010 



CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



in cilhcr external or internal colonnade* ; lor in 

 """ "*' double row*, the back range destroy* the perspective 

 regularity of that of the front; and the raj) of Ii^lit, 

 proceeding from both ranges, produce confusion. 1'i- 

 Ulcri placed behind a row of insulated columns arc lia- 

 ble to tbc tame objection, except that the relief is strong- 

 er, owing to the rotundity of the one being contracted 

 .Milt the flat surface of the other. 



In building* upon a small stale, as temples and other 

 ornamental erections in gardens, the intercoluiimiations, 

 or at least the central one, must be broader than the po- 

 sitive dimensions of the pillars would admit. 



Anljr. A*l<e. Though the earlier architects of Greece were 



either unacquainted with the use of pilasters, or refused 

 to introduce thorn in their designs, they frequently pla- 

 ced a kind of square pillars at the ends of their walls, 

 which they called anice, and which sometimes projected 

 to a considerable distance from the principal front, form- 

 ing the pronaos, or vestibulum. The breadth of these 

 antse was always much less on the flanks of temples, than 

 on the front ; and sometimes they had columns between 

 them, in which case, the return within the pronaos was 

 of equal breadth with the front. The capitals of the 

 anUe never correspond with those of the columns, though 

 they always retain some characteristic marks, by which 

 the order may be distinguished. 



Cilaittrs. Piltuter* are rectangular prismatic projections, advan- 

 cing from the surface of the wall, furnished with bases 

 and capitals similar to those of the columns whose enta- 

 blatures they assist in supporting. They differ from co- 

 lumns, in having their horizontal sections of a rectangu- 

 lar figure, whilst the sections of columns are either com- 

 plete circles, or sections of circles, equal to, or greater 

 than semicircles. They are probably of Roman origin ; 

 there being but few Grecian buildings, and those of the 

 Litter age*, (except the monument of Thrasyllus,) in 

 which they are repeated at regular intervals, as in the 

 monument of Philopapus ; but of their application in 

 Roman works we have numberless instances. Vitruvius 

 calls them parastalie. 



When ranged with columns under the same entabla- 

 ture, or behind a row of columns, they have, as we have 

 already observed, their bases and capitals like those of 

 the columns, with the corresponding parts at the same 

 heights : when placed at the angles of buildings, the 

 breadth of the return is equal to that of the front. The 

 trunks, also, have frequently the same diminution as the 

 .hafts of columns, as in the arches of Septimius Severus 

 and of Constantine, the frontispiece of Nero, and the 

 temple of Mars Ultor, at Rome. In these cases the top 

 of the trunk is equal to the soffit of the architrave, the 

 upright face of which rests on the capital, in the same 

 perpendicular with the top of the pilaster. When the 

 pibuter is undiminished, and of the same breadth as the 

 bottoms of the columns, the face of the architrave rest- 

 ing on the capital, retreats within the head of the trunk, 

 a* in the pantheon of Agrippa. 



Pilaster* may be either plain or fluted, without regard 

 to the columns. Thus, in the portico of the pantheon, 

 the columns are plain, and the pilasters fluted ; but in 

 that of Septimius Severus, the former are fluted and the 

 latter plain, the architects seeming to be governed by no 

 other rule than their tarn-. The angles, or coin;, of flu- 

 ted pilaster* arc frequently strengthened with a bead, as 

 in the pantheon, and the flutes are generally of a semi- 

 circular section. Sometimes the faces of pilasters are 

 tunk within a margin, and the pannels charged with fo- 

 kagfi arabeque or grotesque ornaments, instruments of 

 music or war, or of all these compounded. In the a.rch 



of the Goldsmiths, at Rome, the pannels are decorated Practice, 

 with winding foliage and trophies of war. " "7""'' 



\Vlu-n placed on the front or outside of a building, pjliitcri. 

 pilaster* should project one-lourth of their breadth at 

 the bottom ; but in the interior, or behind a row of co- 

 lumns, they should not project more than one-eighth of 

 that breadth. 



In a large recess, wlien an entablature is supported by 

 n number of insulated columns, with each ci:d ter- 

 initiating and resting on a wall or pier, a pilaster is very 

 commonly placed against each wall or pier, to support 

 the extremities of the architrave. When the entabla- 

 ture over the columns is recessed within the surface of 

 the wall or pier, the pilaster projects towards ths co- 

 lumn, shewing its thickness on the front, with its breadth 

 facing the void or adjacent column, in this case, the 

 architrave may either profile against the sides of the aper- 

 ture or recess, or it may return at each interior angle ; 

 and again at the exterior angles, proceeding along cadi 

 wall or pier. 



When the intermediate columns and extreme pilaster* 

 are so ranged, as to project a small distance beyond the 

 face of the wall at each end, the pilasters shew the same 

 breadth towards the front as towards the void, that tilt- 

 entablature may remain unbroken, as in the chapels of 

 the pantheon ; but if breaks be unavoidable, they must 

 be at the extremities, or most distant angles. 



Pilasters are not only ornamental to a building, but 

 they also tend to strengthen it greatly ; to which we may 

 add, that they become an object of economy, as being 

 less expensive th.in columns. In situations where they 

 ate either placed behind a range of columns, or for the 

 support of the extremes of an entablature across an open- 

 ing, they are also more concordant with the walls to 

 which they are attached. 



Clustered pilasters, or those which have both exterior Clustered 

 and interior angles, with their planes parallel and per- pilaiters. 

 pendicular to the front, may be executed with good ef- 

 fect, when the order is plain, as in the Tuscan j hut in 

 the Doric, Ionian, Corinthian, and Roman orders, where 

 triglyphs and capitals meet hut imperfectly in the inte- 

 rior angles, such a junction should be avoided as much 

 as possible. The same may be observed of Ionic and 

 Corinthian capitals of half pilasters meeting each other 

 in the interior angles of rooms. In the Ionic order, a 

 difference must be made between the capitals of pilasters 

 and of columns ; for, in the latter, the projection of the 

 ovolo is greater than that of the volutes j but, the hori- 

 zontal section of the ovolo being circular, the ovolo is 

 bent behind the hem or border of the volutes ; therefore, 

 if a vertical section be conceived to pass through the 

 axis of the column, perpendicular to the face, and an- 

 other through the middle of the breadth of the pilaster, 

 the corresponding mouldings being equal in both sec- 

 tions j then, because the horizontal section through the 

 ovolo is rectangular, as in the trunk, the ovolo would, 

 if continued, pass over the volutes, cr by terminating 

 abruptly, shew the profile of the moulding, which is a 

 palpable defect. It therefore becomes necessary, either 

 to give the ovolo but a small projection, or to make it 

 so prominent in the front, that its extremities may ap- 

 pear to retire behind the border of the volutes ; other- 

 wise, the volutes must be twisted from their original 

 plain surface, so that every part of the spirals may be 

 projected towards the eye ; or the whole abacus, with 

 the volutes, must be protruded beyond the projection of 

 the ovolo. The same inconvenience will occur in tha 

 instances of the Corinthian and composite capitals, in 

 which the upper part of the vase projects beyond the 



