Glossary of Architectural and Building Terminology - C
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Cable - A cable or cable moulding is a moulding, shaft of a column, or any other member of a convex rounded section, made to resemble the spiral twist of a rope.
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Cabling - Cabling is the decoration of a fluted shaft, column or pilaster with reeds, or rounded mouldings, which seem to be laid in the hollows of the fluting. These are limited in length to about one third of the height of the shaft.
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Caen Stone - Caen Stone is a soft, fine-grained, light-coloured form of limestone quarried near Caen in Normandy and extensively used in buildings in Paris, and from the 11th to 15th centuries in buildings in Britain. Caen stone is too absorbent to be used outside, but was widely used for interiors and was used in the construction of westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Eton College.
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Caisson - A caisson was originally a sunken panel of ceilings or soffits. The term has come to also describe the wooden, metal or concrete shells used for building foundations underwater and on quicksand and peat.
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Calotte - A calotte designates a flattened dome.
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Camber - A camber is an upward concavity in the under side of a beam, girder, or lintel. The term is also applied to a slight upward concavity in a straight arch.
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Camber Arch - A camber arch is an arch whose intrados, though apparently straight, has a slightly concave curve upward.
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Camber Beam - A camber beam is a beam whose under side has an upward concave curve.
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Camp Ceiling - A camp ceiling is a kind ceiling often used in attics or garrets, in which the side walls are inclined inward at the top, following the slope of the rafters, to meet the plane surface of the upper ceiling.
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Campanile - A campanile is a bell-tower detached from the church to which it belongs and having arcaded openings at several levels. It is a common feature in Italian architecture.
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Canopy - A canopy is a miniature roof above a stall, screen, niche or effigy. Canopies are usually ornamented, and late mediaeval canopies were elaborate structures clustered with pinnacles and gables
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Canted Column - A canted column is a column polygonal in plan.
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Cantilever - A cantilever is a bracket to support a balcony, a cornice, or the like.
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Cantilever Bridge - A cantilever bridge is a bridge in which the principle of the cantilever is applied. It is usually a trussed bridge, composed of two portions reaching out from opposite banks, and supported near the middle of their own length on piers which they overhang, thus forming cantilevers which meet over the space to be spanned or sustain a third portion, to complete the connection.
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Cantilever Scaffold - Cantilever scaffold, also known as jib scaffold and trussed scaffold, is a scaffold formed with the tubes cantilevered out of an opening in the building, perhaps a window, so as not to obstruct the thoroughfare below
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Cantoned - The term cantoned refers to having the angles marked by, or decorated with, projecting mouldings or small columns; for example a cantoned pier or pilaster.
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Cap - A cap is the uppermost of any assemblage of parts; for example the cap of a column (a capital) , door, etc.; the term also applies to a coping, cornice, lintel, or plate.
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Caracole - The term caracole is applied to a staircase in a spiral form.
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Cardiglio Marble - Cardiglio marble is a variety of highly decorative marble quarried in Sicily. Cardiglio marble is a grey variety of cipollino marble, having grey veins and bands instead of green
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Carol - The term carol described a small closet or enclosure built against a window on the inner side, to sit in for study - like a bay window. The term was used until about the 16th century.
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Carolitic - The term carolitic describes something which is adorned with sculptured leaves and branches.
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Carriage Porch - A carriage porch is a canopy or roofed pavilion covering the driveway at the entrance to a building. It was intended as a shelter for those alighting from vehicles at the door.
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Carton-pierre - Carton-pierre is a papier-mache formerly used in statuary and architectural decorations. It is a mixture of paper pulp, bole, chalk and glue and was made to imitate stonework.
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Cartouche - A cartouche is a scroll-like ornament.
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Caryatide - Caryatides are figures of women dressed in long robes, serving to support entablatures in place of a column or pilaster. Male figures are called atlantes.
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Case-Bay - A case-bay is the space between two principals or girders. The tem is also applied to one of the joists framed between a pair of girders in naked flooring.
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Casemate - A casemate is a hollow moulding, chiefly in cornices.
