Addition: New construction added to an existing building or structure.

Alteration: Work which impacts any exterior architectural feature including construction, reconstruction, or removal of any building or building element.

Apron: A decorative, horizontal trim piece on the lower portion of an architectural element.

Arch: A curved construction of wedge-shaped stones or brick which spans an opening and supports the weight above it. See net arch, jack arch, segmental arch and semicircular arch.

Attic: The upper level of a building, not of full ceiling height, directly beneath the roof

Awning Window: A window having one or more sashes swinging outward on hinges generally attached to the top of the frame.

Baluster: One of a series of short, vertical, often vase-shaped members used to support a stairs or porch handrail, forming a balustrade.

Balustrade: An entire rail system with top rail and balusters.

Bargeboard: A board which hangs from the projecting end of a gable roof, covering the end rafters, and often sawn into a decorative pattern.

Bay: The portion of a facade between columns of piers providing regular divisions and usually marked by windows.

Bay Window: A projecting window that forms an extension to the floor space of the internal room; usually extending to the ground level.

Belt Course: A horizontal band usually marking the floor levels of the exterior facade of a building.

Board and Batten: Siding fashioned of boards set vertically and covered where their edges join by narrow strips called battens.

Bond: A term used to describe the various pattern in which brick, or stone is laid, such as "common bond" or "Flemish bonds".

Bracket: A projecting element of wood, stone or metal which spans between horizontal and vertical surfaces (eaves, shelves, overhangs) as decorative support.

Bulkhead: The structural panels just below display windows on storefronts. Bulkheads can be both supportive and decorative in design. Nineteenth century bulkheads are often of wood construction with rectangular raised panels. Twentieth century bulkheads may be of wood, brick, tile, or marble construction. Bulkheads are also referred to as kickplates.

Bungalow: Common house form of the early 20th century distinguished by horizontal emphasis, wide eaves, large porches and multi-light doors and windows.

Capital: The head of a column or pilaster.

Casement Window: A window with one or two sashes which are hinged at the sides and usually open outward.

Certified Local Government: Any city, county, parish, township, municipality, or borough or any other general purpose subdivision enacted by the National Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 to further delegate responsibilities and funding to the local level.

Clapboards: Horizontal wooden boards, thinner at the top edge, which are overlapped to provide a weatherproof exterior wall surface.

Classical Order: Derived from Greek and Roman architecture, a column with its base, shaft, capital and entablature, having standardized details and proportions, according to one of the five canonized modes; Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian, or Composite.

Chopped Gable: A gable roof where the ends of the ridge are terminated in a small, diagonal roof surface.

Colonial Revival: Style of the early 20th century based on interpretations of architectural forms of the American colonies prior to the Revolutionary War.

Column: A circular or square vertical structural member.

Common bond: A brickwork pattern where most courses are laid flat, with the long "stretcher" edge exposed, but every fifth to eighth course is laid perpendicularly with the small "header" end exposed, to structurally tie the wall together.

Corbel: In masonry, a projection, or one of a series of projections, each stepped progressively farther forward with height and articulating a cornice or supporting an overhanging member.

Corinthian Order: Most ornate classical order characterized by a capital with ornamental acanthus leaves and curled fern shoots.

Cornice: The uppermost, projecting part of an entablature, or feature resembling it. Any projection ornament molding along the top of a wall, building, etc.

Cresting: A decorated ornamental finish along the top of a wall or roof, often made of ornamental metal.

Cross-gable: A secondary gable roof which meets the primary roof at right angles.

Cupolas: A dome-shaped ornamental structure placed on the top of a larger roof or dome. In some cases, the entire main roof of a tower or spire can be a cupola. More frequently, however, the cupola is a smaller structure which sets on top of the main roof.

Dentils: A row of small tooth-like blocks in a classical cornice.

Doric Order: A classical order with simple, unadorned capitals, and with no base.

Dormer Window: A window that projects from a roof.

Double-hung Window: A window with two sashes, one sliding vertically over the other.

Eaves: The edge of a roof that projects beyond the face of a wall.

Elevation: Any of the external faces of a building.

Eli: The rear wing of a house, generally one room wide and running perpendicular to the principal building.

Engaged Column: A round column attached to a wall.

