Glossary of Architectural and Building Terminology - T

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Tabby - Tabby is a type of concrete, being a mixture of lime with shells, gravel, or stones, in equal proportions, with an equal proportion of water.
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Tail-bay - A tail-bay is one of the joists which rest one end on the wall and the other on a girder; also, the space between a wall and the nearest girder of a floor.
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Tailing - Tailing is the part of a projecting stone or brick inserted in a wall.
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Tailpiece - A tailpiece is a timber which tails into a header in floor framing.
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Talon - A talon or ogee is a kind of moulding, concave at the bottom and convex at the top. When the concave part is at the top, it is called an inverted talon.
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Tassel - A tassel is a piece of board that is laid upon a wall as a sort of plate, to give a level surface to the ends of floor timbers.
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Temple - A temple is a building dedicated to the service of a deity or deities.
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Templet - A templet is a short piece of timber, iron, or stone, placed in a wall under a girder or other beam, to distribute the weight or pressure.
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Tenement House - The term tenement house commonly applies to a dwelling house erected for the purpose of being rented, and divided into separate apartments or tenements for families. The term is often applied to apartment houses occupied by poor families.
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Term - A term is a quadrangular pillar, adorned on the top with the figure of a head, such as of a man, woman, or a satyr. This figure being called the terminal figure. The pillar part of a term frequently tapers downward, or is narrowest at the base. Terms rudely carved were formerly used for landmarks or boundaries.
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Tetrastyle - A tetrastyle building is one which has four columns in front. The term is used to describe temples, porticos, or colonnades.
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Thatching - Thatching is a method of roofing used to protect buildings and bricks. The material most commonly used is straw, but bracken, gorse, heather and reeds may serve a similar purpose. Of the straws the best for thatching purposes are those of wheat and rye. Oat and barley straw being softer in texture are liable to absorb water. Reeds, however, are superior as a thatch to any straw. A reed thatch, properly made, will last for fifty years without the need for repair, while a straw thatch will last about thirty years. Heather thatching will last a hundred years, but is much heavier than straw or reeds, and as such can only be used on stronger roofs. The thatcher's equipment consists of a bill-hook, a paring knife, a large forked stick to contain the drawn straw, and a wooden rake with iron teeth. The thatcher also requires a supply of tarred cord and wooden pegs of split hazel or willow. The straw to be used for thatching is first well moistened, then the heap is turned with a fork and afterwards lightly trodden to firm it. The thatcher draws his straw from the bottom of the heap, taking it by the double handfuls. The drawn straws are usually called yealms, and this work of drawing was traditionally done by the assistant or server. The straw being made into a bundle in which the individual straws lie fairly straight, the thatcher puts the bundle in place. Thatching begins at the bottom of the roof closest to the eaves and continues upwards, each successive course being secured with pegs and twine. In southern England split hazel pegs were traditionally used in place of twine. Upon reaching the top, the straw is laid well up to form a point, and give a good pitch. Often it is necessary to use bundles of tightly-tied straw to bolster up the ridge.

