Types

control towers

Towers or other elevated buildings located at large and medium-sized airports and from which the movement of aircraft and other surrounding traffic is controlled by radio or other means. The control tower structures generally rise high above other buildings at an airport and have windows, tilted outward to avoid glare, circling the entire top floor to allow a clear view for air traffic controllers. They contain necessary equipment, such as radios, radar displays, computer systems for meteorological information and flight data, controllers' headsets, telephone systems, light guns for communication with aircraft via aviation light signals, and wind and pressure gauges.

conurbations

Extensive built-up urban areas that contain some isolated rural areas and are formed by the merging together of cities or towns that formerly were separate. For more extensive or comprehensive clusters of urban areas, use "megalopolises."

convalescent hospitals

Hospitals specializing in the care of people recovering health and strength after illness or injury, typically including provision for full medical care as needed, including professional doctor and nursing staff and diagnostic facilities.

convenience stores

Relatively small retail outlets located primarily near residential areas, maitaining long hours, and typically carrying a limited line of high-turnover packaged food and other products at high prices.

convention centers

Building or complexes designed or adapted for the holding of conferences and conventions.

convents (built complexes)

In common usage, the word "convent" is used for the facilities of a company of women living together in the discipline of a religious order and under one superior. For facilities for a company of males, use "monasteries."

cooperative apartment houses

Apartment houses owned and managed by a corporation in which shares are sold entitling shareholders to occupy individual units in the building.

cooperative housing

Housing owned by a legal entity that permits a group of members to mutually own all, or agreed-upon parts, of the complex and to share mutually in the benefits derived by the group under provisions of the entity's rules.

cooperative stores

Rretail outlets that are owned and operated by consumers for their mutual benefit based on open consumer membership, equal voting among members, limited customer services, and shared profits among members in the form of rebates generally related to the amounts of their purchases. The first consumer cooperative store was established in Rochdale, England, in 1844, and most are still modeled after the original principles.

copper mines

Mines from which the primary extraction is copper, which is an element and reddish metal that is very malleable.

corn palaces

Structures used for seasonal exhibitions having to do with the harvest, often decorated annually with corn, grain, grasses, and the like.

corncribs

Structures for storing corn, usually with slotted boards for ventilation, slanted walls for weather protection, and set on stilts to deter rodents. For similar structures made of small-diameter, rough-hewn logs and used variously for food or equipment storage or animal shelter, use "crib barns."

cornices

The projecting, uppermost features of classical entablatures; use also for similar features crowning a window or wall.

corporate headquarters (built works)

Buildings that contain the centers of strategic control for the entire corporation.

corporate headquarters (inhabited places)

Inhabited place of any size that serve as the headquarters for one or more companies.

corporate plazas

Malls or other arrangements of multiple corporate offices, generally for different companies, designed with pedestrian access between offices, and typically having only one story or a small number of stories.

corrals (animal housing)

Enclosures or pens for large livestock such as horses, or cattle or for wild animals such as elephants.

correctional institutions (buildings)

General term for buildings or groups of buildings in which people accused or convicted of breaking the law may be confined and which may or may not attempt some form of reform or rehabilitative correction of offenders.

corridors

Passages affording access and entrance to the rooms of a building.

cottages

A small house, usually of only one story.

cottages ornés

Certain picturesque, small rustic houses, primarily of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in England, with an asymmetrical plan and wood siding.

cotton gins

Milling machines that separate the seeds, hulls, or foreign material from cotton.

cotton mills

Facilities for processing cotton and creating cotton fabrics, including spinning and weaving machinery. Such mills particularly flourished 1775-1930.

council rings

Low, outdoor stone seats built into the landscapes of gardens or parks and used as places for discussions, drama, dances and other social activities.

counties

The domains or territories of counts. In current usage, usually refers to particular divisions that have been made to an area for administrative, judicial, and political purposes. In Britain, counties are defined by various official methods, and serve as the most important divisional units in the country. In the United States, counties are the political and administrative divisions below the state and above the city; a few U.S. states call such divisions "districts" or "parishes" rather than "counties."

country clubs

Clubs, including the premises and grounds, that are located in or near the countryside rather than in an urban environment, and that are typically characterized by having a restricted membership and facilities for recreation and social intercourse.

country houses

Houses in the country as opposed to an urban area, especially houses that are large, have substantial property, and are used seasonally. For the entire residential estate, including the house, outbuildings, and properties, use "estates (residential complexes)."

county courthouses

Public buildings in the United States that house county-level judicial and administrative facilities; for structures that house similar functions in the United Kingdom, use "county halls."

county halls

Public buildings in the United Kingdom that house various county functions, often comprising a large hall for public meetings and rooms for county courts and administration; for structures housing similar judicial functions in the United States, use "county courthouses."

county museums (buildings)

Buildings or spaces for museums that are administered by the county, an administrative subdivision in the U.S., the U.K., and other nations.

county museums (institutions)

