Types

gabions

Baskets or cages filled with earth or rocks and used generally for support or abutment, especially for erosion protection; may also be used for military works, flood control, harbor works, dams, and foundations.

gable dormers

Dormers with a roof terminating in a gable. Dormers with a roof terminating in a gable.

gable-front houses

Houses in which the principle gable end faces the street or front of the lot and usually contains the front door.

gallerias (shopping centers)

Originally referred to a distinctive type of arcade of shops in Italian cities, descendents of the ancient stoas. Now refers to covered shopping malls that architecturally resemble or were inspired by Italian gallerias. The term is also used to describe areas of a department store that are designed so as to appear to contain a number of separate shops.

galleries (display spaces)

Spaces set aside, as in museums, for the display of objects in a collection.

galleries (upper level spaces)

Substantial interior spaces at the level of an upper story that overlook the level below and usually extend the full length or width of a room. For railed platforms projecting from the exterior walls of buildings or small, similar interior features, use "balconies." For floor levels in a church above the aisles and open to the nave, use "tribunes (stories)" or "triforiums."

galleries (upper level spaces)

Substantial interior spaces at the level of an upper story that overlook the level below and usually extend the full length or width of a room. For railed platforms projecting from the exterior walls of buildings or small, similar interior features, use "balconies." For floor levels in a church above the aisles and open to the nave, use "tribunes (stories)" or "triforiums."

gambling casino

No description is available for this term.

gambling casinos

Recreation buildings equipped with gambling devices and often providing other forms of entertainment and restaurant facilities; for similar buildings but which lack gambling devices, use "casinos."

gambrel roofs

Curb roofs with only the two opposite sides sloping.

game rooms

Recreation rooms devoted entirely to table games.

gaming rooms

Rooms devoted to gambling.

gaps

Low places located in ridges, and not used for transportation.

garages

Buildings or parts of buildings where motor vehicles are parked or housed, usually temporarily; for buildings that sell gasoline, lubricating oils, and other merchandise for motor vehicles, use "service stations."

garden apartments

Ground-floor apartments with access to gardens, or the two- or three-story apartment buildings with communal gardens generally located in the suburbs.

garden cities

Cities or sections of cities newly planned to incorporate large tracts of green spaces, to control internal growth and development, and to separate industrial and nonindustrial activities. Distinguished from "garden suburbs" by their larger size and urban location.

garden clubs

Clubs which promote civic beautification, conservation, and historic preservation. Historically organized by women.

garden elevations

Particular arrangements of vertical elements of a building as seen by observers from the garden view.

garden houses

Ornamental, usually open, structures in gardens used for dining, viewing, or relaxing.

garden pavilions

Light, sometimes ornamental, structures in gardens, parks, or places of recreation that are used for entertainment or shelter.

garden structures

Structures usually associated with or located in gardens or similarly landscaped grounds.

garden suburbs

Suburbs designed to incorporate large tracts of green spaces and to control internal growth and development with an emphasis on residential communities. Distinguished from "garden cities" by their smaller size and location outside urban centers.

garden walks

Walkways through gardens, typically narrow.

gardens (open spaces)

Area of ground or open space where flowers, shrubs, trees, vegetables, or fruits are grown and cultivated.

gargoyles

Waterspouts carved into grotesque figures and projecting from the roof gutters of buildings.

garrison houses

Houses whose second story projects beyond the first story, usually on the facade.

gas wells

Wells tapping a supply of natural gas.

gas-turbine power plants

Power plants in which gas is burned, with compressed air or oil, to run steam-driven turbines that produce electrical energy.

gasholders

Use to describe large cylindrical or spherical tanks containing gas used for fuel.

gasworks

Plants where heating and illuminating gas are manufactured.

gate structures

General term used to group types of gates or gateways.

gated communities

Discrete housing complexes closed off to nonresidents by gates and fences or walls; may or may not also have guards or other surveillance and security installations.

gatehouses

Structures at, near, or over entrance gateways, usually containing a gatekeeper's dwelling. For subordinate buildings on the grounds of estates or parks used as the dwellings of employees, such as gatekeepers, but not located at entranceways, prefer "lodges (caretakers' houses)."

gates

Swinging or sliding barriers used to fill or close a gateway between two spaces or placed within a wall or fencing, often exterior and often made of a grating or open framework or forming a heavy or rough structure. For barriers of more solid and finished construction and usually leading to interior spaces, use "doors."