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Threshold - A threshold is a piece of stone or timber lying below the bottom of a doorway.
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Throat - The term throat is applied to the part of a chimney between the gathering, or portion of the funnel which contracts in ascending, and the flue.
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Tie - In civil engineering a tie is any tension member in a fixed structure or between fixed points. The term is thus applied to a beam or rod for holding two parts together, but also applies to ropes and chains. In railways, the term refers to one of the transverse timbers which support the track, and to which the track is fastened so as to keep it in place.
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Tiebeam - A tiebeam is a beam acting as a tie, as at the bottom of a pair of principal rafters, to prevent them from thrusting out the wall.
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Tiers-Point Arch - A tiers-point arch is an arch with a pointed crown, similar to a poinred arch, but truncated so that the vertical sections are missing and the thrust occurs at the base of the arch between the sides.
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Tilt Roof - A tilt roof is a round-headed roof, like the canopy of a wagon.
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Toe Board - In scaffolding, a toe board is a scaffold board or length of wood turned on its edge and run along the boundary of a working platform to prevent tools and other objects from falling.
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Tope - A tope (stupa, chorten) is a structure erected by Buddhist monks for the preservation of sacred relics. Topes are built of solid masonry in some cases, and of loose stones in others; have sometimes a spherical base, in other instances a polygonal one, though a few are circular. They abound in Central India, in Kashmir and the Indus Valley and in Sri Lanka where they are called ' dagobas'.
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Torii - A torii is a Japanese, decorative gateway comprised of two upright wooden posts connected at the top by two horizontal crosspieces. They are often found at the entrances to Shinto temples.
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Torsel - In building, a torsel is a block of stone or piece of wood or iron set in a wall to support a beam or joist.
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Torus - A torus is a large convex moulding, usually at the base of a column.
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Trabeated - The term trabeated describes an object furnished with an entablature.
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Tracery - Tracery is the stone framework in the head of Gothic windows, formed by a continuation of the mullions, bent, as it were, into ornamental designs. It was at first confined to circles and other geometric forms; but later the lines were free and more flowing except in the Perpendicular style, in which the mullions were carried right through in straight lines.
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Transept - Transepts are the cross aisles of a church, projecting at right angles from the nave or choir. In the basilicas, they often had no projection at the two ends. In Gothic churches these project greatly, and should be called the arms of the transept. It is common, however, to speak of the arms themselves as the transepts.
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Transom - A transom is a horizontal cross bar separating a door from the fan light above it. In scaffolding, a transom is a short tube spanning between two ledgers and at right angles to them. Transoms are used in scaffolding to support scaffold boards or a working platform.
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Transom Window - A transom window is a window divided horizontally by a transom or transoms. The term is also applied to a window over a door, with a transom between.
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Trapdoor - A trapdoor is a lifting or sliding door covering an opening in a roof or floor.
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Trave - The term trave describes a crossbeam or a lay of joists.
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Traverse - A traverse is a gallery or loft of communication running from side to side of a church or other large building.
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Tread - A tread is the upper horizontal part of a step, on which the foot is placed.
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Trefoil - A trefoil is an ornamental foliation consisting of three divisions, or foils.
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Triforium - A triforium is the gallery or open space between the vaulting and the roof of the aisles of a church, often forming a rich arcade in the interior of the church, above the nave arches and below the clerestory windows.
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Triglyph - A triglyph is a three-grooved tablet repeated at regular intervals in a Doric frieze, the intervening spaces being filled with metopes.
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Trim - The trim is the lighter woodwork in the interior of a building; the term being especially applied to that used around openings, generally in the form of a moulded architrave, to protect the plastering at those points.
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Trimmer - A trimmer is a beam, into which are framed the ends of headers in floor framing, as when a hole is to be left for stairs, or to avoid bringing joists near chimneys, and the like.
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Trimming Joist - A trimming joist is a joist into which timber trimmers are framed.
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Trochilus - A trochilus or scotia is an annular moulding whose section is concave, like the edge of a pulley.
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Trough Gutter - A trough gutter is a rectangular or V-shaped gutter, usually hung below the eaves of a house.
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Trunk - The term trunk is applied to that part of a pilaster which is between the base and the capital, corresponding to the shaft of a column.
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Truss - A truss is an assemblage of members of wood or metal, supported at two points, and arranged to transmit pressure vertically to those points, with the least possible strain across the length of any member. Architectural trusses when left visible, as in open timber roofs, often contain members not needed for construction, or are built with greater size than is required, or are composed in unscientific ways for decorative purposes.
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Trussing - Trussing is the art of stiffening or bracing a set of timbers, or the like, by putting in struts, ties, etc., until it has something of the character of a truss.
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Tuck Pointing - Tuck pointing is the finishing of masonry joints along the centre lines with a narrow ridge of putty or fine lime mortar.
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Tudor Architecture - Tudor architecture is a style of architecture characterized by the buildings erected in Britain under the Tudor dynasty, that is, from the accession of Henry VII in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 - the later Tudor period being known as the Elizabethan. This period encompasses the final flowering of the Perpendicular style at the earlier end of the time-scale and the great series of houses by Smythson at the other end. However, in some contexts Tudor architecture indicates the specific style of building associated chiefly with the first half of the 16th century. It is a style expressed mainly in secular architecture (collegiate as well as domestic), for church building in Britain had virtually ended by the Reformation. The most characteristic building material was brick, often patterned by the use of contrasting colours or used to create splendid decorative chimney stacks. Forms to a large extent followed those of the Perpendicular period, but windows and doors were either flat-topped or had a very shallow arch known as a 'Tudor arch'. Outstanding examples of Tudor architecture include Hampton Court Palace, begun by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1515 and continued by Henry VIII; Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire, one of the most idyllically beautiful of English country houses, built by Sir William Compton, one of Henry VIII's courtiers; and the Great Gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, completed in 1533. Although there is no firm dividing line, it is usual to distinguish architecture of the Tudor period into three sub-periods: the early period of Henry VIIIths reign is characterised by large, inward-looking courtyard houses; the middle period of Edward VI introduced more restrained classicism and carefully designed facades and more outward-looking houses the last period, or 'Elizabethan' covers the reign of Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603, and this period sees stone used more often for major buildings, houses become more grandiose in design and there is greater foreign influence, both in the use of the classical Orders and in rich, often Flemish-inspired, surface ornamentation and the introduction of grand fireplaces, large and richly decorated.

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Turret - A turret is a small tower, frequently a merely ornamental structure at one of the angles of a larger structure.
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Tuscan Order - The Tuscan order of architecture was a style of architecture derived from the Classical orders by the Romans. It is characterised by plain columns, rather than the fluted designs of the other earlier classical orders.
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Tympanum - A tympanum is a recessed face of a pediment within the frame made by the upper and lower cornices, being usually a triangular space or table. The term is also applied to the space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch.
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