CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



633 



Tractite. 



Ceiling. 



FLAT* 

 CXC. 



Temple of 

 Peace. 



Balbec. 



painted. 



General re- 

 mark*. 



have been abandoned, and the chimney has been reduced 

 into the smallest possible bounds, making it, for elegance, 

 depend upon the marble dressings and highly polished 

 and engraved steel register stoves. 



The name of ceiling (see Plate CXC.) is given to the 

 work which conceals the naked Umbers of the roof of 

 an apartment. The Normans generally left the framing 

 timbers uncovered, and ornamented them with mouldings 

 and sculptures ; but however much ornamented, they, in 

 that state, always retained the name of roof. The Ro- 

 mans covered their roofs, and it is from the remains of 

 their public buildings, that the moderns, after the revival 

 of that style, derived their manner of constructing ceil- 

 ings. Ceilings are either jlot, or coved, or partake of 

 both. Flat ceilings are divided into large compartments, 

 ornamented with foliage or other devices. Coved ceil- 

 ings have their sections either less than, or equal to semi- 

 circles. Ceilings which arejlat and coved, are of modern 

 invention ; they have their middle part flat, and that next 

 the walls coved. Compartment ceilings are constructed 

 either by raising the mouldings above the general surface, 

 or by sinking the pannels below it ; or they may be 

 partly raised and partly sunk. Amongst the ancients 

 we find the pannels in squares, hexagons, and octagons ; 

 triangles were rarely used. 



In the porticos of ancient temples the ceilings were 

 mostly divided into equilateral equiangular parts ; the 

 pannels were deeply recessed, and the prominent surfaces 

 represent the antique method of framing the beams of 

 floors ; the mouldings, on the sidei of the pannels, were 

 sunk like inverted steps, in one or more degrees frequent- 

 ly enriched, and the bottom of the pannels, in general, 

 decorated with roses. In Roman works, the pannels are 

 always parallel, or of equal breadth, which admits of no 

 other variety, when squares are introduced ; but hexagons 

 will join with each other, or the interstices will form 

 lozenges or equilateral triangles ; octagons form two 

 varieties, viz. that of their own figure, and that of the 

 square in their interstices. This sort of compartment is 

 termed coffering, and the recessed parts are called coffers, 

 which are used in vaulted or plain ceilings. The borders 

 of the coffering is generally terminated by belts charged 

 with foliage, and bordered with guillochis, as in the 

 Temple of Peace at Rome. In the ceiling of the Temple 

 of Balbec, coffers are disposed around the cylindrical 

 vaults in rows, one row rising over each intercolumn ; 

 and a projecting belt ornamented with a guillochi be- 

 tween every row of coffers, corresponding to two semi 

 attached columns in the same vertical plane, which sup- 

 port the springing of the belt. This practice has been 

 imitated by the moderns, in cupolas and cradle vaults ; 

 the latter decorated by frets, guillochi, foliage, small 

 pannels with roses, and large pannels with historical sub- 

 jects, frequently in bold relief. 



The grounds of compartment ceilings may be gilt, 

 and the ornaments white, party coloured, or streaked 

 with gold ; or vice versa, the ornaments may be gilt, 

 and the grounds white pearl, straw coloured, blue, or 

 any tint that will suit the ornaments. In some cases, 

 the ceilings are either painted wholly, or in various com- 

 partments only. 



The mode of constructing the modern ceilings having 

 been copied from the remains of ancient public buildings, 

 it, in general, proved too heavy for the apartments of 

 private dwellings. This defect was first remedied by the 

 delicate taste of Mr Adam, who introduced a much 

 lighter style, more diversified, and better suited to private 

 apartments. The paoncls were formed by slender mould- 



TOL. VI. PART II. 



ings, the decorations of elegant stucco ornaments, or Practice, 

 painted devices ; and the whole grounds also painted to T"""' 

 relieve the other decorations. 



STAIRS form the means of communication between Stair*, 

 the different stories. They are regulated in height and 

 breadth so as to render the step commodious, and the 

 length is suited to the magnitude of the edifice and the 

 purpose to which it is to be appropriated. The average 

 height is about six inches, the breadth 12 inches, and the 

 length is seldom less than three feet, generally more. 

 The space in which the steps are inclosed, is termed 

 staircase, and is square, circular, elliptical, or triangular, 

 but rarely polygonal. The steps mily be constructed of 

 marble, freestone, mood, &c. ; they may be supported at 

 both ends, or at one only ; when the latter, it is usually 

 the broadest, though in small wooden stairs, the steps 

 are sometimes made to project from a newel to which 

 the narrow ends are fixed. 



In the construction of stone stairs, supported at each 

 end, the inner end of the steps may either be fixed into 

 a solid newel, or be tailed into a wall surrounding an 

 open one ; or where elegance is not an object, if the 

 newel do not exceed two feet and a half, the steps may 

 be supported by a solid pillar, though when the newel 

 is thicker, it will be cheaper to surround the open space 

 with a thin wall. In stairs of a sunk story, where there 

 is a geometrical stair above, the steps, next the newel, 

 are generally supported on a dwarf wall. 



Geometrical stairs have their outer ends fixed in the Geometri- 

 wall, and the under edge of every step supported by the ca ' 

 edge of the one below it ; being constructed with sally 

 formed joints, so as to prevent them from descending in 

 either the inclined direction of the stairs, or in a vertical 

 direction. The upper sally of every step forms an in- 

 terior obtuse angle, called a back rebate, and the lower 

 sally forms an exterior one ; the joint occasioned by these 

 sallies, is called a joggle. The upper part of the joint may 

 be level from the face of the riser to about one inch 

 within the joint ; the plane of the tread of each step i* 

 thus continued about an inch within the surface of each 

 riser ; the lower part of the joint has a narrow surface 

 perpendicular to the rake of the stair at the end next the 

 newel. In stairs, constructed of most kinds of stone, 

 the thickness of every step, at the thinnest part of the 

 end next the newel, need not exceed two inches, for steps 

 of four feet in length, measuring from the interior angle 

 of every step perpendicular to the inclination. Their 

 thickness at the interior angle should be proportioned to 

 their length ; allowing two inches for the thickness of 

 the internal angle at four feet ; the thickness of every 

 other stair, at the same place, will be equal in inches to 

 half the length in feet ; thus, a step five feet long will 

 require to be two and a half inches in thickness at the 

 interior angle. 



Stone platforms, or half or quarter spaces, of geome* 

 trical stairs, consist of one or more stones, as they can 

 be procured ; when two or more are used, the first stone 

 should be laid upon the upper step, with its edge wedg- 

 ed into the wall ; the next stone must be joggled or re- 

 bated into the one just set, and its end also fixed in the 

 wall. The same mode must be pursued with the remain- 

 ing stones, till the platform is completed. In cases 

 where a second flight of stairs is required, the last stone 

 of the platform becomes an abutment for the lower step 

 of the next flight, and the joints must be joggled as in 

 the former flight. 



Geometrical stairs, constructed of stone, depend upon 

 the following principle : that every body must be supi 



