Types

Performances that include trained animal acts or exhibitions of human skill and daring, or both. Circuses usually include a trained, traveling company or troupe of performers, various animals, and their equipage. The term "circus" refers to the circular arena surrounded by tiers of seats below which the performance occurs in a circular area called the "ring."

Oblong ancient Roman enclosures that are curved at one end, with tiered seating on three sides, and built for chariot and horse racing. Meaning overlaps with similar structures in Greek cities of the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras, "hippodromes (Greek sports buildings)." For sports structures used for horse racing in more modern contexts, use "horse racetracks."

Artificial reservoirs for the storage of water, typically water-tight tanks in a high part of a building or underground for the capture of rainwater or water from another source.

Pieces of land within urban areas usually bounded on all sides by streets or other transportation routes, natural physical barriers, or public open space and not traversed by through streets.

Refers to the chief public administration buildings of a city, generally housing the mayor's office and legislative chambers.

Areas within a city where the principal governmental and cultural buildings are grouped; may also denote building complexes or individual buildings housing such a range of functions, especially when the construction was financed by municipal funds.

A set of orders of architecture, typically reserved for the five orders of architecture known in ancient Greece and Rome, usually including Ionic, Doric, Corinthian, Composite, and Tuscan.

Rooms devoted to formal instruction in schools.

Upper zones of walls rising above adjacent roofs and pierced by windows so as to admit light to a high central room or space flanked by lower rooms or spaces.

Homes built on ledges or dug into the rock in the vertical sides of mesas, bluffs, or cliffs. Examples are those of the ancient American Southwest.

High, steep ledges of rock.

Special ropes, usually of four strands of selected manilla long fiber and about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, designed for gymnastic climbing or as practice for mountain climbing.

Artificial surfaces designed to facilitate practicing rock climbing techniques, providing the climber with varying surface textures, grips, scale, and inclination.

Buildings that house healthcare facilities for outpatient care, often where patients receive treatment at reduced fees. The term also refers to facilities or hospital departments devoted to a particular group of diseases, such as a psychiatric clinic, neurology clinic, or surgery clinic, whether or not fees are reduced.

Healthcare institutions for outpatient care, often where patients receive treatment, often at reduced fees. The term also refers to hospital departments devoted to a particular group of diseases, such as a psychiatric clinic, neurology clinic, or surgery clinic, whether or not fees are reduced.

Rooms in which cloaks, coats, hats, or other outerwear garments may be placed, usually located near the entrance of a place of assembly and intended for short-term placement of the garments. The term may also refer to a space located in railway-stations, other transportation stations, or hotel, where luggage of any description is temporarily taken charge of.

Towers having the primary function to contain and prominently display a clock or clocks.

No description is available for this term.

Open courtyards surrounded by walkways, especially in a group of buildings of a monastery or college.

Enclosed spaces composed of a garth and surrounding walkways, which are generally arcaded on the courtyard side and walled on the other; usually found in Christian religious building complexes. Use for such features in secular buildings only when closely resembling the prototype.

Areas where library and archival materials are housed, which are not open to users.

Small side-rooms or recesses in a structure, usually having a door, built or used for storing clothing, utensils, or provisions.

Stores in which the primary retail trade is the sale of ready-to-wear clothing and accessories.

Buildings occupied by a club or commonly used for club activities.

Private voluntary associations of persons for social and recreational purposes or for the promotion of some common object.

Sloping channels through which coal can descend, either on a small scale into the basement of a home or on a large scale in an industrial facility.

Excavations or systems of excavations for the extraction of coal, which is a carbon-rich fossil fuel.

Structures used for storing and loading coal onto vehicles.

Fortifications erected along seacoasts, as to prevent the passage of ships or to protect the land from attack.

Human settlements, ancient or modern, that exist along a coastline.

Buildings and other facilities located beside or near the water for the use of the coastguard, a military service responsible for the safety of maritime traffic in coastal waters.

Generally used either for the lines forming boundaries between land and sea or specifically for the lines reached by the highest storm waves or the high-water marks of median tides; for strips of land bordering any large bodies of water, use "shores (landforms)."

Pits or enclosed areas designed for cockfighting.

Public rooms, as in hotels, clubs, or restaurants, where cocktails and other drinks are served.

Small, usually inexpensive, restaurants with a limited menu of light meals served at counters or tables.

