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Orders of Classical Architecture

Orders of Classic Architecture

There are five Orders of classic architecture, the first three being Greek, the other two Roman.

(1) The Doric is the oldest of the Orders and was derived from the East. The column has no base, is short and thick, diminishes sharply from top to bottom or has a swelling (entasis) in the middle, is fluted with twenty channels, cut at the top by one, two, or three grooved rings. The capital, which should be as high as the radius of the bottom of the column, is composed of an abacus, an echinus (a convex moulding with gently swelling curve), and annulets (or rings) next to the column. The frieze is divided by alternate triglyphs (projecting tablets with three perpendicular projecting narrow bands-glyphs) and metopes or flat panels, the latter often being decorated with carving or sculpture. The intercolumniation is determined by the number of tniglyphs. The Order is generally massive. Roman Doric is rather lighter, the columns eight diameters high, sometimes placed on a plinth; in the capital an ovolo is substituted for the echinus, the annulets are replaced by astragals and an ogee moulding is added to the abacus.

(2) In the Ionic Order the column is lofty, the base is cornposed of a torus and two scotiae separated by many smaller mouldings, the capital consists of a decorated abacus and below of lamina ending in four volutes, projecting front and back beyond the column. The frieze is continuous and decorated with foliage or sculpture. Intercolumniation is wide. Roman Ionic is heavy, the capital especially being overcharged with ornament. The Ionic column was much used in the seventeenth century and also in the eighteenth, when it was often surmounted by a Corinthian entablature.

(3) The Corinthian Order is a richly decorated, elegant style. The column is slender, generally diminished and fluted; the Attic base, composed of three tori and three scoti~ divided by fillets, stands on a square plinth; the capital, ball shaped, has two tiers of acanthus or olive leaves, with small stalks (caulicoli) rising above and forming four very small volutes, supporting the abacus, which is scooped in profile and also hollow, describing a concave curve. The capital is subject to considerable variations within these limits, being much decorated. The entablature is elaborate, with well-formed, decorated architrave, a continuous frieze, plain or ornamented with foliage and sculpture, and a complicated projecting cornice, the lower member often composed of dentils. This Order was especially esteemed at the Renaissance, and has been largely adopted in modern work.

(4) The Tuscan or Rustic is a debased Roman rendering of the Donic. The shaft is plain, cylindrical, or diminished; the base, resting on a square plinth, has a torus moulding; the capital is composed of an astragal, a smooth neck, and an ovolo; the abacus is cut with an upward slant and often has a projecting fillet beneath the architrave. This has a lower and upper smooth fascia divided by a fillet, a projecting tessera moulding forming the base of the wide, continuous frieze; the cornice is generally composed of a cavetto, ovolo, corona, cyma recta, and fillet.

(5) The Composite Order is, in general, a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian. It has the same proportions as the latter and the same capital, with the exception that the caulicoli are replaced by the Ionic volute, one at each angle, and the echinus. It is a very ornate Order and was much favoured at the Renaissance, partly for this reason and partly because it was so often associated with the arch, an addition which is one of the distinguishing marks of Roman from Greek architecture.

In Renaissance and Neo-Classic architecture the use of different Orders for succeeding storeys was frequent.