architrave:  The bottom part of the entablature that spans from column to column, upon which the frieze, cornice, and pediment may be found.

bay window:  These windows project out from the front or side of a house.  Bay windows have sharp angles and rise up from the ground on the first floor. 

bow window:  These windows project out from the front or side of a house.  Bow windows are rounded.  They are often formed of the window glass itself and do not have any structure beneath it.  These windows may be found on any level of a building. 

corbels:  Brick or masonry that sticks out beyond the one below it to act as a support for a window, chimney stack, or bracket, or that forms an arch or dome.

cornice:  A decorative, projecting molding on the top of a wall, pillar, side of building or eave.  Also the uppermost order of an entablature. 

cupola:  Small dome-shaped roof.

dimension stone: Historically, the term for large quantities of stone that were cut into large blocks.  Dimension stones were used in foundations, piers, and stone-supported walls.  It now refers to sized, hewn stone used as exterior facing, or blocks of stone used in windows, arches, chimneys, gateposts, abutments, and other structures.  Usually cut into square, rectangular, columnar, tabular, or wedge-shaped blocks.

eaves:  The underpart of a sloping roof that hangs over a wall.

eclectic:  Composed of many architectural styles.

entablature:  A horizontal superstructure supported by columns and composed of architrave, frieze and cornice.

facing: A covering applied to the outer surface of a building.  Facing is usually both functional and decorative.  Stone facing or modern siding provides extra warmth, but also looks pretty.

frieze:  The middle division of the Classical entablature found below the cornice and above the architrave.  Also a band below a cornice, which may or may not be decorated.

gable(d):  The exterior, usually triangular, wall segment under a ridged roof.

Greek Cross:  A floor plan with four equal wings surrounding a square center.  The building looks like a plus sign from above.

hipped roof:  A roof with sloped instead of vertical ends.

pediment:  In Classical architecture, the triangular end gable that sits upon the horizontal cornice and is often filled with sculpture.  In its various revival forms, it is often used as a decorative element and may be broken, curved or scrolled.

porte cochere:  A structure with a roof that extends from the sides or front entrance of a home over a nearby driveway to shelter those getting in or out of vehicles.

rafters:  Any of the beams that slope from the ridge of a roof to the eaves and serve to support the roof.

rotunda:  A round building, hall, or room, especially one with a dome.

rusticated or rustication:  Stone masonry construction in which the faces of the blocks are rough and the individual blocks are separated by deep joints.  Depending on the texture of the rock surface, rusticated blocks may be sorted as smooth, cyclopean (rock-faced), diamond-pointed, or vermiculated.

stucco:  A sturdy type of plaster used on exterior walls; often spread in a decorative pattern.

vermiculated or vermiculation: A decorative motif characterized by shallow channels that appear to have been made by worms.  Usually found as a decorative surface on stone masonry.

wainscoting:  Wood paneling or other material applied to the lower portion of an interior wall.

Expensive examples are referred to as “Western Stick style” and are rare outside of California.  One-story examples are called “Bungalows,” after the Hindustani word bangla (belonging to Bengal).  A.. Page Brown built the first bungalow in 1895 near San Francisco.

The bungalow represented a simpler, more efficient, low-maintenance lifestyle, and the characteristic front porch promoted outdoor living.  It was advertised as the most house for the least amount of money. One could purchase complete plans for a bungalow for as little as $5.  Architecture journals and popular magazines such as House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, and Ladies Home Journal also helped promote the style.  Due to its popularity, the Craftsman movement in the United States became the first style to be mass-produced by the builder or contractor.  Bungalows replaced the Denver Square as the most popular style of house in Denver from 1910 to 1930.

Queen Anne (1874-1893):  The term "Queen Anne" was first used in England to describe medieval structures with classical ornamentation and decoration.  English architect Richard Norman Shaw developed the style using English Vernacular architecture, which was solidly built and of simple wood construction.  The style came to the United States during the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and spread throughout the country through pattern books and the first American architectural magazine, The American Architect and Building News.  The Watts-Sherman House (1874) in Newport, Rhode Island, by H.H. Richardson, is considered the first example of Queen Anne architecture in the United States.  Leyswood (1868) in Sussex, England, by Richard Norman Shaw, is the first example outside of the United States.

Americans saw the Queen Anne style as a return to a more rosy past.  Many Denver houses built during the 1880s and early 1890s are Queen Anne.  After the silver crash of 1893, however, it was considered too luxurious. 

Highlights of Queen Anne architecture:  asymmetrical; textured surfaces; classical ornament; towers/turrets; wraparound porches; balconies; art glass; high brick chimneys.

Richardsonian Romanesque (1872-1893):  Richardsonian Romanesque is a style named after American architect H.H. Richardson (1838-1886).  Almost every city in the United States has a building based on the style Richardson developed, which was especially popular in the late 1880s.  Romanesque Revival buildings had been built for some time in the United States.  Richardsonian Romanesque buildings were simpler and more massive.  The style was especially popular with Western architects because it reflected the size and splendor of the western landscape.

Frank Edbrooke and Franklin Kidder were probably the two Denver architects most familiar with the work of Richardson.  Many Denver architects began their careers in Edbrooke’s office.  His interest in Richardson’s work probably rubbed off on them.  Other architects, such as William Lang and John J. Huddart, were influenced by publications.  As a result, typical Romanesque architecture in Denver uses massive stone walls and rounded arches on otherwise Victorian or eclectic structures. 