Entablature: A part of a building of classical order resting on the column capital; consists of an architrave, frieze, and cornice.

Facade: The face or front elevation of a building.

Fanlight: A semi-circular window usually over a door with radiating muntins suggesting a fan.

Fascia: A projecting flat horizontal member or molding; forms the trim of a flat roof or a pitched roof; also part of a classical entablature.

Fenestration: The arrangement of windows on a building.

Finial: A projecting decorative element, usually of metal, at the top of a roof turret or gable.

Fishscale Shingles: A decorative pattern of wall shingles composed of staggered horizontal rows of wooden shingles with half-round ends.

Flashing: Thin metal sheets used to prevent moisture infiltration at joints of roof planes and between the roof and vertical surfaces.

Flat Arch: An arch whose wedge-shaped stones or bricks are set in a straight line; also called a jack arch.

Flemish Bond: A brickwork pattern where the long "stretcher" edge of the brick is alternated with the small "header" end for decorative as well as structural effectiveness.

Fluting: Shallow, concave grooves running vertically on the shaft of a column, pilaster, or other surface.

Form: The shape and structure of something as distinguished from its substance or material.

Foundation: The lowest exposed portion of the building wall, which supports the structure above.

Frieze: The middle portion of a classical cornice; also applied decorative elements on an entablature or parapet wall.

Front Facade: means one of the following:

(A)

The facade (as defined herein) which faces the public street, where the lot on which the facade is located adjoins only one public street right-of-way;

(B)

The combination of facades (as defined herein) each of which faces a public street, where the lot on which the facades are located adjoins more than one public street right-of-way; or

(C)

The facades (as defined herein) which contain one or more doors open to the public during conduct of business, where no facade faces a public street.

Gable: The triangular section of a wall to carry a pitched roof.

Gable Roof: A pitched roof with one downward slope on either side of a central, horizontal ridge.

Gambrel Roof: A ridge roof with two slopes on either side.

Ghosts: Outlines or profiles of missing buildings or building details. These outlines may be visible through stains, paint, weathering, or other residue on a building's facade.

Greek Revival Style: Mid-nineteenth century revival of forms and ornament of architecture of ancient Greece.

Hipped Roof: A roof with uniform slopes on all sides.

Hood Molding: A projecting molding above an arch, doorway, or window, originally designed to direct water away from the opening; also called a drip mold.

Ionic Order: One of the five classical orders used to describe decorative scroll capitals.

Infill: New construction where there had been an opening before, such as a new building between two older structures; or block infill between porch piers or in an original window opening.

Inlaid Brick: brick set into a surface, usually at the same level.

Jack Arch: See flat arch.

Jalousie Window: A window having horizontal glass or wood louvers which pivot simultaneously in a common frame, used primarily in mild climates to control ventilation and to cut off visibility from the outside.

Keystone: The wedge-shaped top or center member of an arch.

Kick Plate: A protective metal plate fastened to the bottom of a door to resist blows and scratches.

Knee Brace: An oversized bracket supporting a cantilevered or projecting element.

Lattice: An open work grill of interlacing wood strips used as screening.

Lintel: The horizontal top member of a window, door or other opening.

Mansard Roof: A roof with a double slope on all four sides, with the lower slope being almost vertical and the upper almost horizontal.

Masonry: Exterior wall construction of brick, stone or adobe laid up in small units.

Massing: The three-dimensional form of a building.

Metal Standing Seam Roof: A roof composed of overlapping sections of metal such as copper-bearing steel or iron coated with a terne alloy of lead and tin. These roofs were attached or crimped together in various raised seams for which the roof is named.

Modillion: A horizontal bracket, often in the form of a plain block, ornamenting, or sometimes supporting, the underside of a cornice.

Molding: Any of various long, narrow, ornamental surfaces with uniform cross sections and a profile shaped to produce modulations of light, shade, and shadow.

Mortar: A mixture of sand, lime, cement, and water used as a binding agent in masonry construction.

Mullion: A heavy vertical divider between windows or doors.

Multi-light Window: A window sash composed of more than one pane of glass.

Muntin: A secondary framing member to divide and hold the panes of glass in multilight window or glazed door.

Neo-Classical Revival: Early 20th Century style which combines features of ancient, Renaissance, and Colonial architecture; characterized by imposing buildings with large columned porches.

