Glossary

A stylised leaf based on a Mediterranean plant with deeply cut, curling leaves. Found on Corinthian capitals, but also in friezes and brackets.

See: NeoclassicismBaroqueRenaissance

A small gabled frame with columns or pilasters around a portal, window or niche.

See: Neo-BaroqueHistoricismRenaissance

Interlacing patterns of stylised tendrils and foliage. The origin lies in Islamic art.

See: Moorish architectureSwedish GraceNeo-Renaissance

Render with scored joints imitating cut stone blocks.

See: Neo-RenaissanceLandshövdingehus

A small column-like post, often pear-shaped, cast in artificial stone or turned in wood. Carries the rail of a balustrade.

See: Swedish GraceBaroquePalladian architecture

A row of small posts – balusters – carrying a rail or coping, along a stair, a balcony or a roof edge.

See: Beaux-ArtsBaroquePalladian architecture

The lowest part of the façade, often in natural stone or rusticated render. In the 1890s it can be one or two storeys high.

See: HistoricismNeo-RenaissanceLandshövdingehus

A projecting part of the façade with windows facing several ways. When it starts above ground level it is called an oriel. In the Art Nouveau years practically every building gets one or more – rounded, stepped or carried on brackets – and concrete makes them easier to build.

See: Art NouveauVictorian architectureHistoricism

A recessed niche in the wall with no opening, often whitewashed. Brick Gothic's way of decorating gables without carved stone.

See: Brick Gothic

Vertical cladding where the boards sit edge to edge and the joints are covered by narrow strips – battens. It gives the façade a close, fine rhythm. Common on the timber floors of the landshövdingehus from the 1870s into the 1930s.

See: LandshövdingehusFunctionalismSwiss chalet style

Vertical cladding in two layers: under-boards are nailed with gaps between them, and wide cover boards are laid over the gaps. It casts strong shadows. The most common cladding on rural timber houses from the 1800s, often painted Falu red.

See: Log houseSwedish vernacularLandshövdingehus

A projection from the wall that supports a balcony, bay window, cornice or sculpture.

See: HistoricismNational RomanticismNeo-Renaissance

The pattern bricks are laid in so that joints never line up vertically. The long side is the stretcher, the short side the header; English bond alternates courses of each.

See: HistoricismBrick Gothic

A masonry pier propping the wall from outside and taking the thrust of the vault.

See: GothicBrick Gothic

A projecting shelter, often over a ground-floor shop – in the 1920s typically of copper sheet cut in a repeating pattern.

See: Swedish Grace

A small projecting roof over an entrance, often clad in sheet metal. Common over front doors from the 1930s to the 1950s.

See: FunctionalismPost-war Swedish modernism

The widened, often decorated top of a column or pilaster. Its shape gives away the order.

See: NeoclassicismGothic Revival

A shield or tablet framed by scrolls and bands, often with a date, monogram or coat of arms.

See: Neo-BaroqueHistoricismBeaux-Arts

A sculpted female figure that supports an entablature in place of a column.

See: NeoclassicismNeo-BaroqueBeaux-Arts

Crushed natural stone mixed with cement into a liquid mass that is cast in plaster moulds. The detailed ornament of Art Nouveau – roses, foliage, frogs and turtles – is often cast stone rather than carved.

See: Art Nouveau

The classical systems of column and entablature: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, plus Tuscan and Composite.

See: NeoclassicismPalladian architectureRenaissance

The projecting moulding at the top of a façade or entablature, throwing rainwater clear of the wall.

See: NeoclassicismNeo-Renaissance

A parapet with raised teeth and gaps between them – from castle defences, later purely decorative.

See: National RomanticismHistoricismLandshövdingehus

Small knobs on projecting stems along Gothic spires, gables and capitals.

See: Gothic RevivalGothic

A gable whose sides rise in steps. Common in the Middle Ages and revived in the 1890s.

