An example of a cornice, above large corbels, along the top of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia. In Architecture a corbel (or console) is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight Wheeling is a city in West Virginia, in the United States. Most of the city is in Ohio County, with a small

The term cornice comes from Italian cornice, meaning “ledge. ”

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding. Crown molding encapsulates a large family of moldings which are designed to gracefully flare out to a finished top edge generally used for capping walls Pilasters Cabinets

The function of the projecting cornice is to throw rainwater free of the building’s walls. In residential building practice, this function is handled by projecting gable ends, roof eaves, and gutters. A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof An eave is the edge of a Roof. Eaves usually project beyond the side of the building generally to provide weather protection A rain gutter (also known as eaves trough, guttering or simply as a gutter) is a narrow channel or trough forming the component of a Roof system The elimination of the cornice has been important enough in modernist architecture, often simply for demands of style, that elaborate internal drainage systems are provided. This article is concerned with architectural aspects of Modernism; for the most recent developments in architecture see Contemporary architecture.

Classical architecture

Doric order in the Parthenon

The cornice molding is the set of projecting moldings that crown an entablature along the top edge of a temple or building. The Doric order was one of the three '''orders''' or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or Classical architecture; the other two Canonical The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis Molding (USA or moulding (AUS CAN UK is a strip of material with various Cross sections used to cover transitions between surfaces An entablature (ɛnˈtæblətʃɚ Latin, and tabula, a tablet) refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above A temple (from the Latin word Templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities such as prayer and sacrifice or analogous rites The cornice lies above the frieze, which rests on the architrave, all supported by columns. In Architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an Entablature and may be plain or &ndash in the Ionic or Corinthian order &ndash The architrave (also called epistyle or door frame) is a moulded or ornamental band framing a rectangular opening

The sloping cornice, “raking cornice” or “rake board,” is also carried across the top of the triangular pediment, at the gable end of a building. A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure ( Entablature) typically supported by A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof (refer to image), found on the front of such buildings as the Parthenon, the Acropolis, or Schinkel’s Schauspielhaus. The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek:) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis Acropolis (Gr akros akron edge extremity + polis city pl acropoleis Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one The sloping cornice hangs over the end of the structure supporting the roof. In classical and neoclassical architecture, the sloping cornice uses the same molding profile as the cornice below.

Each of the classic orders has certain characteristic profiles to its cornice:

• The cornice of the Doric order
• The cornice of the Ionic order
• The cornice of the Corinthian order

The geison in classical Greek architecture

Main article: Geison

Labeled image of the Doric order entablature

Geison (Greek: γεῖσον) is a specialist's architectural term, denoting the part of the entablature that projects outward from the top of the frieze in the Doric order and from the top of the frieze course (or sometimes architrave) of the Ionic and Corinthan orders: thus it is simply an equivalent of cornice. The term Classical architecture has a specific Archaeological meaning relating to the architecture of Classical Greece The Doric order was one of the three '''orders''' or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or Classical architecture; the other two Canonical The Ionic order column forms one of the three '''orders''' or '''organizational systems''' of Classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the The Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greek and Roman Architecture, characterized Geison (Greek γεῖσον - often interchangeable with somewhat broader term Cornice) is an architectural term of relevance particularly to ancient Greek and Roman This is a list of terms used in Classical architecture. Building elements Acroterion - ornament mounted at the apex of the pediment of a building An entablature (ɛnˈtæblətʃɚ Latin, and tabula, a tablet) refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above The Doric order was one of the three '''orders''' or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or Classical architecture; the other two Canonical The Ionic order column forms one of the three '''orders''' or '''organizational systems''' of Classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the The Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greek and Roman Architecture, characterized In classical Greek architecture the geison forms the outer edge of the roof on the sides of a structure with a sloped roof. The upper edge of the exterior often had a drip edge formed as a hawksbeak molding to shed water; there were also typically elaborate moldings or other decorative elements, sometimes painted. Above the geison ran the sima. The underside of the geison may be referred to as a soffit. Soffit (from French soffite, Italian soffitto, formed as a ceiling directly from suffictus for suffixus, Latin The form of a geison (particularly the Hawksbeak molding of the outer edge) is often used as one element of the argument for the chronology of its building. ^[1]

Horizontal geison

The entablature of the Hephaisteion (temple of Hephaistos) in Athens, showing geisa. Hephaestus (hɨˈfiːstəs or /hɨˈfɛstəs/ Greek Hēphaistos) was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan.

The horizontal geison runs around the full perimeter of a Greek temple, projecting from the top of the entablature to protect it from the elements and as a decorative feature. ^[2] Horizontal geisa may be found in other ancient structures that are built according to one of the architectural orders. The horizontal sima (with its antefixes and water-spouts) ran above the horizontal geison along the sides of a building, acting as a rain gutter and final decoration. Ante-fixae (from Latin antefigere, to fasten before the vertical blocks which terminate the covering tiles of the roof of a Roman Etruscan or Greek temple

Doric order

The underside of a corner horizontal geison block from Lycosura showing mutules with guttae

In the Doric order, the sloped underside of the horizontal geison is decorated with a series of protruding, rectangular mutules aligned with the triglyphs and metopes of the Doric frieze below. Lycosura (Greek Ancient Λυκόσουρα Modern Palaeokastro or Siderokastro was a city of Arcadia reputed to be the most ancient city in Greece and indeed This page is a glossary of architecture. A Aisle - subsidiary space alongside the body of a building separated from it by columns piers or A gutta ( Latin pl guttae, "drops" is a small water-repelling cone-shaped projection used in the Architrave of the Doric order in Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric Frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them two perfect and one divided the Each mutule typically had three rows of six guttae (decorative conical projections) protruding from its underside. A gutta ( Latin pl guttae, "drops" is a small water-repelling cone-shaped projection used in the Architrave of the Doric order in The gaps between the mutules are termed viae (roads). The effect of this decoration was to thematically link the entire Doric entablature (architrave, frieze, and geisa) with a repeating pattern of vertically and horizontally aligned architectural elements. Use of the hawksbill molding at the top of the projecting segment is common, as is the undercutting of the lower edge to aid in dispersing rainwater. In order to separate the geison from the frieze visually, there is typically a bed molding aligned with the face of the triglyphs.

Ionic and Corinthian orders

Horizontal geisa of these orders relied on moldings rather than the mutules of the Doric order for their decoration.

Raking geison

Horizontal and raking geisa of the Ionic/Corinthian order on the Arch of Hadrian. The Arch of Hadrian is a monumental Gateway resembling – in some respects - a Roman Triumphal arch.

A raking geison ran along the top edge of a pediment, on a temple or other structure such as the aedicula of a scaenae frons (theater stage building). In Roman religion, an aedicula (pl aediculae) is a small Shrine. This element was typically less decorative than the horizontal geison, and often of a differing profile from the horizontal geison of the same structure. The difference is particularly marked in the Doric order, where the raking geison lacks the distinctive mutules. This page is a glossary of architecture. A Aisle - subsidiary space alongside the body of a building separated from it by columns piers or The raking sima ran over the raking geison as a decorative finish and, essentially, a rain gutter.

References

1. ^ The geisa of the Doric porch of Philo at Eleusis are labeled as γεῖσα Δωρικά (horizontal geisa with mutules) and γεῖσα Ἰωνικά (vertical geisa without mutules) - Robertson 382.
2. ^ It may be compared to the eaves of modern structures.

• Robertson, D. S. 1943. Handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Gallery

Example of the projecting cornice of an Italianate residence

Wainwright Building by Louis Sullivan

English cornice with finials

del palazzo dei Flavi sul Palatino (peristilio)