Teacher's Choice for Activity Four
The Features of Roedde House
Objectives
- to identify the special architectural features of Roedde House to learn the
architectural vocabulary
Description
On the next six pages are architectural elevations of Roedde House. Have students learn
the pertinent vocabulary that is noted on the drawings. This will help the students look,
with a more educated eye, at the houses in Barclay Heritage Square and also their own
neighborhood.
Vocabulary
baluster: a short, usually turned post: a banister.
balustrade: a series of balusters supporting a rail or coping.
bargeboard: A wide, flat board which seals the space below the
roof, between the shingles and the wall on a gable end.
bay window: a projection with a window on a house facade. It may
be curved (bow window) or angular (canted) in plan.
capital: the head or top part of a column or pilaster.
casement: a window frame hinged on one side so that it swings out or in to open.
clapboarding: the overlapping wedge-shaped boards forming the
external covering of a timber-framed structure.
column: a vertical member, circular in section, and normally
with a gentle taper (entasis). In classical architecture, it is composed of a base, shaft
and capital.
corbel -- a.projecting stone or timber block, often carved,
supporting a horizontal member such as a beam.
cupola -- a dome, usually small, topping a roof or turret.
dentil -- one of a series of small blocks used to form an
ornamental row; the collective term is dentillations, or a dentillated cornice.
dormer -- a roofed projection set into the slope of a roof,
usually containing a window.
eaves -- that part of a sloping roof which overhangs the wall.
elevation -- one of the external faces of a building; also, an
architect's drawing of a facade, set out to scale.
fenestration -- the arrangement of windows in a building.
finial -- an ornament on top of a spire, pinnacle, gable, etc.
gable -- that part of the wall immediately under the end of a
pitched roof, cut into a triangular shape by the sloping sides of the roof.
glazing bars -- the bars, usually of wood, that hold panes of
window glass in place. Also termed astragals.
hipped roof -- a roof with four sloped sides.
joists -- horizontal timbers laid parallel as a base for the floorboards.
lights -- in a window, the openings between mullions; more generally, panes.
moulding -- a decorative contour, in wood or stone.
mullion -- an upright bar that vertically divides a window or other opening.
muntin -- the subsidiary vertical member of the frame of a door, window, panel,
etc.
newel post -- the post at the end of a staircase, usually attached to both the
handrail and the string.
order -- in classical architecture, a particular style of column and
entablature, each with its own distinctive proportions and detailing. The Five Orders are
Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and Composite. The first three are derived from ancient
Greek architecture; Tuscan and Composite are Roman adaptations of the earlier Greek
models.
rail -- a horizontal member of the frame of a door, panel, etc.
riser -- the vertical surface of a step.
sash window -- a window formed with sashes -- that is, glazed wooden frames
which slide up and down in vertical grooves by means of counterbalanced weights. The
standard form has two moveable sashes and is termed a "double-hung sash."
shaft -- the main vertical part of a column between the base and the capital.
shingle -- wooden tiles used to clad exterior walls, especially
in American Shingle-style houses.
sill -- the horizontal ledge at the bottom of a window frame.
stile -- a main vertical member of the frame of a door, panel, etc.
string -- one of the two sloping members that hold the ends of
the treads and risers in a staircase.
studs -- the upright timbers in a timber-framed building.
tongue-and-groove -- a method of joining wood so that the edge
of one board has a tongue, or lip, that fits into a groove on the edge of another board.
tread -- the horizontal surface of a step.
trelliswork -- an open pattern of interwoven strips, usually of
wood but sometimes metal; also called latticework.
veranda -- a roof-covered but otherwise open gallery, porch or
balcony supported by posts.
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