See: Brick GothicLate GothicHistoricism

Coarse render thrown onto the wall, with large grains giving a strong texture. Typical of the 1940s and 50s, often in muted colours with smooth window surrounds. Art Nouveau already sets fields of dash render beside smooth render in the same colour – to imitate rough-dressed and smooth-dressed stone.

See: Post-war Swedish modernismArt Nouveau

A row of small, closely spaced square blocks in relief, often beneath a cornice or eaves.

See: Neo-RenaissanceSwedish GraceNeoclassicism

A window projecting from the slope of a roof, with its own small roof.

See: HistoricismNational RomanticismBeaux-Arts

A corner joint where the ends of the logs or planks are cut at a slant, like a dovetail, and lock into each other without projecting. The corner stays flush and can be clad over. Common when a log house is meant to be clad, and in the plank frames of the landshövdingehus.

See: Log houseLandshövdingehus

A moulding of alternating egg shapes and arrowheads, from the vocabulary of antiquity.

See: NeoclassicismGustavianNeo-Renaissance

A brick bond in which courses of stretchers and headers alternate. Common in Swedish brick façades of the 1910s.

See: National RomanticismBrick Gothic

The horizontal band resting on the columns in classical architecture: architrave at the bottom, frieze in the middle and cornice on top.

See: NeoclassicismPalladian architecture

A window fitting: a turning rod along the edge of the sash that hooks into the frame at top and bottom when the handle is turned. It pulls the sash tight against the frame and cuts draughts.

See: Art Nouveau

A window above a door. The semicircular fanlight with glazing bars like a fan belongs to the Georgian front door.

See: Georgian architectureHistoricism

A garland of flowers or a piece of cloth hanging in a curve between two points. Also called a swag.

See: Swedish GraceGustavianNeoclassicism

The flower-like ornament crowning Gothic spires, gables and turrets.

See: Gothic RevivalGothicHistoricism

Vertical concave grooves in the shaft of a column or pilaster.

See: NeoclassicismGustavian

Fret-sawn timber ornament on verandas, bargeboards and eaves.

See: Swiss chalet style

A geometric band turning at right angles in a continuous loop. Said to mirror a river winding to the sea.

See: Swedish GraceNeoclassicism

The middle part of the entablature – and more widely any horizontal band of decoration along a wall.

See: NeoclassicismHistoricism

A gabled projection that breaks the eaves, in the middle of a façade or at a corner. It gives the attic windows and the façade a lively roofline.

See: HistoricismNational RomanticismLandshövdingehus

Columns or pilasters rising through two or more storeys.

See: Neo-BaroqueBeaux-ArtsBaroque

The slim bars dividing a window into smaller panes. The number of panes is one of the best clues to a building's age. In Art Nouveau they often appear only in the upper panes – pure decoration, with no structural purpose.

See: National RomanticismSwedish GraceHistoricismArt Nouveau

A roof sloping on all four sides, so the short ends also have a roof slope instead of a gable.

See: Carolean Baroque1910s NeoclassicismGeorgian architecture

A projecting moulding that follows the arch of a window or door and casts a shadow across the façade.

See: HistoricismGothic Revival

Timber cladding with the boards laid horizontally, often tongued and grooved with a chamfered edge so that every joint becomes a thin shadow line. Common on the landshövdingehus and timber villas of the 1870s and 1880s – often with vertical boards under the windows as a contrast.

See: LandshövdingehusSwiss chalet style

An arch that is wider above than at its springing. The hallmark of Moorish architecture.

See: Moorish architectureMudéjar

An almost flat roof sloping inwards, so that rainwater drains down through the building. Gives 1950s point blocks their sharp, cubic silhouette.

See: Post-war Swedish modernismThe Record Years

When an upper storey projects beyond the one below, carried on beams or brackets. Common in half-timbered towns and on raised storehouses.

