Richard Phené Spiers

“ ORIENTATION, the term in architecture given to the position of a building generally with reference to the points of the compass, and more especially (as the word implies) to that of the East. It would seem that some of the Egyptian temples were orientated in the direction of the sun or of some selected star, the exact position of which on some particular day would be an indication to the priest of the exact time of the year—a matter of great importance in an agricultural country, when the calendar was not known. ”

“ In the Pantheon there is a plain convex frieze, but the outer mouldings of the architrave and the bed-mould of the cornice are richly carved. In the Byzantine doorways at Sta Sophia, Constantinople, a bold convex moulding and a hollow take the place of the fasciae of the classic architrave. ”

“ Germany and Spain have always followed in the wake of the French; and in Italy, where architects preferred to decorate their walls with frescoes, the light from stained glass interfered with their effect, so that there was no demand for huge windows or their subdivision with mullions. At the same time there are many beautiful examples of tracery in Italy, generally in marble, such as those of Giotto’s Campanile and the cathedral at Florence, in the Ducal and other palaces at Venice, and in the triforium arcades of Pisa and Siena cathedrals ”

“ DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. θύρα, Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. θύρα and Lat. fores) , in architecture, the slab, flap or leaf forming the enclosure of a doorway (q.v.) , either in wood, metal or stone. ”

“ CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head) , in architecture, the crowning member of the column, which projects on each side as it rises, in order to support the abacus and unite the square form of the latter with the circular shaft. The bulk of the capital may either be convex, as in the Doric capital; concave, as in the bell of the Corinthian capital; or bracketed out, as in the Ionic capital. These are the three principal types on which all capitals are based. The capitals of Greek, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders are given in the article Order. ”

“ In Egyptian architecture inclined planes took the place of stairs, as in the sloping corridors of the Great Pyramid, the descent leading to the temple of the Sphinx, and the approaches to the two temples of Deir el-Bahri, one of them the oldest temple found. ”

“ Those which are peculiar to England are the broach-spires, in which the four angles of the tower are covered with a stone roof which penetrates the central, octagonal spire. In the best examples the spire comes down on the tower with dripping eaves, and is carried on a corbel table, of which the finest solution is St Mary's at Stamford. The angles of the octagonal spire have a projecting moulding which is stopped by a head just above the corbel table, and at the top of the broach is a small niche with a figure in it ”

“ In the Renaissance period the Italian doors are quite simple, their architects trusting more to the doorways for effect; but in France and Germany the contrary is the case, the doors being elaborately carved, especially in the Louis XIV. and Louis XV. periods, and sometimes with architectural features such as columns and entablatures with pediment and niches, the doorway being in plain masonry. While in Italy the tendency was to give scale by increasing the number of panels, in France the contrary seems to have been the rule ”

“ Many European cathedrals have two aisles on each side, as those of Paris, Bourges, Amiens, Troyes, St Sernin, Toulouse, Cologne, Milan, Seville, Toledo; and in those of Paris, Chartres, Amiens and Bourges, Seville and Toledo, double aisles flank the choir on each side. The cathedral at Antwerp has three aisles on each side. In some of the churches in Germany the aisles are of the same height as the nave. ”

“ The dome may be constructed in horizontal courses, as in the “beehive” tombs at Mycenae, with joints radiating to the centre, or a compromise between the two, in a series of small segments of circles, as in the Temple of Jupiter in Diocletian’s palace at Spalato, or again with the lower portion in horizontal courses and the upper portion with arches, as in the Pantheon at Rome.
The dome is probably one of the earliest forms of covering invented by man, but owing probably to its construction in ephemeral materials, such as the unburnt bricks in Chaldaea, there are no examples existing. ”

“ At the present day, when timber of all kinds is easily procurable, this temporary support is given by centring, consisting of a framed truss with semicircular or segmental head, which carries the voussoirs until the ring of the whole arch is completed and is then, with a barrel vault, shifted on to support other rings; in early times, and particularly in Chaldaea and Egypt, where timber was scarce, other means of support had to be contrived, and it would seem that it was only in Roman times that centring was regularly employed. ”

“ The upper portion of the dome is very thin, so that there is little weight and comparatively no thrust, and it is to these facts that we probably owe their preservation.
In India, in the “great mosque” of Jama Masjid (A.D. 1560) and the Gol Gumbaz, or tomb of Mahommed Adil Shah (A.D. 1630) at Bijapur, the domes are carried on pendentives consisting of arches crossing one another and projecting inwards, and their weight counteracts any thrust there may be in the dome. ”

“ In central Italy we have the dome (elliptical in plan) of the cathedral of Pisa, and it was a favourite feature over the crossing of the churches throughout Italy, being generally carried on squinch pendentives. The domes of the baptisteries of Florence, Parma, Trieste and Piacenza, are only internal, being enclosed with vertical walls and a sloping roof. In Sicily, on account of the strong Saracenic influence, the squinches are simple versions of the stalactite pendentives described under Architecture: Mahommedan (q.v.) ”

“ In Byzantine capitals, the eagle, the lion and the lamb are occasionally carved, but treated conventionally.
In the Romanesque and Gothic styles, in addition to birds and beasts, figures are frequently introduced into capitals, those in the Lombard work being rudely carved and verging on the grotesque; later, the sculpture reaches a higher standard; in the cloisters of Monreale (fig. 12) the birds being wonderfully true to nature. In England and France (figs. 13 and 14) , the figures introduced into the capitals are sometimes full of character. ”

