[Illustration: Cyma Recta.]
[Illustration: Cyma Reversa.]
[Illustration: Scotia.]
[Illustration: Torus.]
MONOTRIGLYPHIC.—That mode of intercolumniation in the
Doric Order according to which there is only a
single triglyph over each intercolumn, 20.
MUTULES.—The small blocks or plates attached to the
soffit of the corona in the Doric cornice.
NECKING.—See _Hypotrachelium_.
OVOLO.—See _Echinus_.
PEDESTAL.—No constituent or essential part of an Order,
but merely a casual addition to it, 7.
PEDIMENT answers to the Gable in Gothic Architecture,
&c., it being the vertical triangular plane at
the end of a roof which slopes downwards on each
side from its ridge. The Pediment differs from the
Gable in having a _tympanum_, or clearly defined
triangular surface with a horizontal cornice below
and two sloping or raking cornices. See page 24.
PILASTER.—Unknown to Greek Architecture, in which
only antæ (see _Antæ_) were admitted: Pilasters
are employed by the Moderns as substitutes for an
Order in engaged columns, and are, perhaps, even
preferable to the latter, inasmuch as they combine
better and more naturally with the wall to which
they are attached.
PLAN.—A plan may be familiarly described as an
architectural _map_, or map of a building:
therefore only those who cannot comprehend a
geographical or topographical map—a degree of
obtuseness hardly credible—can be at any loss to
understand an architectural one, the latter being
precisely of the same nature as the others, with
this difference in its favour, that it is much less
conventional. To define it more exactly,—a plan is
a _horizontal section_ supposed to be taken on the
level of the floor through the solid parts of the
fabric—walls, columns, &c., so as to show their
various thicknesses and situations, the dimensions
of the several spaces or rooms, the position of the
doors by which they communicate with each other,
and various particulars that cannot otherwise be
explained. Studying buildings without plans is like
studying geography without maps. Nevertheless,
most persons ignore—affect a genteel ignorance of
such vulgar and technical drawings as plans. Plan
frequently costs the Architect more study than all
the rest of his design. Very much mistaken are they
who suppose that convenience alone has chiefly to
be considered. Convenience is, of course, or ought
to be, made a _sine quâ non_; yet it is not so much
a positive merit in itself, as the want of it
is a positive defect. Mere convenience is not an
artistic quality: from that to beauty of plan,—to
striking combinations, and studied effects, and
varied play of arrangement, the distance is very
great. A common-place plan is but a very dull
uninteresting affair. It is no more than what
any builder can accomplish; but a plan replete
with imagination, piquant play, and well-imagined
contrasts, is no every-day matter.
PODIUM.—A continued pedestal; a dwarf pedestal wall;
a closed parapet employed instead of an open
balustrade.
POLYSTYLE.—Having a number of columns. Where columns
occur behind columns, as where a portico has inner
columns, like that of the Royal Exchange, such
portico may be termed _polystyle_.
PORCH.—Any small portico considerably lower than the
main structure to which it is attached may be so
termed, in contradistinction from one carried up
the height of the building, or as high as the
principal cornice.
PORTICO.—For the different plans and denominations of
porticoes, see p. 69.
PROFILE.—The outline of a series of mouldings, or of
any other parts, as shown by a section through them.
PROPORTION.—The magnitude of one part as compared
with some other. The term ‘proportion’ is used
absolutely in the sense of ‘good proportion;’
although every thing that has shape has proportions
of some kind or other. The subject of Proportions
has been greatly mystified by writers who have
laid down certain fixed proportions as the best of
all on every occasion, and as the _ne plus ultra_
of artistic taste. But fixed proportions can be
followed mechanically by every one alike; whereas
it requires ability to deviate successfully from
routine measurement, and apply the _poco piu_ or
the _poco meno_ as the particular occasion or the
particular effect aimed at may require—at least
justify. It is the eye that takes cognizance of
proportions; and the Architect’s own eye ought to
be quite as correct as that of other people.
PROSTYLE.—A portico which projects from the body of a
building, or the rest of a façade. See page 69.
PULVINATED.—A frieze whose face is convex instead of
plain is said to be _pulvinated_, from its supposed
resemblance to the side of a cushion, which swells
out when pressed upon. See page 50.
RAKING CORNICES.—A term, rather unmeaning in itself,
applied to the inclined cornices on the sloping
sides of a pediment.
