abutment: A wall which supports the arch of a bridge or vaulted ceiling.
aisle: A side space running along a hall and separated by a row of posts or columns.
anthemion: A decorative honeysuckle flower.
apse: A semi-circular area at one end of a church or room.
arcade: A row of arches and columns.
architrave: The lowest part of the entablature and the surround of a doorway.
ashlar: Blocks of smooth stone masonry with fine joints.
astylar: A façade with no vertical features like columns.
atrium: A top lit court rising through a number of storeys.
balustrade: A row of decorated uprights (balusters) with a rail along the top.
blind: An arcade, balustrade or portico where the openings are filled in.
bonding: The way bricks are laid in a wall which can be recognised by the pattern made by the headers (short end of a brick) and stretchers (long side of a brick). Two common forms are English bond, with a row of stretchers above a row of headers was popular in the 16th and 17th century, and Flemish bond, with rows of alternate headers and stretchers which largely replaced the English bond by the 18th century.
capital: The decorated top of a column.
cartouche: A usually oval-shaped tablet featuring a coat of arms.
caryatids: Female figures supporting an entablature.
casement: A window which is hinged at the side. castellated: A battlemented feature.
Coade stone: A form of ceramic stone which was made in the late 18th and early 19th century and named after its original manufacturer Eleanor Coade. The recipe was subsequently lost.
coffered ceiling: A ceiling with sunken panels (coffers).
colonnade: A row of columns supporting an entablature.
cornice: Top section of an entablature which also features around the top of interior and exterior walls.
console: An ornamental bracket with an ‘S’-shaped centre.
cupola: A small domed round or polygonal tower which stands on top of a roof or dome.
dormer window: An upright window set in the angle of the roof casting light into an attic room which was usually used for sleeping quarters (from the French verb dormer – ‘to sleep’).
double pile: A house which is two rooms deep.
drip moulding: A moulding running along the top of a window to protect it from rain.
eaves: The roof overhang projecting over a wall.
entablature: The horizontal feature supported by columns.
entasis: A straight-sided column appears to curve inwards so Greeks made them slightly thicker in the middle to counter this effect.
fluting: Vertical concave grooves running up a column or pilaster.
frieze: The middle of the entablature.
gable: The triangular-shaped top of an end wall between the slopes of a roof.
hipped roof: A roof with a slope on all four sides. A gabled roof has two vertical end walls (gables).
jambs: The sides of a door opening.
keystone: The top, centre stone of an arch which can be projected out as a feature.
lantern: A small tower on top of a dome which lets in light to illuminate the interior.
lintel: A flat beam which is fitted above a doorway or window to take the load of the wall above.
loggia: A gallery or corridor open on one side, with a row of columns.
louvre: An opening, usually with slats, through which smoke can escape from a hearth.
mansard roof: A roof with a steep-sided lower section and low pitched top part which creates more room in the attic below.
moulding: A decorative strip in wood, stone or plaster.
mullion: The vertical bars of a window.
oculus: A circular opening, often on a dome or mansard roof.
oratory: A small private chapel.
orders: The different styles of the column and entablature together from Classical architecture.
oriel window: A large projecting window.
parapet: A low wall running along the edge of the roof above the main wall or along the top of a hipped roof on 17th-century, Dutch-style houses.
pediment: A low pitched triangular feature, supported by columns on the top of a portico or Classical doorway.
piano nobile: The floor on which the principal rooms are contained, usually above a raised basement or ground floor.
pilaster: A rectangular column projecting slightly from the wall, with the same treatment at the top and bottom as a free-standing column.
portico: A porch with a flat entablature or triangular pediment supported on columns.
plinth: The projecting base of a wall or the block on which a column stands.
quoins: Dressed stones at the corner of buildings.
rotunda: A circular building with a dome on top.
rustication: The cutting of masonry into blocks separated by deep lines and sometimes with a rough hewn finish. Often used to distinguish the basement of Palladian houses.
sash: A window which slides vertically (a Yorkshire sash slides horizontally).
shaft: The main cylindrical part of a column.
sill: The horizontal beam at the bottom of a window, door or timber-framed wall.
solar: An upper withdrawing room behind the lord’s end of a medieval hall.
stucco: A durable smooth plaster coating applied to the outside of houses often over brick in lieu of stone. It was particularly popular in the Regency period.
tracery: The ribs at the top of a stone window which are formed into patterns (usually on churches, chapels, and medieval halls).
transom: The horizontal bars of a window.
tympanum: The flat triangular space within a pediment.
vault: An arched ceiling formed from brick or stone, and sometimes imitated in plaster and wood.
Venetian windows: A window in three vertical sections, the centre one being taller and arched.
voissoir: A wedge-shaped stone which forms an arch.