A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are typically made of stonework or brickwork, or else of timber structures with metal cladding, ceramic tiling, roof shingles, or slates on the exterior.
The Tower of the Winds, also known by other names, is an octagonal Pentelic marble tower in the Roman Agora in Athens, named after the eight large reliefs of wind gods around its top. Its date is uncertain, but was completed by about 50 BC, at the latest, as it was mentioned by Varro in his De re Rustica of about 37 BC. It is "one of the very small number of buildings from classical antiquity that still stands virtually intact", as it has been continuously occupied for a series of different functions.
A mansard or mansard roof is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer windows. The steep roofline and windows allow for additional floors of habitable space, and reduce the overall height of the roof for a given number of habitable storeys. The upper slope of the roof may not be visible from street level when viewed from close proximity to the building.
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle.
A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet, in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals to allow for the launch of arrows or other projectiles from within the defences. These gaps are termed embrasures, also called crenels or crenelles, and a wall or building with them is described as crenellated; alternative older terms are castellated and embattled. The act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation.
Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building. Some other buildings also have clock faces on their exterior but these structures serve other main functions.
The Zytglogge is a landmark medieval tower in Bern, Switzerland. Built in the early 13th century, it has served the city as a guard tower, prison, clock tower, centre of urban life and civic memorial.
A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams projecting from the wall on which the rafters land, essentially a tie beam which has the middle cut out. These short beams are called hammer-beams and give this truss its name. A hammerbeam roof can have a single, double or false hammerbeam truss.
The Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais is a Catholic church in the northern town of Beauvais, Oise, France. It is the seat of the Bishop of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis.
Monte Rosa is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over 4,000 m (13,000 ft), is the Dufourspitze, the second highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe, after Mont Blanc. The east face of the Monte Rosa towards Italy has a height of about 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) and is the highest mountain wall of the Alps.
This page is a glossary of architecture.
The Grand Serail is the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the Lebanese Parliament building. The Grand Serail is a historic building, the most important of three Ottoman monuments on the Serail hill, the others being the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the Hamidiyyeh clock tower.
A turret clock or tower clock is a clock designed to be mounted high in the wall of a building, usually in a clock tower, in public buildings such as churches, university buildings, and town halls. As a public amenity to enable the community to tell the time, it has a large face visible from far away, and often a striking mechanism which rings bells upon the hours.
Jam Gadang is a clock tower, major landmark, and tourist attraction in the city of Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is in the centre of the city, near the main market, Pasar Ateh. It has large clocks on each face.
Rajarani Temple is an 11th-century CE Hindu temple located in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, India. Believed to be devoted to Lord Shiva, the Raja Rani Temple in Bhubaneswar is a 11th century temple. The shrine is called Raja Rani because it is made of yellow and red sandstone and the two colors are locally called ‘Raja Rani’.
A turret was a small watch tower, incorporated into the curtain wall of Hadrian's Wall. The turrets were normally spaced at intervals of one third of a Roman mile between Milecastles, giving two Turrets between each Milecastle.
Predigerkirche is one of the four main churches of the old town of Zürich, Switzerland, besides Fraumünster, Grossmünster and St. Peter. First built in 1231 AD as a Romanesque church of the then Dominican Predigerkloster, the Basilica was converted in the first half of the 14th century, the choir between 1308 and 1350 rebuilt, and a for that time unusual high bell tower was built, regarded as the highest Gothic edifice in Zürich.
A butter-churn tower is a two-part defensive tower in which the upper section has a smaller width than the lower section.
The Dreikönigskirche is a Lutheran church located in the Innere Neustadt of Dresden, Germany. It is the centre of a parish, and a community venue called Haus der Kirche. The church is a listed cultural monument of Dresden.
