisle openings
Left: Classical cornice with triglyph highlighted, Theater of Marcellus (13 BCE, Wikimedia) Right: Triglyphs on Bricker Hall (1924).
Triglyph - a rectangular ornament used in the Doric order, believed to represent wooden beams from pre-marble temples
Tripartite - expressed in three distinct parts
Gothic trumeau with Mary and baby Jesus, Westminster Abbey (1269).
Trumeau - the central vertical element of a doorway
Left: Turret (highlighted in red) on a Scottish Baronial building (Wikimedia). Right: Queen Anne turret, W. C. Halliday House (1896).
Turret - a circular or octagonal projection from an orthogonal wall plane or corner that does not touch the ground
Left: Romanesque tympanum, Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis (1144). Right: Gothic tympanum sculpture, Westminster Abbey (1269).
Tympanum - a semicircular or pointed panel above a doorway, typically carved with ornament
Richardsonian Romanesque portal and window vaulting, Old DuPage County Courthouse (1896).
Vaulting - the act of employing arches as a structural or aesthetic feature
Left: Varying Ionic column capitals, which have two large volutes on the ends (Wikimedia). Right: Ionic and Composite columns with volutes.
Volute - a scroll-shaped decoration seen on the Ionic and Composite column capitals
A single voussoir, part of a larger arch (Wikimedia).
Voussoir - a stone of an arch
Left: Gothic wimperg on Florence Cathedral (1421, Armin Kleiner) Right: Gothic Revival wimperg, St. Patrick’s Basilica (1847).
Wimperg - a decorative gable form over a door or window