Glossary of Architectural and Building Terminology - P
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Pace - A pace is a broad step or platform; any part of a floor slightly raised above the rest, as around an altar, or at the upper end of a hall.
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Pagoda - A pagoda was originally an Indian temple for an idol. They consist of one or more quadrangular courts with towers at the corners, surrounded by a wall. Large pyramids rising in stages cover the entrance, behind which extend colonnades, and large halls called Tschultris, which are used to lodge pilgrims in. Small side-temples appear with cupolas surmounting the accessory buildings. Behind the first court is often a second and a third, in which, finally, the chief temple stands.
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Paint Harling - Paint harling is an extremely durable external finish used for the protection of the steelwork of steel-clad houses most notably in Scotland. Paint harling consists of the surface being cleaned and prepared, before being covered with a thick coat of paint composed of paste white lead, stand oil and gold size. While this coat of paint is still tacky, paint-coated granite chips are thrown onto the surface and the whole allowed to dry hard
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Palladian - The term Palladian refers to structures of, pertaining to, or designating, a variety of the revived classic style of architecture, founded on the works of Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect of the 16th century.
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Pane - A pane is a compartment of a surface, or a flat space; hence, the term is applied to one side or face of a building; as, an octagonal tower is said to have eight panes. In modern times the term is especially applied to the glass in one compartment of a window sash.
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Panel - A panel is a distinct compartment raised above or sunk below the level of a wall, ceiling or door surface. In masonry, the term panel refers to one of the faces of a hewn stone.
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Pantile - The term pantile refers to a roofing tile of a peculiar form, having a transverse section resembling an elongated S laid on its side.
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Paradise - A paradise is an open space within a monastery or adjoining a church, like the space within a cloister, the open court before a basilica, etc.
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Parapet - A parapet is a low, or breast height wall or fence, especially one serving to protect the edge of a platform, roof, bridge, or the like.
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Parian cement - Parian cement is a hard burnt plaster of the anhydrous group, similar to Keene's cement.
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Parliament Hinge - A parliament hinge is a hinge with so great a projection from the wall or frame as to allow a door or shutter to swing back flat against the wall.
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Parquetry - Parquetry is a kind of flooring composed of blocks of wood laid level with one another, and arranged in geometric or other patterns.
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Parting Strip - A parting strip is one of the thin strips of wood in a sash window let into the pulley stile to keep the sashes apart. The term is also applied to the thin piece inserted in the window box to separate the weights.
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Party Wall - A party wall is a wall built upon the dividing line between two adjoining properties, usually having half its thickness on each property.
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Patera - A patera is a circular ornament, resembling a dish, often worked in relief on friezes, and the like.
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Paternoster - A paternoster is a beadlike ornament in mouldings.
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Pavilion - A pavilion is a single body or mass of building, contained within simple walls and a single roof, whether insulated, as in the park or garden of a larger edifice, or united with other parts, and forming an angle or central feature of a large pile.
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Peak Arch - A peak arch is a pointed or Gothic arch.
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Pedestal - A pedestal is the base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like or the part on which an upright work stands. It consists of three parts, the base, the die or dado, and the cornice or surbase moulding.
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Pediment - A pediment was originally, in classical architecture, the triangular space forming the gable of a simple roof. It subsequently came to mean a similar form used as a decoration over porticoes, doors, windows, etc.; and also, a rounded or broken frontal having a similar position and use.
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Peen - A peen is the sharp-edged end of the head of a mason's hammer.
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Pellet Moulding - A pellet moulding is a narrow band ornamented with small, flat disks.
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Pendant - A pendant is a hanging ornament on a roof, ceiling, etc. They were much used in the later styles of Gothic architecture, where pendants were made of stone, and considered an important part of the construction.
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Pendant Post - A pendant post is a part of the framing of an open timber roof. It is a post set close against the wall, and resting upon a corbel or other solid support, and supporting the ends of a collar beam or any part of the roof.
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Pendentive - A pendentive is the portion of a vault by means of which the square space in the middle of a building is brought to an octagon or circle to receive a cupola. The term is also applied to the part of a groined vault which is supported by, and springs from, one pier or corbel.
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Pentastyle - The term pentastyle describes a structure having five columns in front. It is usually said of a temple or portico in classical architecture.
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Peripteral - The term peripteral describes a structure as having columns on all sides.
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Peristyle - A peristyle is a range of columns with their entablature, etc. Specifically the term describes a complete system of columns, whether on all sides of a court, or surrounding a building, such as the cella of a temple. The term is used in the former sense as a name given to the larger inner court of a Roman dwelling.
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Perpender - A perpender (perbend, perpend stone or perpent stone) is the name given in masonry to a large stone reaching through a wall so as to appear on both sides of it, and acting as a binder.