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Casement - A casement is a window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted.
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Casing Wheel - A casing wheel is a circular cutter mounted on a wooden handle used in paperhanging, where it is used for cutting wallpaper quickly and cleanly around architrave, door casings and the like
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Cavetto - A cavetto is a concave moulding. They were used chiefly in classical architecture.
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Cavity-Wall - A cavity-wall (formerly called a hollow-wall) is a wall built in two thicknesses with an empty space in the middle for the purpose of maintaining an equal temperature in rooms, or of preventing wet from being driven through.
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Ceiling - A ceiling is the inside lining of a room over-head.
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Cell - A cell is the space between the ribs of a vaulted roof.
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Cellar - A cellar is a room or rooms under a building, and usually below the surface of the ground, where provisions and other stores are kept.
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Chain Moulding - Chain moulding is a form of moulding in imitation of a chain. It was used in the Normal style.
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Chain Tie - A chain tie is a tie consisting of a series of connected iron bars or rods.
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Chambranle - A chambranle is an ornamental bordering or frame like decoration around the sides and top of a door, window, or fireplace. The top piece is called the traverse and the side pieces the ascendants.
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Champ - A champ is the field or ground on which a carving appears in relief.
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Chancel - A chancel is that part of a church, reserved for the use of the clergy, where the altar, or communion table, is placed.
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Chaplet - A chaplet is a small moulding, carved into beads, pearls, olives, etc.
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Chevron - A chevron is a zigzag moulding, or group of mouldings, common in Norman architecture.
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Chimney-Breast - A chimney-breast is the horizontal projection of a chimney from the wall in which it is built. The term is commonly applied to its projection in the inside of the building only.
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Chimney-Piece - A chimney-piece is a decorative construction around the opening of a fireplace.
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Cimbia - A cimbia is a fillet or band placed around the shaft of a column as if to strengthen it.
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Cincture - A cincture is the fillet, listel, or band next to the apophyge at the extremity of the shaft of a column.
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Cipollino Marble - Cipollino marble is a highly decorative species of marble with a whitish ground traversed by veins of green.
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Cippus - A cippus is a small, low column, sometimes without a base or capital, and most often bearing an inscription. In ancient times cippus were used as mile stones indicating the distance to remote places along a road, and as memorial stones.
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Claircolle - Claircolle (clearcole) is diluted glue size to white whiting has been added. Claircolle is used on walls and ceilings to reduce the porosity prior to applying a coat of distemper
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Clapper Bridge - A clapper bridge is a roughly made bridge constructed of crude stones. Clapper bridges of granite slabs were constructed on Dartmoor by the tin miners of the Middle Ages.
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Classical - The term classical refers to designs which have plans, details and facades based upon Greco-Roman styles. Classical design architecture is common from the 16th century onwards.
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Clavy - The term clavy is another name for a mantelpiece.
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Clerestory - The clerestory is that part of the walls of a Gothic church which rise above the aisle and contains a row of windows. Its purpose being to admit as much light as possible to the nave.
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Cloister - A cloister is a covered passage or ambulatory on one side of a court; the term is also applied to a series of such passages on the different sides of any court, especially that of a monastery or a college.
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Cloister Garth - A cloister garth is the garden or open part of a court enclosed by the cloisters.
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Clustered Column - A clustered column is a column which is composed of, or appears to be composed of several columns collected together.
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Coat - In decorating, a coat is a film of paint, varnish or similar decorative liquid applied to a surface in a single application.
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Cob - Cob is a mixture of damp clay, chopped straw and small stones used in a British West Country building technique.
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Cobbled House - A cobbled house is a round house with dry-stone walls and a domed roof.
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Coffer - A coffer is a panel deeply recessed in the ceiling of a vault, dome, or portico.
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Cofferwork - In masonry, cofferwork is a term used to describe rubblework faced with stone.
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Collar Beam - A collar beam (also known simply as a collar) is a horizontal piece of timber connecting and tying together two opposite rafters.
