Looking at Buildings

, printed from the Looking at Buildings website on Saturday 15th March 2025

Classicism without Columns

columnGlossary Term [1] should have its own entablatureGlossary Term [2], but the reverse is not the case: many buildings have full classicalGlossary Term [3] entablatures but no columns or pilasters supporting them. These buildings are known as astylarGlossary Term [4], that is without columns.

Most ordinary GeorgianGlossary Term [5] house fronts belong in this category, though often the entablatures and openings are very plain, and the classicalGlossary Term [6] spirit of the whole is limited to the general proportions of the storeys.

classicalGlossary Term [7].' In these the details and ornaments of the ordersGlossary Term [8] have disappeared, but the proportions still evoke the classicalGlossary Term [9] tradition, and very simplified cornices and pilasters or square piers may also be used.

classicalGlossary Term [10] architecture, often in a self-conscious or even joking way. Rather than follow the old forms exactly, Postmodern classicalGlossary Term [11] architecture tends to use simplified paraphrases: cylindrical columns with blocks for capitals, sloping or convex cornices, and coloured or patterned claddingGlossary Term [12] instead of traditional materials.

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Last updated: Saturday, 25th April 2009