Museums that are administered by the county, an administrative subdivision in the U.S., the U.K., and other nations.

county seats

The seat of government of a county.

coupled windows

Two closely spaced windows which form a pair.

courthouses

Buildings that contain rooms for courts of law and often judges' chambers and other offices.

courtrooms

Refers to rooms, usually in courthouses, where sessions of a court of law are held.

courts (built works)

Quadrangular spaces either walled or otherwise marked off for playing one of various games usually with a ball.

courtyard houses

Houses with internal courtyards of any configuration or design. For houses with internal courtyards having impluvia but no colonnades, use "atrium houses"; for houses with internal courtyards with colonnades, use "peristyle houses."

courtyards

Uncovered areas, surrounded or partially surrounded by the walls of a building.

covered bridges

Timber-truss structures carrying a roadway or railroad track over a river or other obstacle, characterized by the roof and siding forming an almost complete enclosure to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. There is no evidence of timber-truss bridges, with or without covering, in the ancient world; however, drawings survive of covered bridges dating from the 14th century and later in Europe. In North America covered timber bridges were common in the 18th through early 20th centuries, although they were gradually being replaced by metal truss bridges, which required no covering.

covered walkways

Covered outdoor walkways.

coves (bodies of water)

Denotes small rounded indentations in a coastline, smaller than bays and generally characterized by a narrow entrance.

cow houses

An enclosed building of relatively modest size used for sheltering or stabling cows or bulls. For a large structure used to shelter dozens or more animals, use "dairy barns" or "cattle barns." For a structure with at least one open side, use "cowsheds."

cow towns

Towns that are market centers for cattle; also used to refer to isolated, provincial small towns.

crawl spaces

Small spaces provided in a building in order to be able to gain access to plumbing, wiring, and other equipment.

creeks (bodies of water)

Bodies of water, smaller than a stream.

Creole cottages

No description is available for this term.

Creole cottages

Side-gabled vernacular buildings of simple massing, normally having their front walls moved inward to make an integral porch under a single steep roofline; the form was originally brought to Louisiana by French Canadian (Acadian) immigrants with a knowledge of long-span roof framing techniques.

crescents (row houses)

Multiple dwellings composed of row houses whose facades in plan follow the concave arc of a circle or ellipse.

crib barns

Generally very small barns comprised of one or more cribs or pens, constructed of small-diameter, rough-hewn logs serving various functions, such as food or equipment storage or animal shelter. For similar small wooden structures exclusively for storing corn, use "corncribs."

crisis shelters

Facilities that provide emergency social services and temporary housing in times of personal or family crisis.

cross gables

Gables set parallel to the roof ridge.

crossing towers

Towers over the crossings of churches.

crucks

Pairs of naturally curved timbers that rise from the ground or outer walls of buildings to support a ridge beam; joined at the top and connected by tie beams.

crypts

Subterranean rooms or entire stories in churches, often serving as places of burial.

culs-de-sac

Dead-end streets that have circular turn-around areas at their ends.

cultural centers (buildings)

Public buildings, sites, or complexes set aside for activities related to the culture of an area, such as music, dance, drama, or fine arts.

cultural centers (institutions)

Administrative bodies overseeing or promoting activities related to the culture of an area, such as music, dance, drama, or fine arts.

cultural landscapes

Designates land and water areas significantly altered or modified by human actions; used in contrast to "natural landscapes," that designate areas where human effects, if present, are not ecologically significant to the regions as a whole.

cultural parks

Heritage sites and the lands related to them committed to providing a cultural, recreational, and cultural resource for the public at large.

cultural routes

Historical itineraries such as the Silk Road across Asia or the St. James pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela recognized as heritage sites by administrative bodies such as the Council of Europe and UNESCO. Some are developed as scenic routes for cultural tourism.

culverts

Drainage structures that extend across and beneath roadways, canals, embankments, or traveled ways other than bridges.

cupolas

Generally refers to small domes, often resembling overturned cups or bulbs, placed on a circular, polygonal, or square base or on small pillars or a glassed-in lantern or skylight. A cupola is typically used to crown a turret, roof, or larger dome. The term may also refer specifically to the inner vault of a dome. When these structures are intended to be used as lookouts, prefer "belvederes"; for windowed superstructures on roofs or domes used to admit light or air to the space below, use "lanterns (roof appendages)." To refer specifically to onion-shaped domes of any size, use "onion domes."

curio shops

Shops that specialize in objects of art or bric-à-brac, valued as curiosities or for their rarity.

curtain walls (nonbearing walls)

Nonbearing walls supported by the members of a rigid frame structure, such as a reinforced concrete or steel frame, and therefore serving to enclose but not to support. Nonbearing walls supported by the members of a rigid frame structure, such as a reinforced concrete or steel frame, and therefore serving to enclose but not to support.

customhouses

Government office buildings where customs and duties are paid or collected and where vessels are recorded and cleared.