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Perpendicular Style - The perpendicular style was a variety of English Gothic architecture, which prevailed from the close of the 14th century to the early part of the 16th century, and so called from the vertical style of its window mullions.
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Perron - A perron is an out-of-door flight of steps, for example in a garden, leading to a terrace or to an upper story. The term is usually applied to mediaeval or later structures of some architectural pretensions.
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Piazza - A piazza is an open square in a European town, especially an Italian town from whence the term has been extended to describe an arcaded and roofed gallery or a portico.
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Pick Dressing - A pick dressing is a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface of the stonework in little pits or depressions.
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Pickled Pine - Pickled pine is a decorators term for pinewood from which the paint has been stripped.
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Pickling - In decorating, pickling is the removal of paint, varnish or polish by means of an alkaline paint remover. The term later evolved to embrace the removal of rust and mill scale from structural steel prior to its erection by immersing the steel briefly in acid and then rinsing it.
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Pier - A pier is a detached mass of masonry, whether insulated or supporting one side of an arch or lintel, as of a bridge. The term is also applied to the piece of wall between two openings and to an additional or auxiliary mass of masonry used to stiffen a wall.
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Pilaster - A pilaster is an upright architectural member right-angled in plan, constructionally a pier but architecturally corresponding to a column, having capital, shaft, and base to agree with those of the columns of the same order. In most cases the projection from the wall is one third of its width, or less.
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Piling - In decorating, piling is a defect which occurs when a quick-drying paint is applied by brush and begins to set during application, resulting in a thick, uneven film
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Pinholing - In decorating, pinholing is a defect in a painted or varnished surface characterised by minute craters or 'pin holes' in the film which are slightly rough to the touch and allow the passage of moisture. Pinholing may be caused by incorrect application or shaking of the varnish resulting in tiny air bubbles occuring in it. In spray painted surfaces, pinholing may be due to grease or moisture in the air-line.
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Pink Primer - Pink primer is the traditional primer for wood. It is traditionally composed of white lead and red lead, but is also made from barytes or other extenders tinted with Venetian red, though this is a very poor substitute.
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Pinnacle - A pinnacle is an architectural member, upright, and generally ending in a small spire. They are used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire, and the like. Pinnacles may be considered primarily as added weight, where it is necessary to resist the thrust of an arch, etc.
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Pise - A pise is a species of wall made of stiff earth or clay rammed in between moulds which are carried up as the wall rises.
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Pitch of a Roof - The pitch of a roof is the inclination or slope of the sides expressed by the height in parts of the span; as, one half pitch; whole pitch; or by the height in parts of the half span, especially among engineers; or by degrees, as a pitch of 30 degrees, of 45 degrees, etc.; or by the rise and run, that is, the ratio of the height to the half span; as, a pitch of six rise to ten run. Equilateral pitch is where the two sloping sides with the span form an equilateral triangle.
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Pitch Paper - Pitch paper was a type of paper formerly used in the treatment of damp walls. Pitch paper consisted of stout brown lining apper coated on one side with pitch. This paper was hung with standard wallpaper paste, the pitch side towards the wall, before ordinary wallpaper was later hung over it.
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Plancer - A plancher is the under side of a cornice; a soffit.
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Plaster - Plaster is the name given to a material which is applied in a plastic state to provide a uniform finish to ceilings and walls. External plaster finishers are usually known as 'renderings'
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Plasterboard - Plasterboard is a type of building board composed of a layer of gypsum on either side of which is affixed a layer of very stout paper or fibre
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Platband - A platband is a flat moulding, or group of mouldings, the width of which much exceeds its projection, as with the face of an architrave. The term is also applied to a list or fillet between the flutings of a column.
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Plate - A plate is a horizontal timber laid upon a wall, or upon corbels projecting from a wall, and supporting the ends of other timbers. The term is also used specifically of the roof plate which supports the ends of the roof trusses or, in simple work, the feet of the rafters.
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Plate-Tracery - Plate-tracery is the earliest form of tracery, used at the beginning of Early English architecture, in which the openings are formed or cut in the stonework, and have no projecting mouldings.
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Plateresque - The term plateresque describes ornaments resembling silver plate.
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Plinth - In classical architecture, a plinth is a vertically faced member immediately below the circular base of a column. The term also describes the lowest member of a pedestal and in general, the lowest member of a base; a sub-base; a block upon which the mouldings of an architrave or trim are stopped at the bottom.
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Plum Line - A plum line or plum bob is a builder's tool comprising a weight suspended on a length of cord or string. A plum line is used to ensure accuracy in setting out vertical work
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Pocket - A pocket is a hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.
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Podger - A podger is a tool used in the erection of scaffolding for tightening up the couplers.