Public places serving coffee and other refreshments and inexpensive foods; often meeting places for lively political discussions, especially popular in Europe from the 17th to the 19th century.

Watertight enclosures from which water is pumped to expose an area in order to permit construction or repairs.

Ceilings treated with coffers. Ceilings treated with coffers.

Closed refractory chambers in which coal is converted to coke by carbonization.

Rooms kept at low temperatures for the storage of perishable items, such as food, or other items prone to deterioration or pests, such as film or archival materials.

Communities occupied and run by a group of people working in cooperation, often employed in farming, making crafts, etc.

Communities, typically small or medium-sized towns or cities, that have economies centered on a college and the college population.

Buildings or groups of buildings that house institutions of higher learning that provide general or liberal arts education leading to bachelor's degrees; may be independent or parts of universities.

Institutions of higher learning that provide general or liberal arts education leading to bachelor's degrees; may be independent or parts of universities.

Churches, other than cathedrals, endowed for a chapter of canons, or, as in the United States and Scotland, churches joined together and served by a joint pastorate.

Inhabited places established in areas that are newly colonized or under the rule of a colonial power.

Rows of columns supporting an entablature and often one side of a roof. Includes spaces behind such a feature when they are long and used for circulation.

Sculptured figures of extraordinarily large size.

In the discipline of architecture, refers to cylindrical or slightly tapering, vertical members made to either give support or to appear to give support. They usually comprise three sections: base, capital, and shaft. The term also refers to all uprights in steel frame or concrete frame structures. Columns may occasionally stand alone as a monument, for example in Trajan's Column in Rome or Nelson's Column in London. Columns may be used as decorative elements on furniture. For square or rectangular members, either in masonry construction or classically treated, and for massive uprights in Medieval architecture, see "piers (supporting elements)"; for wooden square uprights, see "posts." In the discipline of architecture, refers to cylindrical or slightly tapering, vertical members made to either give support or to appear to give support. They usually comprise three sections: base, capital, and shaft. The term also refers to all uprights in steel frame or concrete frame structures. Columns may occasionally stand alone as a monument, for example in Trajan's Column in Rome or Nelson's Column in London. Columns may be used as decorative elements on furniture. For square or rectangular members, either in masonry construction or classically treated, and for massive uprights in Medieval architecture, see "piers (supporting elements)"; for wooden square uprights, see "posts."

Buildings with toilets and lavatory facilities for public use.

Sculpture that serves as a memorial to beings or events, not necessarily in the context of gravesites.

Use broadly to refer to buildings associated with any aspect of the various activities and business relationships of industry and trade; when referring to structures associated with the purchase, sale, or exchange of goods in business, use "mercantile buildings."

Inhabited places such as cities, towns, etc. where a primary activity is business and trade.

Buildings or complexes constructed for or serving businesses, merchants, and other commercial purposes.

Designates groups of mostly commercial enterprises, usually a mix of fast-food restaurants, motels, and service stations, among others, arranged directly alongside well-traveled roads, providing nearly unlimited roadway access, and designed to attract the attention of motorists.

Stores selling food, equipment, and other merchandise, and often serving light meals, for people employed in a particular kind of work, such as at a film studio or military installation.

Structures designed for or containing organized markets where future delivery contracts for graded commodities (as grains, cotton, sugar, coffee, wool) are bought and sold.

Land that is owned collectively, by a government, or by one person, but over which certain traditional rights are in place for certain other people or the general public, for example grazing rights.

Public lounges or similar rooms in such places as hotels and colleges.

Expanses of land, paved or green, owned by the community as a whole.

Housing in which multiple individuals, couples, or nuclear families have some shared facilities (for example, laundry facilities or gardening services) but maintain primarily separate living spaces that have been constructed in quantity, either as multiple dwellings under one roof (such as in an apartment house) or in single units (such as a retirement community). When communal housing comprises separate buildings, the buildings typically have a uniform or coordinated appearance.

Self-supporting and self-governing communities comprised of small groups of people living together with minimal interference from outsiders.

Buildings designed or used for the equipment and personnel necessary for communications, such as telephone service.

Groups or bodies of people who live in the same place and are usually united by a common way of life, cultural or ethnic identity, or other factors. Usually reserved for smaller groups that have not organized into a village or town.

Buildings where members of a community are able to gather for social or cultural activities.

