Copy of `Dundee University - The Urban Conservation Glossary`

The wordlist doesn't exist anymore, or, the website doesn't exist anymore. On this page you can find a copy of the original information. The information may have been taken offline because it is outdated.

Dundee University - The Urban Conservation Glossary Category: Architecture and Buildings > Urban conservation Date & country: 16/01/2008, UK Words: 869

Total station
a combined theodolight and EDM which allows horizontal and vertical angles, and, distances to be recorded. See Measured Survey.

Town scheme
a grant scheme for work in outstanding conservation areas where the owner receives 50% of approved costs, 25% from central government and 25% from the local authority. Now only operating in Scotland. Elsewhere they have been replaced by Conservation area partnerships.

Townscape Heritage Initiative
a Heritage Lottery Fund initiative first floated in April 1988, 'to support strategic action by partnerships of public (and other) bodies to address problems of disrepair, erosion of quality, and undreuse of buildings in historic areas'. The HLF will contribute 50% of the costs to a fund f...

Trabeated
architecture which uses a post and beam construction or post-and-lintel construction. (Trabs = Greek for beam) (Illustration) see classical architecture.

Trabeated-Arcuated Illustration
Trabeated (detail) and arcuated (detail) construction. Note how the local stone is only capable of spanning short distances and in order to achieve wider spans, an arch has to be used. see bridge terminology see classical architecture

Tracery
an ornamental pattern of stonework supporting the glazing in a Gothic or early Renaissance window. Plate tracery is the earliest type and consists of holes cut into a wall or a solid block or plate of stone, bar tracery resembles a twisted metal bar.

Transept
in a cruciform church, the transepts form the arms of the cross.

Transom
a horizontal bar of stone or wood which separates a window light from a lower light or a door opening. A transom light is a rectangular window above a door. see fanlight

Transverse arch
the arch which separates one bay of a vault from another, often decorated.

Traversing
a series of control points linked by lines known as legs, the length of which and the angle between them is accurately recorded. See Measured Survey.

Tread
the horizontal surface of each step. The going is the same thing, but is properly measured as the horizontal difference between successive nosings. See stair.

Treasure trove
in Scotland, basically, any ancient object that is found and nobody owns, can be claimed as treasure trove by the State. In England treasure trove is limited to precious metals, or something which has obviously been lost. Most objects end up in museums.

Treillage
the architectural application and use of trellis work to create arbours, columns, screens, pergolas and domes to act as supports for vines and climbing shrubs and plants. Widely used in formal, Renaissance gardens.

Trellis
a light framework of wood or sometimes iron used to support climbing plants (see Treillage).

Triangulation
using a network of triangles to accurately plot positions. See measured survey.

Triforium
an arcaded wall passage, extending around a church between the ground floor arcade and the clerestory.

Triglyph
the blocks with vertical grooves separating the metopes in a doric frieze. Said to represent beam ends. See Classical Architecture.

Trompe l'oeil
decorative painting which suggests three dimensions.

Tron
(Scottish) public weigh beam - very important in the medieval town whose existance often depended on the right to trade.

Truss
name given to rigid frame of principals and tie beams or collar beams. See roof.

Truth window
a small squared, or rectangular, area of harling, stucco or some other covering which has been permanently removed in order that the material it is covering can be identified.

Tudor - Tudorbethon
the period of the reign of the Tudor monarchs (1485 to 1603), and the styles of architecture and design which prevailed during that time, characterised by timber and plaster decoration and a growing awareness of the social status to be attached to grand architecture. (NB They did not reign i...

Tufa
a very light sponge-like limestone formed in aireated springs, and used decoratively eg in grottos or where lightness is important eg at the top of domes. - see Stone/stonework

Tumbled brickwork-Brick tumbling
occurs on gables where bricks are laid diagonally to form a series of triangles which provide a flat bed for skews.

Turfed seat
raised mound that has been laid with turf to from a seat. Commonly interspersed between the raised flowerbeds in Elizabethan gardens.

Tuscan
Confined mainly to the north of Italy, it was employed by the Romans but replaced by the doric. Very plain, the columns are not fluted, and in height it is usually around seven diameters. see Classical Architecture

Tympanum
the area enclosed by mouldings of a pediment or the lintel of a doorway and the arch above it, often richly carved or decorated. (Illustration)

Undercloak
the upper edge of a lead sheet which is covered by the overcloak.

Undercroft
a vaulted chamber below house, castle or church, partially or wholly underground.

Valley
a v-shape formed by the meeting of two roofs.

Value Added Tax
VAT is a wide ranging tax levied on all goods and services. With the exception of domestic fuel (8%) only two rates apply - 17.5% or 0%. The most complex area is the construction industry where there is a huge amount of legislation. The repair and maintenance of ...

Vapour barrier
a protective barrier, usually of polythene or foil-backed plaster board designed to prevent the passage of moisture through a structure thereby eliminating its condensation on cooler surfaces behind. The point where vapour condenses is called the dew point.

Variations
changes in work authorised by the architect. see contracts/contracting.

Vault
an arched ceiling or roof, usually of stone, brick, or concrete, which in its most basic form, is a continuous semi-circular arch ie a tunnel. As romanesque evolved into gothic and the pointed arch, vault construction became very sophisticated and because of its fireproof potential, compa...