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Podium - A podium is a low wall, serving as a foundation, a substructure, or a terrace wall. The term usually describes the dwarf wall surrounding the arena of an amphitheatre, from the top of which the seats began; or the masonry under the stylobate of a temple, which is sometimes a mere foundation, and sometimes contains chambers.
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Pointed Arch - A pointed arch is an arch with a pointed crown and vertical sides, the thrust being massed at the top of the vertical sections where the arc ends.
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Pointed Style - Pointed style is a name given to that style of architecture in which the pointed arch is the predominant feature, more commonly called Gothic.
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Pointing - Pointing is the filling up and finishing of the joints of a wall, by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface. Over time the exterior joints of walls between the brick deteriorate, and are then re-pointed by a builder to improve the appearance.
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Pole Plate - A pole plate is a horizontal timber resting on the tiebeams of a roof and receiving the ends of the rafters. It differs from the plate in not resting on the wall.
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Polyfoil - A polyfoil is an ornament formed from a moulding disposed in a number of segments of circles.
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Polystyle - The term polystyle describes a structure as having many columns. It is said of a building, especially of an interior part or court, for example a polystyle hall.
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Poppy-Head - A poppy-head is a raised ornament frequently having the form of a final. It is generally used on the tops of the upright ends or elbows which terminate seats etc, in Gothic churches.
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Porch - A porch is a covered and enclosed entrance to a building, whether taken from the interior, and forming a sort of vestibule within the main wall, or projecting without and with a separate roof. Sometimes the porch is large enough to serve as a covered walk.
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Portal - A portal is a lesser gate, where there are two of different dimensions. Formerly the term portal meant a small square corner in a room separated from the rest of the apartment by wainscoting, forming a short passage to another apartment. By the twentieth century the term portal had become analogous with the French portail, used to describe the whole architectural composition which surrounds and includes the doorways and porches of a church.
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Porte-Cochere - A porte-cochere is a large doorway allowing vehicles to drive into or through a building. It is common to have the entrance door open upon the passage of the porte-cochere. The name is also given to a porch over a driveway before an entrance door.
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Portico - A portico is a colonnade or covered ambulatory, especially in classical styles of architecture. It is usually, a colonnade at the entrance of a building.
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Poyntel - Poyntel is paving or flooring made of small squares or lozenges set diagonally.
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Pricking-Up - Pricking-up is the first coating of plaster in work of three coats upon laths. Its surface is scratched once to form a better key for the next coat.
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Principal - A principal is the construction which gives shape and strength to a roof, generally a truss of timber or iron, but there are roofs with stone principals. The term is also loosely applied to the most important member of a piece of framing.
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Profile - A profile is a section of any member, made at right angles with its main lines, showing the exact shape of mouldings and the like.
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Pronaos - A pronaos is the porch or vestibule of a temple.
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Prostyle - The term prostyle describes a portico or building as having columns in front.
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Proto-Doric - The term proto-Doric refers to architecture in which the beginnings of the Doric style are supposed to be found.
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Pseudo-Dipteral - The term pseudo-dipteral refers to something falsely or imperfectly dipteral, as a temple with the inner range of columns surrounding the cella omitted, so that the space between the cella wall and the columns is very great, being equal to two intercolumns and one column, for example.
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Pseudo-Peripteral - The term pseudo-peripteral refers to something falsely or imperfectly peripteral, as a temple having the columns at the sides attached to the walls, and an ambulatory only at the ends or only at one end.
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Pugging - Pugging is mortar or the like, laid between the joists under the boards of a floor, or within a partition, to deaden sound.
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Pulley Stile - A pulley stile is the upright of the window frame into which a pulley is fixed and along which the sash slides.
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Puncheon - A puncheon is any vertical scaffold tube used in the erection of tubular scaffolding, which is not supported upon the ground or upon a base plate
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Purfled Work - Purfled work is delicate tracery, especially found in Gothic architecture.
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Purlin - A purlin is a horizontal beam or member in a roof construction, supported on the principals and supporting the common rafters.
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Puteal - A puteal is an enclosure surrounding a well to prevent persons from falling into it.
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Putlog - A putlog is one of the short pieces of timber or scaffold tube, on which the planks forming the floor of a scaffold are laid, one end resting on the ledger of the scaffold, and the other in a hole left in the wall temporarily for the purpose.
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Putlog Coupler - In scaffolding, a putlog coupler is a non-load-bearing coupler used in the erection of tubular scaffolding for fastening a transom or putlog to a ledger
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Putlog End - A putlog end, or putlog head, is a flattened blade or tongue with a fitting enabling it to be attached to a normal plain-ended scaffolding tube in order to convert the plain tube into a putlog
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