Glossary of Terms Not Defined in the Text
Alcazar (Span., from Arabic Al Kasr), a palace or castle, especially of a governing official.
Archivolt, a band or group of mouldings decorating the wall-face of an arch; or a transverse arch projecting slightly from the surface of a barrel or groined vault.
Astylar, without columns.
Balnea, a Roman bathing establishment, less extensive than the thermæ.
Bel Etage, the principal story of a building, containing the reception rooms and saloons; usually the second story (first above the ground story).
Broken Entablature, an entablature which projects forward over each column or pilaster, returning back to the wall and running along with diminished projection between the columns, as in the Arch of Constantine (Fig. 63).
Cantoned Piers, piers adorned with columns or pilasters at the corners or on the outer faces.
Cartouche (Fr.), an ornament shaped like a shield or oval. In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the oval encircling the name of a king.
Cavetto, a concave, quarter-round moulding.
Chevron, a V-shaped ornament.
Chryselephantine, of ivory and gold; used of statues in which the nude portions are of ivory and the draperies of gold.
Console, a large scroll-shaped bracket or ornament, having its broadest curve at the bottom.
Corinthianesque, resembling the Corinthian; used of capitals having corner-volutes and acanthus leaves, but combined otherwise than in the classic Corinthian type.
Empaistic, made of, or overlaid with, sheet-metal beaten or hammered into decorative patterns.
Exedræ, curved seats of stone; niches or recesses, sometimes of considerable size, provided with seats for the public.
Fenestration, the whole system or arrangement of windows and openings in an architectural composition.
Four-part. A four-part vault is a groined vault formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults. Its diagonal edges or groins divide it into four sections, triangular in plan, each called a compartment.
Gigantomachia, a group or composition representing the mythical combat between the gods and the giants.
Half-timbered, constructed with a timber framework showing externally, and filled in with masonry or brickwork.
Imaum, imâm, a Mohammedan priest.
Kaabah, the sacred shrine at Meccah, a nearly cubical structure hung with black cloth.
Karafah, a region in Cairo containing the so-called tombs of the Khalifs.
Laconicum, the sweat-room in a Roman bath; usually of domical design in the larger thermæ.
Mezzanine, a low, intermediate story.
Mueddin, a Mohammedan mosque-official who calls to prayer.
Narthex, a porch or vestibule running across the front of a basilica or church.
Neo-Gothic,
in a style which seeks to revive and adapt or apply to modern uses the forms of the Middle Ages.
Neo‑Mediæval,
Oculus, a circular opening, especially in the crown of a dome.
Ogee Arch, one composed of two juxtaposed S-shaped or wavy curves, meeting in a point at the top.
Palæstra, an establishment among the ancient Greeks for physical training.
Pavilion (Fr. pavillon), ordinarily a light open structure of ornate design. As applied to architectural composition, a projecting section of a façade, usually rectangular in plan, and having its own distinct mass of roof.
Quarry Ornament, any ornament covering a surface with two series of reticulated lines enclosing approximately quadrangular spaces or meshes.
Quatrefoil, with four leaves or foils; composed of four arcs of circles meeting in cusps pointing inward.
Quoins, slightly projecting blocks of stone, alternately long and short, decorating or strengthening a corner or angle of a façade.
Revetment, a veneering or sheathing.
Rustication, treatment of the masonry with blocks having roughly broken faces, or with deeply grooved or bevelled joints.
Soffit, the under-side of an architrave, beam, arch, or corona.
Spandril, the triangular wall-space between two contiguous arches.
Squinch, a bit of conical vaulting filling in the angles of a square so as to provide an octagonal or circular base for a dome or lantern.
Stoa, an open colonnade for public resort.
Tepidarium, the hot-water hall or chamber of a Roman bath.
Tympanum, the flat space comprised between the horizontal and raking cornices of a pediment, or between a lintel and the arch over it.
Voussoir, any one of the radial stones composing an arch.