ARCHITECTURAL/BUILDING TERMINOLOGY

Canted bays

Bay windows with a flat front and angled sides (i.e. not curved).

Example of canted bay windows.

Black Ewell Bricks

Ewell brickyard produced deep black rubbing bricks as well as dark and bright red ‘rubbers’. [Rubbing bricks are relatively soft bricks that historically have been used to create fine cut and rubbed, and carved brickwork. Hand cut brickwork is almost as old as brick making itself. The skills and techniques are similar to stone-masonry except clay blocks are much softer. ‘Rubber’ blocks are rubbed or sanded and mechanically sawn to a rectangular ‘ashlar’ shape. The cut block is then placed between two identical timber templates cut accurately to the profile required. The block is clamped in position and a twisted wire blade in a traditional bow saw is used to cut through the brick around the profile manually.] Black ‘Ewell cutters’ were used, for example, in the construction of The Merchant Seamans Orphan’s Asylum at Snaresbrook and the Brighton Blind Asylum.

Detail from an Illustrated London News image of the
The Merchant Seamans Orphan’s Asylum at Snaresbrook
showing bands of Black Ewell Brick.

Gauged brickwork

Brickwork refined or shaped by a craftsman.
Examples of gauged brickwork.

Hipped roof

A roof where all sides slope down to the walls.

Example of a hipped roof with weatherboarding.

Jettied

Where an upper floor projects or juts out beyond the floor below.

Example of jettied buildings.

Gambrel roof

A roof which slopes in two stages, with the lower slope angled more steeply than the upper slope. Typically such a roof would house an attic space.

Example of a Gambrel roof.

Mansard Roof

Similar to a Gambrel roof but all four sides of roof slope in two stages,

Drawing of a Mansard roof : Source Wikimedia

Mathematical tiles

These were used to face timber buildings in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The idea was that they resembled brickwork but were cheaper. They came in several colours, such as black, cream, terracotta, blue, maroon and actual brick colour.

Example of mathematical tiling seen in West Street, Dorking
Image courtesy of Ian Parker 2020.

Pediment

Decorative gable, often supported by columns, over a door or window.

Example of a pediment over windows.

Pilasters

A pilaster is an often ornate column built into the face of a wall: i.e. it is not free-standing.

Example of pilasters.

Roughcast

Pebbledash.

Pebbledash by Auntie P via flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)