See: Half-timberingRaised storehouse

The wedge-shaped stone at the top of an arch that locks the others in place. Often enlarged or decorated.

See: HistoricismNeo-RenaissanceBaroque

A recessed top floor above the eaves that could only be built by special royal dispensation – hence the name. Common in the 1920s.

See: Swedish Grace

A small glazed structure on top of a dome or roof that lets light in below.

See: BaroqueNeo-BaroqueCarolean Baroque

A smooth vertical strip projecting slightly from the wall but without a capital – a pilaster without base or top.

See: Swedish GraceRomanesque1910s Neoclassicism

A small dormer, especially in a spire or a steep roof.

See: GothicHistoricism

A semicircular window, often with radiating glazing bars, in a gable, dormer or above a door.

See: Swedish GraceNeoclassicismPalladian architecture

A roof with two slopes on each side, the lower steeper than the upper, often with dormer windows. Named after the French architect François Mansart (1598–1666).

See: Neo-BaroqueBeaux-ArtsHistoricism

A stylised face or animal head used as ornament, often on a keystone or bracket.

See: RenaissanceHistoricismNeo-Baroque

Two window sashes that close against each other with no mullion between them. In the two-light windows of Art Nouveau the meeting sashes sit below and lock with an espagnolette; smaller sashes sit above the transom.

See: Art Nouveau

Brick shaped into mouldings, arches, corners and ornaments.

See: HistoricismBrick Gothic

The vertical and horizontal divisions of a window. The typical 1890s window has a fixed mullion and transom.

See: HistoricismRenaissance

A slab block of shallow depth, eight to ten metres, so that flats get light from two sides. The housing ideal of Functionalism.

See: FunctionalismPost-war Swedish modernism

A small round or oval window, often with crossed glazing bars, high in a gable or dormer. In Art Nouveau it often sits above the door, with softly curved glazing bars and a frame of plant ornament.

See: Swedish GraceBaroqueNational RomanticismArt Nouveau

A small bay window spanning only one or two storeys, often in timber against a rendered façade.

See: National RomanticismSwedish GraceLandshövdingehus

A fan-shaped ornament resembling the spread leaves of a palm. Can be linked into a frieze.

See: NeoclassicismSwedish GraceKarl Johan style

Patterns of differently coloured brick – stained, slipped or glazed.

See: HistoricismBrick GothicVictorian architecture

A low triangular or rounded gable over a portico, door or window. With a shallow curve instead of a triangle it is a segmental pediment.

See: NeoclassicismNeo-RenaissancePalladian architecture

The principal storey, usually raised above a base storey, with the tallest windows.

See: Palladian architectureGeorgian architectureBeaux-Arts

A large window without glazing bars in the living room. Arrives in the 1930s and is often pivot-hung by the 1940s.

See: FunctionalismPost-war Swedish modernism

A flat column projecting slightly from the wall, with a base and capital like a column.

See: NeoclassicismBaroqueNeo-Renaissance

A wall where horizontal planks are slotted into grooves in the posts. Built in the same period as half-timbering, but in the more wooded districts of southern Sweden.

See: Half-timberingLog house

A free-standing apartment block with every flat arranged around a single central stairwell. From three to more than ten storeys.

See: FunctionalismPost-war Swedish modernismThe Record Years

An open porch with columns and a pediment in front of a building – a temple front.

See: Palladian architectureNeoclassicism

A section of façade that steps forward slightly, often in the middle or at the corners, to emphasise height or entrance.

See: HistoricismBaroqueNeo-Renaissance

Pale stones at the corners of a building, laid alternately long and short side out so that they form a toothed pattern.

See: HistoricismGeorgian architectureNeo-Renaissance

A horizontal timber between the posts of a half-timbered frame. It ties the posts together and divides the wall into panels.

See: Half-timbering

Ornament that projects from, or is set into, a flat surface. In high relief the motif stands well out; in bas-relief it lies low in the surface. Art Nouveau street numbers are carved both ways and become legible through the play of shadow.