Buildings that house publicly funded higher education colleges, typically without residential facilities, serving the educational needs of a specific community. The term may also refer to buildings housing secondary schools or sixth-form colleges that make the spaces available to the local community out of school hours for educational and recreational purposes; typically British usage.

Areas of green space within communities or neighborhoods available for cultivation, usually by residents, and managed by local committees.

Buildings or spaces for museums that are founded, run or patronized by local communities, which serve the aspirations and educational needs of the community.

Organizations which contribute in varying degrees to a community. Community organizations may be non-profit, private-sector, or private for-profit organizations. They may have a broad constituency, such as a neighborhood council, or a more targeted constituency, such as a tenant's association. Organizations which contribute in varying degrees to a community. Community organizations may be non-profit, private-sector, or private for-profit organizations. They may have a broad constituency, such as a neighborhood council, or a more targeted constituency, such as a tenant's association.

Parks, usually over 20 acres in extent, offering a wider range of activities and considerably more open space than "neighborhood parks."

Buildings that house schools whose facilities and programs are closely connected with the life and needs of, and may be shared by, the whole community.

Educational institutions having facilities and programs that are closely connected with the life and needs of, and may be shared by, the whole community.

Buildings or spaces for museums that are administered by a company, often highlighting the history or products of the company.

Retail stores associated with and usually owned and operated by a company for the convenience of employees, who are often required to shop there.

Settlements whose inhabitants depend solely or chiefly on a single employer who also owns a substantial portion of the settlement's real estate and housing.

Aggregations of buildings, other structures, and/or open spaces, often multifunctional, and more extensive than single built works, usually shaped over a longer period of time by more participants.

Housing complexes typically of African origin, comprised of enclosed single or multi-unit family dwellings with communal spaces, adjacent outbuildings or structures.

Buildings or parts of buildings that house computer services available to public and private sector customers, possibly including data processing, system design, and web hosting. In modern usage, the term may also refer to retail businesses that sell commercially available hardware and software.

No description is available for this term.

Locations that were or are the site of a concentration camp internment center.

Designates internment centers established outside ordinary detention systems in which persons are confined for military or political security or for punishment or exploitation; persons are generally imprisoned by decree or military order, often including classes or groups of people without regard for their individual culpability.

Model houses designed as experimental projects that explore ideas outside conventional building practices, provoking discussion and change regarding the direction of architecture.

Buildings designed for musical performances.

Open spaces or halls where crowds may gather, especially by chance coming together, as in a large railroad station.

Flat plates made of concrete and used as structural elements in architecture.

Buildings or complexes of buildings in which each unit is individually owned and ownership of common areas and facilities is shared.

No description is available for this term.

Buildings for water storage and distribution.

Shops where sweet food tiems such as candy, cakes, light pastries, icing, and ice cream are produced or sold.

Rooms designed or adapted for the holding of conferences, with the room usually focused around a large table and chairs.

Artificial earthen mounds, usually burial mounds, that are round and dome-shaped, sometimes with a very narrow, pointed top. Such mounds were especially prevalent with early indigenous inhabitants of midwest North America.

Barns connected, often via intermediate outbuildings, to the main farmhouse.

In current usage, attached rooms in dwellings or other buildings, having glass wall panels and roofs, often constructed on the back or side of the building and used as a sun room or for growing indoor plants. Usage overlaps with “solariums,” which are typically rooms with large windows. In historical usage, meaning overlaps with "greenhouses," which are typically larger glazed structures devoted to growing and displaying plants.

Buildings that house schools formed by the merging of two or more public schools, usually at the elementary level and often in rural areas.

Places where construction is occurring, particularly construction of a building. For the more general meaning of a site where a building is or was located, whether or not the building is under construction, use "building sites."

Official headquarters of foreign ministers appointed primarily to oversee and protect the home country's economic interests in a host country; when such headquarters are for ministers called ambassadors appointed to transact matters of international policy and business with a foreign government, use "embassies." For the official residences of foreign ministers in general, use "legations."

Vast landforms that are connected or continuous mainland. Often used when referring to the continents of modern geography, but may also refer to former continents.

Buildings designed to meet the needs of continuing education programs, which focus on postsecondary instruction designed for adults.

Fixed bridges that extend without hinges or joints across three or more supports, making them capable of resisting bending and shearing forces at all sections throughout their length; continuous bridges are firmly supported in the perpendicular direction by piers and abutments.

Rooms containing control equipment, common examples being in broadcasting stations, auditoriums, and theaters.