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Colonnade - A colonnade is a row of columns, frequently covered with a roof projecting from an adjacent building. Colonnades were common in ancient Greece. When in front of a building, it is called a portico; when surrounding a building or an open court or square, it is called a peristyle.
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Colour Combing - Colour combing is the production of patterns by means of lifting or combing wet colour to reveal a differently coloured ground.
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Colour Wash - In decorating, a colour wash is a broad area decorated with a coat of inexpensive material such as soft distemper or lime wash.
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Column - A column is an upright support in a building, usually of stone, with a decorated base and capital.
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Compass Window - A compass window is a circular bay window or oriel window.
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Composite - The Composite order refers to an architectural style made up of elements of the four other orders: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian.
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Concha - A concha is a plain semi-dome of an apse; sometimes the term is used to describe the entire apse.
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Conduit - The term conduit applies to both a structure forming a reservoir for water and a narrow passage used for private communication.
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Console - A console is an ornamental bracket used to support a cornice, usually in a curved form.
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Coping - Coping is the highest or covering course of masonry in a wall, often with sloping edges to carry off water. It is sometimes called capping.
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Corbeil - A corbeil is a sculptured basket of flowers.
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Corbel - A corbel is a bracket supporting a superincumbent object, or receiving the spring of an arch. Corbels were employed largely in Gothic architecture. A common form of corbel consists of courses of stones or bricks, each projecting slightly beyond the next below it.
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Corbel-table - A corbel-table is a horizontal row of corbels, with the panels or filling between them.
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Corbelling - Corbelling refers to blocks stacked upon one another, each one projecting beyond the ones below. A corbelled arch is held in position by the weight of the superstructure operating on the cantilever principle. Examples of corbelled arches are to be found in the Mycenaean theolos tombs.
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Corbiestep - Corbiesteps or crowsteps are the steps in which a gable wall is often finished in place of a continuous slope.
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Corinthian Order - The Corinthian order of architecture was a light, ornamental style of architecture invented by the Greeks, but more commonly used by the Romans. It is characterised by ornate bases and even more ornate capitals, often decorated with graceful foliated forms
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Corner Knife - A corner knife is a broad, sharp-edged knife mounted on a light wooden handle and used in the decorating trade in a manner similar to a casing wheel for rapidly trimming surplus wallpaper from around skirtings and architraves.
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Cornice - A cornice is any horizontal, moulded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as for example the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house.
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Corona - A corona is the projecting part of a Classic cornice, the under side of which is cut with a recess or channel so as to form a drip.
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Corridor - A corridor is a gallery or passageway leading to several apartments of a house.
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Couple-Close - A couple-close is a pair of rafters framed together with a tie fixed at their feet, or with a collar beam.
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Courier - A courier is a continuous level range of brick or stones of the same height throughout the face or faces of a building.
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Coursing Joint - A coursing joint is the mortar joint between two courses of bricks or stones.
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Coussinet - A coussinet is a stone placed on the impost of a pier for receiving the first stone of an arch. The term is also applied to that part of the Ionic capital between the abacus and quarter round, which forms the volute.
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Cove - A cove is a concave moulding. The term is also applied to a member, whose section is a concave curve, used especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as around a skylight.
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Coved Ceiling - A coved ceiling is a ceiling, the part of which next the wail is constructed in a cove.
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Coved Vault - A coved vault is a vault composed of four coves meeting in a central point, and therefore the reverse of a groined vault.
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Coving - Coving is the series of coves fitted as the concaved surface under the overhang of a projecting upper story. The term is also applied to the splayed jambs of a flaring fireplace.
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Cracking - In painting and decorating, cracking is a defect occurring in paintwork usually because of the application of a hard drying coat of paint over a softer and more elastic coat, with the result that the coats of paint contract and expand differently. Cracking can be caused by not allowing the undercoat enough time to dry.
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Crapaudine - Crapaudine is an architectural term referring to a door which turns on pivots at the top and bottom.
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Creasing - Creasing is a layer of tiles forming a corona for a wall.
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Crenelated Moulding - Crenelated Moulding is a kind of indented moulding used in Norman buildings.
