Looking at Buildings

Glossary

Pediment: A formalized gable derived from that of a classical temple; also used over doors, windows etc. A broken pediment has its apex omitted. An open pediment has the centre of the base omitted. A broken pediment with double-curved sides is called a swan-neck pediment.
Pedimental gable: A segmental or shallow triangular gable treated as a pediment, i.e. with classical mouldings along the top.
Peel tower, pele tower: Small defensible tower or tower-house of stone, especially near the Scottish-English border.
Pend: (Scots): Open-ended ground-level passage through a building.
Pendant: An ornamental feature suspended from a ceiling or vault.
Pendentive: The surface between arches that meet at an angle, formed as part of a hemisphere and supporting a drum, dome or vault.
Penthouse: Subsidiary structure with a lean-to roof. Also a separately roofed structure on top of a multi-storey block of the 20th century or later.
Pepperpot turret: A corbelled turret or bartizan, square or round, frequently at an angle.
Peripteral: Of a temple: with a colonnade all round the exterior.
Peristyle: On a classical building, a colonnade all round the exterior or an interior space, e.g. a courtyard.