Oriel Window: A bay window which emerges above the ground floor level.

Paired Columns: Two columns supported by one pier, as on a porch.

Palladian Window: A window with three openings, the central one arched and wider than the ranking ones.

Paneled Door: A door composed of solid panels (either raised or recessed) held within a framework of rails and stiles.

Parapet: A low horizontal wall at the edge of a roof.

Pediment: A triangular crowning element forming the gable of a roof; any similar triangular element used over windows, doors, etc.

Pier: A vertical structural element, square or rectangular in cross-section.

Pilaster: A square pillar attached, but projecting from a wall, resembling a classical column.

Pitch: The degree of the slope of a roof.

Portico: A roofed space, open or partly enclosed, forming the entrance and centerpiece of the facade of a building, often with columns and a pediment.

Portland Cement: A strong, inflexible hydraulic cement used to bind mortar. Mortar or patching materials with a high Portland cement content should not be used on old buildings. The Portland cement is harder than the masonry, thereby causing serious damage over annual freeze-thaw cycles.

Posts: A stiff vertical support.

Preservation: The act of maintaining the original form and character of a building. Preservation stops deterioration and stabilizes structures.

Pressed Tin: Decorative and functional metalwork made of molded tin used to sheath roofs, bays, and cornices.

Pyramidal Roof: A roof with four identical sides rising to a central peak.

Queen Anne Style: Popular late 19th century revival style of early 18th century English architecture, characterized by irregularity of plan and massing add a variety of texture.

Quoms: A series of stone, bricks, or wood panels ornamenting the outside of a wall.

Rafter Tails: The lower, sometimes exposed, end of a rafter that overhangs a wall.

Railing: A barrier composed of one or more horizontal rails supported by spaced uprights or balusters.

Rear Facade: The face of a building seen from the rear of the lot.

Reconstruction: The accurate recreation of a vanished, or irreplaceably damaged structure, or part thereof; the new construction recreates the building's exact form and details as they appeared at some point in history.

Rehabilitation: The act of returning a building to usable condition through repair, alteration, and/or preservation of its features.

Restoration: The process of accurately taking a building's appearance back to a specific period of time by removing later work and by replacing missing earlier features to match the original.

Ridge: The top horizontal member of a roof where the sloping surfaces meet.

Rusticated: Roughening of stonework of concrete blocks to give great articulation to each block.

Sash: The moveable framework containing the glass in a window.

Secondary: Subordinate, not primary.

Segmental Arch: An arch whose profile or radius is less than a semicircle.

Semi-circular Arch: An arch whose profile or radius is a half-circle the diameter of which equals the opening width.

Sheathing: An exterior covering of boards or other surface applied to the frame of the structure. (See Siding)

Shed Roof: A gently pitched, almost flat roof with only one slope.

Sidelight: A vertical area of fixed glass on either side of a door or window.

Siding: The exterior wall covering or sheathing of a structure.

Sill: The bottom crosspiece of a window frame.

Soffit: The underside of an architectural element, as an arch, beam, cornice, or staircase.

Spalling: Chipping or flaking.

Spindles: Slender, elaborately turned wood dowels or rods often used in screens and porch trim.

Stabilization: The essential maintenance of a deteriorated building as it exists at present, establishing structural stability and a weather-resistant enclosure.

Steeple: A tall ornamental structure, usually ending in a spire and surmounting the tower of a church or other public building.

Streetscape: The over facade, not of a single structure, but of the many buildings which define the street.

Surround: An encircling border or decorative frame, usually at windows or doors.

Swag: Carved ornament in the form of a cloth draped over supports, or in the form of a garland of fruits and flowers.

Transom: A horizontal opening (or bar) over a door or window.

Trim: The decorative framing of an opening and other features on a facade.

Turret: A small slender tower.

Veranda: A covered porch or balcony on a building's exterior.

Vergeboard: The vertical face board following and set under the roof edge of a gable, sometimes decorated by carving.

Vernacular: A regional form or adaptation of an architectural style.

Wall dormer: Dormer created by the upward extension of a wall and a breaking of the roofline.

Water Table: A projecting horizontal ledge, intended to prevent water from running down the face of walls lower section.

Weatherboard: Wood siding, consisting of overlapping boards usually thicker at one edge than the other.