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Crest - The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc are called the crest.
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Creste - In Gothic architecture, a creste is a floriated ornament finishing the gable or roof of a building. They were prevalent during the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. A creste consists of a low screen of stone of beautiful workmanship , usually foliage, conventionally treated. Tiles were used and also later metal including brass, gilded iron and bronze.
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Cresting - Cresting is an ornamental finish on the top of a wall or ridge of a roof.
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Cricket - A cricket is a small false roof, or the raising of a portion of a roof, so as to throw off water from behind an obstacle, such as a chimney.
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Crocket - A crocket is an ornament often resembling curved and bent foliage, projecting from the sloping edge of a gable, spire, etc.
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Crockets - Crockets are projecting knobs decorated with foliage designs. Crockets are to be found placed at regular intervals on spires, pinnacles and capitals of 13th century architecture
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Cross-Springer - A cross-springer is one of the ribs in a groined arch, springing from the corners in a diagonal direction.
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Cross-Vaulting - Cross-vaulting is vaulting formed by the intersection of two or more simple vaults.
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Crossette - A crosette is a return in one of the corners of the architrave of a door or window.
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Crossing - Crossing is a decorating term referring to the distribution of paint evenly to a surface. In crossing, the paint is brushed on and then the brush taken across the work at a right angle to the direction of the previous stroke. With each stroke the pressure on the brush is reduced so as to eliminate brush marks.
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Crow's Footing - Crow's footing is a defect in a painted or varnished surface whereby small wrinkles resembling a crow's foot appear. Crow's footing is often caused by the formation of a surface skin
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Crown - The term crown applies to the vertex or top of an arch. The term is generally applied to about one third of the curve, but in a pointed arch to the apex only.
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Crowstone - The crowstone is the top stone of the gable end of a house.
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Cullis - A cullis is a gutter in a roof; a channel or groove.
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Culvert - A culvert is an arched walled underground watercourse, usually built of masonry or brickwork.
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Cupola - A cupola is a roof having a rounded form, hemispherical or nearly so. The term is also applied to a ceiling having the same form. When on a large scale it is usually called a dome.
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Curb - A curb is an assemblage of three or more pieces of timber, or a metal member, forming a frame around an opening, and serving to maintain the integrity of that opening. The term also describes a ring of stone serving a similar purpose, as at the eye of a dome.
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Curb Plate - A curb plate is a plate serving the purpose of a curb.
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Curb Roof - A curb roof is a roof having a double slope, or composed, on each side, of two parts which have unequal inclination, that is a gambrel roof. The curb roof is also known as a Mansard Roof after the French architect who frequently adopted it.
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Curbstone - A curbstone is a stone set along a margin as a limit and protection, as along the edge of a sidewalk next the roadway as an edge stone.
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Curtain - The term curtain applies to that part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
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Curtaining - In painting and decorating, curtaining refers to the occurrence of sagging or 'curtains' in paint, enamel or varnish films applied to vertical surfaces and being due to uneven application, and which manifests itself in the formation of thick lines of paint resembling a slung curtain.
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Cushion Capital - A cushion capital is a capital so sculptured as to appear like a cushion pressed down by the weight of its entablature. The name is also given to a form of capital, much used in the Romanesque style, modelled like a bowl, the upper part of which is cut away on four sides, leaving vertical faces.
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Cusp - A cusp is a triangular protection from the intrados of an arch, or from an inner curve of tracery.
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Cutting Down - In painting and decorating, cutting down refers to the rubbing down of a painted surface with abrasives. The term is generally applied to the grinding down of a glossy surface.
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Cutting In - In painting and decorating, the term cutting in applies to finishing off a section of paintwork in a neat line
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Cutting Tool - A cutting tool (or sash tool) is a decorator's round brush, about two centimetres in diameter, used for cutting in windows and the like.
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Cyma - A cyma is a member or moulding of a cornice, the profile of which is wavelike in form.
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Cymatium - A cymatium is a capping or crowning moulding found in classic architecture.
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Cyrtostyle - A cyrtostyle is a circular projecting portion.
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