Glossary of Architectural Terms

Roof Styles

Balustrade

A railing with supporting balusters

Bargeboard

Also called Vergeboard
A board, often ornately carved or pierced, fixed to the projecting edge of a gable roof

Bay

A part of a building marked off by vertical elements, such as walls or columns.  A main division of a structure.

Clapboard

Also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board, is a board used for horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below.

Cupola

A dome, usually small, topping a roof or turret

Dormer

A window in a sloping roof, usually that of a sleeping-apartment, hence the name

Eave

That part of a sloping roof that overhangs the wall

Entablature

The upper section of a building, resting on the columns and constituting the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

Façade

The exterior face of a building which is the architectural front

Frieze

The middle section of the entablature; a horizontal band below the upper molding or cornice.  Sometimes sculptured and/or richly ornamented.

Gable

The triangular portion of the wall, between the enclosing lines of a sloping roof

Gallery

An exterior space under the main roof of the house.

Jerkinhead

Also called Clipped gable, Hipped gable, Shreadhead. A roof having a sloping (hipped) end cutting off a gable.

Lintel

A supporting wood or stone beam across the top of an opening, such as that of a window or door or fireplace.  Also called architrave.

Muntin / Mullion

A strip of wood or metal separating and/or holding panes of glass in a door or window.

Parapet

A low wall or railing along the edge of a roof.

Pediment

A low pitched gable.  Or any similar triangular decorative piece across a door or window.

Porch

An exterior space attached to the house but with a separate roof.

Siding

The material used to cover the outside of a building.

ShipLap siding

Shiplap is a term used to describe a type of wooden board with a
¼"-½" rabbet on opposite sides of each end. The rabbet allows the boards to overlap in this area.

Undercut

Covered by the main roof.