Venetian door-window, Serliana
a tripartite arrangement where the central opening is arched and taller than the two flanking openings which are flat topped. Sometimes referred to as a Serliana after Sebastian Serlio, (1475-1552) who published seven books on architecture and is credited with first illus...

Venice Charter
a remarkable document, which, despite saying nothing on the social value of conservation, for many, is the defining statement of conservation philosophy, approved at the 2nd International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments in May 1964. In just 16 A...

Verandah
open shelter or gallery around a building with a lean-to roof carried on verticals of timber or iron.

Vermiculated
a tooling on the face of stone which appears as worm tracks. Can carry ghosted outlines eg a face or figure. Similar to frost work

Vernacular
an indigenous building constructed of locally available materials, to local detail, usually without the benefit of an architect. Somehow it is now taken to imply a fairly humble or practical origin, but this is not the case. It could be argued that scottish towerhouses are vernacular buildin...

Victorian
the period of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901), and the styles of architecture and design which prevailed during that time. Characterised not so much by a style but by the way past styles were adapted, the use of new materials such as glass and cast iron, and building types eg sta...

Victorian Society
formed in 1958, responsible for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture in England, legal consultee to planning authorities on matters affecting these styles.

Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect who in 25 BC produced a ten-volume work on Greek and early Roman classical architecture 'De Re Architectura'. It lay forgotten until the early 1400's but following its discovery in the monastic library of St Gallen in Switzerland,...

Volute
a spiral scroll, found on the capital of the ionic order. The centre is often referred to as the 'eye'. See Classical Architecture.

Voussoir
the radiating wedge-shaped blocks forming the arch. (Illustration)

Wagon headed
a term used to describe a semi - cylindrical ceiling.

Wainscotting
the timber lining to walls. Also a method of sawing timber which ensures an even distribution of heartwood and sapwood.

Walk
a path, or paths, laid out for the maximum enjoyment of the garden and landscape and its features. They could be formal or informal, for example woodland walks.

Wall plate
a timber laid along the top of a wall, rafter ends and studs and posts from below may be joined to it. See roof.

Waney edge-waney timber
boards or pieces of timber which, instead of being cut square, show the original curve of the log from which they are cut.

Wardian Case
glazed window box containing growing plants.

Warehouse set
is the term used to describe cement that has set solid in its bag due to being stored in damp conditions.

Washington Charter
A Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Urban Areas, adopted by ICOMOS at its general assembly in Washington in October 1987. A first attempt to compliment the Venice Charter with a set of principles relating to the planning of historic towns and areas. Most importantly, this d...

Water fan
this is the fan-shaped area that water will cover having penetrated the joint between slates. Clearly the calculation of side lap and head lap becomes very important otherwise water can penetrate through to the sarking or battens. (Illustration)

Water-based Stonecleaning
involves water sprays, with or without pressure, hot or cold, for varying periods of time. This removes surface dirt or softens it to make brushing effective. Most effective on limestones. See stone cleaning.

Wattle and daub - Rab and Dab
A system used to in-fill panels in timber framed structures, comprising of vertical staves of oak, interwoven with fine flexible branches or twigs, usually of hazel, and daubed with a mixture of mud, dung and chopped straw. Referred to in some areas as 'rab and dab'. Wattle eventually gave w...

Weep holes
holes in the bottom of retaining walls, usually in the form of wider vertical joints to allow water to drain away.

Wet Dash
traditional type of harl in which the aggregate of small evenly sized pebbles is incorporated into the mix.

Wheel Window \ Rose Window
a round window with a central point from which a form of spoke may radiate. A rose window has intricate tracery which may appear as rose petals.

Whiting
Finely powdered chalk (calcium carbonate) - sometimes erroneously used to include gypsum plaster.

Wicket-Pass-Man door
a small door set within a larger door. Sometimes referred to as a pass door or man door.

Wild bond
a term used to describe very random mixtures of headers and stretchers. see brick.

Winder
a tread which is wider at one end. See stair.

Wood
wood is the material forming the trunks and branches of trees. Timber (lumber in America) is cut from the trunk. It is the most amazing building material, capable, properly stressed, of spanning over seventy feet. Its true value has perhaps tended to be underestimated because it is seldom obv...

World Heritage site
the UNESCO general conference in 1972 adopted the 'Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.' First step was the preparation of a list of sites within countries who were signatories of the convention which are of such exceptional importance, their protec...

World Monuments Fund
an International Heritage Organisation, the WMF is a private charitable organisation 'dedicated to the preservation of the world's exceptional artistic, historical and cultural monuments.' Started in New York in 1995, the fund now has affiliates in a number of European countries including Fran...

Wrestlers
slates which are notched at each side allowing them to interlock to form ridges.

Wynd
narrow secondary street or lane.

Yett
(Scottish) open metal grid, hinged to form protection for a doorway, a sort of Scottish portcullis. Yetts, made of wrought iron, were constructed on a 'through and through' basis, meaning that the individual iron bars of which they were made, pierced or threaded through other bars, and were...

York stone
A type of sandstone from the York area which can be easily split along its bedding plane and is widely used for paving.