“ The design differs entirely from the northern type; it never has buttresses, is very tall and thin in proportion to its height, and as a rule rises abruptly from the ground without base or plinth mouldings undiminished to the summit; it is usually divided by string-courses into storeys of nearly equal height, and in north and central Italy the wall surface is decorated with pilaster strips and arcaded corbel strings. Later, the square tower was crowned with an octagonal turret, sometimes with a conical roof, as in Cremona and Modena cathedrals. ”

“ In Saxon doorways, which had semicircular heads, the outer mouldings projected more boldly than in classic examples, and were sometimes cut in a separate ring of stone like the hood mould of later date.
During the Romanesque period in all countries, the doorway becomes the chief characteristic feature, and consists of two or more orders, the term “order” in this case being applied to the concentric rings of voussoirs forming the door-head. In classic work the faces of these concentric rings were nearly always flush one with the other ”

“ The problem was ultimately solved by the introduction of the pointed arch for the transverse and wall ribs—the pointed arch had long been known and employed, on account of its much greater strength and of the less thrust it exerted on the walls. When employed for the ribs of a vault, however narrow the span might be, by adopting a pointed arch, its summit could be made to range in height with the diagonal rib ”

“ The simplest kind of vault is that known as the barrel, wagon Or tunnel vault, which is generally semicircular in section, and may be regarded as a continuous arch, the length of which is in excess of its diameter; like the arch (q.v.) , the same provision is required as regards its temporary support whilst the voussoirs constituting one of its rings are being placed in position, for until the upper voussoir, or keystone, is introduced it is not self-supporting. ”

“ In medieval times should be included the great flights of steps which stood in front of the cathedrals of Europe, some of which, as those at Le Puy in France, Ste Gudule at Brussels, the cathedral at Erfurt in Germany, S. Miniato at Florence in Italy, and others, still exist, not having yet been buried by the gradual raising of the ground-level in great towns ”

“ The earliest Roman domes are those of the great circular halls at Baiae near Naples, described as temples, but really forming part of the immense bathing establishments there, the favourite place of resort of the Romans during the latter part of the Republic. ”

“ The earliest example known of a vault is that found under the Chaldaean ziggurat at Nippur in Babylonia, ascribed to about 4000 B.C., which was built of burnt bricks cemented with clay mortar. The earliest tunnel vaults in Egypt are those at Requaqnah and Denderah, c. 3500 B.C.; these were built in unburnt brick in three rings over passages descending to tombs: in these cases, as the span of the vault was only 6 ft., the bricks constituting the voussoirs were laid flatwise, and adhered sufficiently to those behind to enable the ring to be completed without other support ”

“ A third example is the fine campanile of the Palazzo-del-Signore at Verona, fig. 4, the lower portion built in alternate courses of brick and stone and above entirely in brick, rising to a height of nearly 250 ft., and pierced with putlog holes only. The belfry window on each face is divided into three lights with coupled shafts. An octagonal tower of two storeys rises above the corbelled eaves.
In the campanili of the Renaissance in Italy the same general proportions of the tower are adhered to, and the style lent itself easily to its decoration ”

“ In the Blundell collection is a bas-relief of a temple with double doors, each leaf with five panels. Among existing examples, the bronze doors in the church of SS. Cosmas and Damiano, in Rome, are important examples of Roman metal work of the best period; they are in two leaves, each with two panels, and are framed in bronze. Those of the Pantheon are similar in design, with narrow horizontal panels in addition, at the top, bottom and middle. Two other bronze doors of the Roman period are in the Lateran Basilica. ”

“ In domestic work of the 14th century the chimneypiece was greatly increased in order to allow of the members of the family sitting on either side of the fire on the hearth, and in these cases great beams of timber were employed to carry the hood; in such cases the fireplace was so deeply recessed as to become externally an important architectural feature, as at Haddon Hall. The largest chimneypiece existing is in the great hall of the Palais des Comtes at Poitiers, which is nearly 30 ft. ”

“ The Pisa tower is circular on plan, about 51 ft. in diameter and 172 ft. high. Not including the belfry storey, which is set back on the inner wall, it is divided into seven storeys all surrounded with an open gallery or arcade. (See Architecture, Plate I. fig. 62.) Owing to the sinking of the piles on the south side, the inclination was already noticed when the tower was about 30 ft. ”

“ The term "porch" is also given to the magnificent portals of the French cathedrals, where the doors are so deeply recessed as to become porches, such as those of Reims, Amiens, Chartres, Troyes, Rouen, Bourges, Paris, and Beauvais cathedrals, St Ouen, Rouen, and earlier Romanesque churches, as in St Trophime, Arles and St Gilles. ”

“ The rose window of Lincoln Cathedral in the north transept is a compromise between the two, as all the lights are cut out independently and in one plane, but there are mouldings round each connected with flowers ”

“ Contemporary with these Saxon towers are many examples in France, but they are invariably central towers, as at Germigny-des-Pres and at Querqueville in Normandy; in Germany the twin towers of Aix-la-Chapelle are the best known. As a rule the single western tower is almost confined to England, prior to the end of the 11th century, when there are many examples throughout Germany. ”