ARCHITECTURE. 



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i-ooms of inferior classes may have mez- 

 zanines or intersoles. 



In buildings, where beauty and magnifi- 

 cence are preferred to economy, the halls 

 and galleries may be raised, making them 

 occupy two stories. Saloons are frequent- 

 ly raised three stories, or the whole height 

 of the building, and have galleries around 

 their interior at the height of the floors, 

 for communicating with the various parts 

 of the building. 



When rooms are adorned with an en- 

 tire order, the entablature may occupy 

 in height from one-sixth to one-seventh of 

 that of the room ; if the entablature be 

 without columns, it may have from one- 

 seventh to one eighth. If a cornice, frize, 

 and astragal, are executed, its height may 

 be equal to a tenth ; and if only a cornice, 

 its height may be from a twentieth to a 

 thirtieth part of that of the room. In 

 general, all interior proportions and deco- 

 rations must be less, and more delicate 

 than those of the exterior. Architraves, 

 in most cases, should not be above one- 

 seventh of the width. 



Ceilings. The figures of ceilings are 

 either flat or coved : coved ceilings either 

 have a concavity around the margins, and 

 are flat in the middle, or have a vaulted 

 surface. (See VAULTS). Ceilings, that 

 are coved and flat, may occupy from 

 one-fifth to a fourth part of the height 

 of the room : the principal sections of 

 vaulted ceilings may be of various seg- 

 ments, equal to, or less than semicircles, 

 as may be most suitable to the height of 

 the room. Flat ceilings are adorned with 

 large compartments, or foliages, and other 

 ornaments, or with both. Compartment 

 ceilings are either formed by raising 

 mouldings on the surface, or by depress- 

 ing the pannels within the moulded inclo- 

 sure, which may be partly raised upon, 

 and partly recessed within the framing, 

 or entirely recessed : the figures of the 



nnels may either be polygonal, circular, 



elliptical. The ceilings of the porti- 

 cos and of the interior of ancient temples 

 are comparted, and the pannels deeply 

 recessed ; the prominent parts between 

 them representing the ancient manner of 

 framing the beams of wood which com- 

 posed the floors ; the mouldings on the 

 sides of the pannels are sunk, by one, 

 two, or several degrees, like inverted 

 steps, and the bottoms of pannels are most 

 frequently decorated with roses ; the 

 figures of these compartments are mostly 

 equilateral, and equiangular. Triangles 

 were seldom used, but we find squares, 

 hexagons, and octagons, in great abund- 

 ance. The framing around the pannels 



VOL, I. 



in R- 'iiia; i antiquity is constantly parallel, 

 or of equal breadth, therefore, when 

 squares are introduced, there is no other 

 variety ; but hexagons will join in conti- 

 guity with one another, or form the in- 

 terstices into lozenges, or equilateral tri- 

 angles. Octagons naturally form two va<- 

 rieties, viz, that of their own figure, and 

 squares in the interstices : this kind of 

 compartment is called coffering, and the 

 recessed parts coffers, which are used not 

 only in plain ceilings, but also in cylindri- 

 cal vaults. The borders of the coffer- 

 ing are generally terminated with belts, 

 charged most frequently with foliage ; 

 and sometimes again the foliage is bor- 

 dered with guillochis, as in the temple of 

 Peace at Rome. In the ceiling of the 

 entire temple at Balbec, coffers are dis- 

 posed around the cylindrical vault, in one 

 row rising over each intercolumn ; and 

 between every row of coffers is a project- 

 ing belt, ornamented with a guillorhi, 

 corresponding with two semi-attached co- 

 lumns in the same vertical plane, one co- 

 lumn supporting each springing of the 

 belt. The moderns also follow the same 

 practice in their cupolas and cradle 

 vaults, ornamenting them with coffers 

 and belts : the belts are ornamented with 

 frets, guillochis, or foliages ; small pan- 

 nels are ornamented with roses, and 

 large ones with foliage, or historical sub- 

 jects, in a variety of different manners. 



The grounds may be gilt, and the or- 

 naments white, partly coloured, or streak- 

 ed with gold ; or the ornaments may be 

 gilt, and the grounds white, pearl, straw- 

 colour, light blue, or any tint that may 

 agree best with the ornaments. Some 

 ceilings are painted either wholly, or in 

 various compartments only: when a ceil- 

 ing is painted in representation of a sky, 

 it ought either to be upon a plane or 

 spheric surface. A ceiling coved and 

 flat, with the plane painted to represent 

 the sky, is extremely improper, as the 

 cove represents the half of an arch upon 

 every side of the room, it will seem as if 

 falling, from the want of an apparent sup- 

 port in the middle, unless the ceiling rise 

 from a circular plan. Ceilings coved and 

 flat are much employed in modern apart- 

 ments : they seem to be a kind of medi- 

 um between the horizontal and the vari- 

 ous arched forms practised by the an- 

 cients : they do not require so much 

 height as the latter, but they are neither 

 so graceful nor so grand. Vaulted ceil- 

 ings are more expensive than plane ones, 

 but they are also susceptible of a greater 

 variety of embellishments. 



Chimnies. A Qbijwney is an opening. 