RUSTICATION.—Although Rustication is not spoken of
in this treatise, the term is here inserted for
the purpose of remarking that what is so called
might frequently be more correctly described
as _Decorative Masonry_, since, so far from
expressing rudeness or coarseness, it may be made
to display the most studied nicety and elaborate
finish. Rustication, no doubt, originated in a
very rude mode of construction; but what was at
first clumsiness and irregularity, was afterwards
refined into an artful and symmetrical disposition
of the stones and courses of masonry, by a similar
æsthetic process to that which converted the
original amorphous stone pillar into the Doric
column. To call such masonry, as some have done,
only _cicatrizing_ and _gashing_, betrays a loss
for both arguments and words. Decorative masonry
is most assuredly not according to Greek taste
or practice; for the Greeks affected to suppress
the appearance of _articulation_ in masonry,
and thereby to give their buildings, as far as
possible, the look of not being _fabricated_, but
_carved_ out of one block of solid material. Yet it
does not therefore follow that the other mode of
decidedly articulating and pronouncing the joints
and courses of the stones is bad, because it is
an opposite one. So far from being unæsthetic, it
possesses much that recommends it artistically,
for it gives _colour_, and produces richness of
surface where there would else be blankness. A
wall whose face is so decorated forms an admirable
ground to columns or pilasters, which it serves
to relieve very effectively, as is exemplified
in the screen façade of Dover House, that little
architectural gem by Holland, which, though by
no means faultless, has more of genuine artistic
quality than any other building of its time in the
whole Metropolis.
SECTION.—A vertical plan of the interior of a building,
showing it as it would appear upon an upright plane
_cutting through it_. Though rarely shown, sections
are almost as indispensable as plans, like which,
they show the thicknesses of the walls; and in
addition those of the ceilings and floors; and show
also _heights_, both of the rooms themselves, and
of doors and windows;—moreover, the forms of the
ceilings, whether flat, or coved, or vaulted. In
one respect, too, a section partakes of the nature
of an elevation, the plane parallel to the line
of section being an elevation of the interior, or
rather consisting of as many elevations as there
are separate rooms or divisions. Sections may be
described as either _furnished_ or _unfurnished_;
the former show only construction and the strictly
architectural parts, wherefore, if the side of
a room happens to be quite plain, without door,
chimney-piece, or other feature, that side or
space will be a blank, or little better. Furnished
sections, on the contrary, exhibit, besides what
strictly belongs to the Architecture and its
decoration, mirrors, pictures, statues, furniture,
draperies, and all other accessories. The number
of sections required depends upon the nature
of the plan, and what there is worth showing.
If the design be worthy of it, there should be
as many sections as will suffice to show every
side of every principal apartment; though it may
not be necessary to repeat the entire section
through every floor. Sections are the _deliciæ_ of
architectural illustration, and, it would seem, far
too precious to be frequently exhibited.
SOFFIT.—From the Italian _soffitto_, a ceiling; the
under surface of any projecting moulding or member.
STYLE, in the sense of a column (from the Greek στύλος,
a column), enters into a great number of useful
compound terms referring to matters connected
with columniation, and which may here be grouped
together, so that any word ending in ‘style’ may be
found here, though passed over in its alphabetical
order. The number of columns in the front of a
pedimented portico is briefly expressed at once by
any of the following terms:
Distyle in antis, two columns and two antæ.
Tetrastyle ” four columns.
Hexastyle ” six ”
Octastyle ” eight ”
Decastyle ” ten ” almost the greatest
number that can be placed beneath a pediment.
As regards Intercolumniation, we
have—Pycnostyle—Eustyle—Aræostyle, 79.
The terms descriptive of the plans and
columniation of ancient temples
are—Prostyle—Amphiprostyle—Peristyle, 69.
Also,
Monoprostyle, a prostyle with _one_ intercolumn on its flanks.
Diprostyle ” ” _two_ ” ”
Triprostyle ” ” _three_ ” ”
To which may be added—
Heterostyle, composed of different Orders, as where one
Order is employed for the centre of a composition,
and another for the wings.
Macrostyle denotes a large Order, that is, one forming
the height of the building.
Microstyle, on the contrary, denotes a lesser Order,
belonging only to some low division of the
building, as for instance, a porch. Thus porticoes
are _macrostylar_, porches _microstylar_.
In Italian composition, microstylar doors and
windows, _i. e._ doors and windows decorated
with small columns, are of frequent occurrence.
STYLOBATE.—That part of a structure on which an Order
is raised, and on which the columns immediately
stand. The term is, however, restricted to what
partakes of the character of a pedestal, and not
to a mere plinth or socle on the one hand, or to a
lower fenestrated floor on the other.
VOLUTE.—The characteristic ornaments and indicial marks
of the Ionic capital formed by circumvolving spiral
mouldings are termed volutes. The small circle in
which the spiral or springs terminate is called the
_eye_ of the volute.
[Illustration]
Printed by Hughes & Robinson, King’s Head Court, Gough Square.