Highlights of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture:  heavy, massive, rough-faced stone masonry; carved Romanesque details; eyebrow dormers; squat towers; round arches.

Romanesque Revival:  The original Romanesque architecture was based on a style of European buildings popular in the 11^th and 12^th centuries based on architecture used by the ancient Romans.  It was characterized by round arches and vaults; thick, massive walls, and interior bays.  Romanesque Revival architecture refers to the renewed interest in this style in the United States beginning just before the turn of the 20^th century.

Glossary of Geologic Terms

Castle Rock rhyolite:  Castle Rock, Douglas County, Colorado.  Rhyolite from this area is one of the state’s outstanding building stones.  Known to geologists as Wall Mountain Tuff, its trade name is Castle Rock rhyolite.  This 36-million-year-old rock was deposited after an explosive volcanic eruption larger than that of Mt. Saint Helens.  A scorching-hot, thick, airborne ash landed east of Castle Rock from the Sawatch Mountains during the late Eocene Epoch.  The ash settled, and while still hot, fused to become a compact hard layer, called a welded tuff.  It is about thirty feet thick on buttes in the Castle Rock area, where it has been quarried for more than 125 years.

Lyons sandstone:  Boulder County, Colorado.  The typical red Lyons Sandstone has traditionally been used as flat-lying flagstones in sidewalks and as thick slabs for curbs.  Thick beds of this stone break naturally along bedding planes, perfect for flagstones up to six inches thick. 

Lyons sandstone formed as extensive sand dune fields in the Permian Period, deposited after uplift and subsequent erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.  Some layers of sandstone contain fossil animal tracks.  In addition to its architectural use, Lyons Sandstone is an important petroleum reservoir rock in the subsurface.  Large areas of gently dipping sandstone are exposed in hogbacks, especially in the Lyons area, where the stone industry has long been an important part of the local community.  Vast quantities of stone have been removed over the past 125 years, much of it sent to cities in the East.  Most of the buildings on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder are made of Lyons Sandstone from this area.

Larimer County, Colorado.  Historic buildings constructed of brown Lyons Sandstone are unusual because few quarries produced blocks of this color more than a few inches thick.  Most of the brown sandstone from the hogbacks west of Loveland and Fort Collins occurred in thin-bedded slabs that were perfect for windowsills, lintels, mantels, steps and flagstones.  Demand for this material was great, and large amounts were quarried.  West of Fort Collins, at Stout, quarries were operated by the Union Pacific Railroad and stone was shipped east in the late 1800s. 

Manitou sandstone:  El Paso County, Colorado.  Lyons Sandstone quarries that supplied a distinct red-orange stone for Denver buildings are located in Red Rock Canyon at the south end of Garden of the Gods.  The building trade name is “Manitou sandstone”.  This material was deposited during the Permian Period.  These quarries, which date back to the 1870s, were known at one time as the Kenmuir quarries.  A railroad track was extended into Red Rock Canyon early in the 1880s.  After the arrival of large derricks and installation of heavy equipment, great quantities of stone were removed by several companies.  The quarries later became known as the Greenlee and Snider quarries.  Newspapers reported that large amounts of stone were shipped by train to major cities.  Occasionally this stone was mentioned in The Western Architect and Building News as being used in Denver buildings.

The Manitou sandstone quarry site lies in a 176-foot sandstone ledge at 220 feet above the Fountain Formation.  Because this stone occurs in a thick ledge, it was possible to supply large blocks of dimension stone for the thick stone walls of buildings that were required prior to steel beam construction.  This sandstone is characterized by its quartz and feldspar composition, medium-grained texture, and cross-stratified structures. It is prone to weathering and erosion. 

Peachblow sandstone:  Eagle County, Colorado.  Upon close inspection, one will find a distinctive reddish quartz sandstone.  It is thought to be named after an early American glassware of a unique peach color.  This sandstone is from a little-known quarry at mile 11 on the Fryingpan River east of Basalt.  This long-abandoned site was adjacent to the tracks of the Midland Railroad, which ran from Manitou Springs to Aspen in the late 1880s.  The stone is used mostly in historic buildings in Glenwood Springs and Aspen, and have been identified in buildings in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs.  It is reported to have been exported to eastern cities as well.

Peachblow sandstone is documented in the architects’ specifications for the Sheedy Mansion.  This has helped establish its identity and use in Denver buildings, although it is used mostly for steps, not as a dimension stone.  This sandstone is from the Permian Period.  It is characterized by its hardness, by its even and repetitious stratifications, and by the many, small, iron-stained spots throughout the stone.  The little spots often stand out, forming tiny brown bumps on the rock.

Pikes Peak granite:  Douglas County, Colorado.  Dated at 1,080 million years old, it is seen in many downtown Denver buildings and in the porch columns and steps of the Sheedy Mansion.  The source of this attractive pink granite, the Seerie Brothers quarry, is on a hillside above the old Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad siding at Argyle, in the South Platte Canyon between Foxton and Buffalo. 

South Beaver Creek granite:  Gunnison County, Colorado.  This granite, one of the oldest native granites at 1,720 million years old, comes from the Aberdeen quarry in the South Beaver Creek area south of Gunnison.  It is dark gray in color.

Yule marble: Yule Creek, Colorado.  Colorado’s famous Yule marble is found in several downtown buildings; however, no known mansions in Denver are made of marble.  Instead, marble is often used as an interior decorative stone, especially in fireplaces.  The geology of the marble deposit, a belt of altered Mississippian Leadville Limestone, is related to Tertiary deposits in the Elk Mountains in Gunnison County.