See: Art NouveauNeo-Renaissance

A built arch above a window or door that carries the weight of the wall to either side of the opening.

See: HistoricismBrick Gothic

A round ornament with a flower set symmetrically in a circle. The whirling rosette has propeller-like, spinning petals.

See: Swedish GraceGustavianNeoclassicism

A simple round decoration, often in a contrasting colour beneath a row of windows. Common in the 1920s.

See: Swedish Grace

A row of small linked round arches under the eaves or along a moulding, in brick or render.

See: HistoricismRomanesque

Masonry with deep, emphasised joints, making the wall look heavy and strong. In banded rustication only the horizontal joints are stressed.

See: Neo-RenaissanceBeaux-ArtsPalladian architecture

A window whose sashes slide up and down in grooves, balanced by counterweights in the frame.

See: Georgian architectureVictorian architecture

A broken roof with a low vertical band of windows between the lower and upper slopes. Typical of Sweden's age of greatness.

See: BaroqueCarolean Baroque

A roof of several parallel, toothed slopes, with the steeper side glazed. Gives workshop halls even daylight.

See: Industrial architecture

Lines or patterns drawn into the fresh render. The "three lines" of Art Nouveau – parallel strokes, sometimes ending in a meander or tassels – come from Viennese Jugendstil and represent stylised flower stems.

See: Art Nouveau

A shallow arch forming part of a circle, less than a semicircle. Used over windows and doors.

See: Neo-RenaissanceHistoricismBaroque

An opening with a straight top and quarter-circle curves in the upper corners – like shoulders. Common in Art Nouveau doorways, often with a glazed panel with glazing bars above the doors.

See: Art Nouveau

The lowest horizontal timber in a frame, which the posts stand in. In Skåne half-timbering it is called the fotträ.

See: Half-timberingLog house

A long, narrow apartment block with several stairwells in a row. The basic form of Functionalism, often placed for the sun rather than for the street.

See: FunctionalismPost-war Swedish modernismThe Million Programme

The first stone on either side where an arch springs. On 1890s façades it is often picked out in pale stone against the brick.

See: Historicism

A building with three wings around a shared stairwell, so that each flat gets light from three sides. A Swedish idea from the 1940s.

See: Post-war Swedish modernism

A horizontal moulding dividing the façade between two storeys. In the 1880s, heavy string courses divide the façade into three.

See: Neo-RenaissanceHistoricism

Render coloured right through by crushed stone – marble dust for pale grey, brick dust for red – often with mica that glitters.

See: National RomanticismSwedish Grace

Stone ornament in the upper part of Gothic windows – circles, foils and arches.

See: GothicGothic Revival

A small tower – on the roof or the façade – modelled on medieval castles.

See: HistoricismNational Romanticism

The triangular or semicircular field within a pediment or above a portal, often with sculpture.

See: NeoclassicismRomanesque

An ornament of stylised waves with curling crests, often in a frieze.

See: Swedish GraceNeoclassicismGustavian

A spiral scroll – on Ionic capitals, but also as a large ornament on gables and portals.

See: RenaissanceBaroqueNeoclassicism

The iron on the façade that ties the wall to the floor beams behind it. A tie-rod – the anchor iron – runs through the wall and is locked on the outside by the anchor plate. In the 17th century they are forged with scrolls and hearts; in the 1890s they become black-painted ornaments in the piers between the windows.

See: BaroqueHistoricismGothic

A woven lattice of rods – in Skåne often hazel – daubed with clay mixed with chopped straw and sand. Infill for the panels of a half-timbered frame, often limewashed against the rain.

See: Half-timbering

A pointed ornamental gable over a Gothic portal or window, often with crockets and a finial.

See: Gothic RevivalGothic

A narrow projecting moulding over a window or door – a small cornice that both shelters and decorates.

See: Neo-RenaissanceHistoricism