gateways

Passages through fences or walls separating two exterior spaces, or the structures or ornamental constructions enclosing such passages.

gazebos

Small structures, usually roofed and open-sided, located in gardens or parks from which one may gaze out over the surrounding grounds.

general hospitals

Hospitals that are not restricted to patients suffering from one particular class of disease or to those of a particular sex or age-group.

general stores

Retail stores, usually in small or rural communities, that sell a wide variety of merchandise, including food, but are not divided into departments.

genkan

Entrance halls or porches through which one enters a Japanese building and is greeted by the host, removes one's shoes, etc. Historically, this term referred only to alcoves found in Zen temple buildings, but now the term is used to refer to any entry alcove. These areas are often decorated with screen paintings.

geodesic domes

Structures consisting of numerous similar, light, straight-line elements (usually in tension) which form a grid in the shape of a dome.

geometric gardens

Formal gardens that employ a geometric design.

ghost towns

Designates once-flourishing settlements recently abandoned primarily due to dramatic economic decline or exhaustion of local natural resources; generally the buildings remain standing but in a state of deterioration.

girder bridges

Bridges whose superstructure consists primarily of girders.

glaciers (bodies of water)

Very large bodies of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface.

glassmaking studios (organizations)

Studios in which one or more master glassmakers create works, supervise assistants, and instruct pupils.

glens

Small, narrow, and often secluded valleys usually with steep sides and flat bottoms; originally restricted to the mountainous areas of Scotland and Ireland.

gold mines

Mines from which gold is obtained.

golden section

Canon of proportion based on the ratio between two unequal parts of a whole when the proportion of the smaller to the larger is equal to that of the larger to the whole.

golf clubs (built complexes)

Recreation complexes where golf is played, comprising golf courses, clubhouses, and associated facilities and often restricting use to members.

golf course communities

Designates residential communities designed around golf courses.

golf courses

Outdoor area where the sport of golf is played, consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough, hazards, and a series of greens containing the 18 holes into which the ball is hit sequentially.

gondola cars

Open freight cars, commonly with low sides, for transporting bulk goods, as coal or steel, not requiring weather protection.

gopuras

Monumental barrel-roofed temple gateways or gate towers of South Indian temples or temple enclosures. These evolved from the form of vimanas, but with a passageway incorporated through the center of the structure. gateway, with śālā (Valabhī) type of superstructure; gate-house (Dravidian and early Indian in general)

gorges (landforms)

Deep, rocky land depressions with steep sides, larger than ravines, with a river or stream at the bottom; distinct from "canyons," which tend to be larger and less rocky.

government office buildings

Designates buildings with office space for various departments or branches of government as well as space for public access to government officials.

grain elevators

Buildings comprising large, deep, and narrow storage bins and mechanical conveying systems for the receiving, weighing, storing, and discharging of large quantities of grain.

granaries

Storehouses or other repositories for grain, especially after it has been threshed or husked; sometimes also used to store corn.

grand hotels

Large, luxurious, and well-equipped hotels featuring distinguished architecture, which are designed to present travelers with an experience reminiscent of the ambiance of life in European palaces. Usage is generally restricted to buildings erected from the mid-19th to early 20th century.

grandstands

Structures, often with roofs and tiered platforms, for spectators to sit or stand on while viewing sporting events or other spectacles or performances.

granges (fraternal buildings)

Designates local meeting places for members of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, known as the Grange.

grasslands

Areas dominated by grasses rather than large shrubs or trees. One of the earth's six major biomes.

gravel pits

Excavations from which gravel or sand is or has been obtained, particularly excavations where the holes have been dug vertically into the surface.

graves

Excavations in the earth used for burial of a deceased human, sometimes of animals; for constructions raised over or around burial sites, use "tombs."

graveyards

Common grounds for the interment of bodies, particularly relatively small grounds belonging to a church or small community.

gravity dams

Dams that resist water pressure by their own weight.

Great Houses (Amerindian complexes)

Large, multistory, multiroom complex dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan and Hohokam periods, mostly dating from 950 to 1150 CE; distinguished from "pueblos (housing complexes)" by their often D-shaped outline, cohesive planned design, and location in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona.

greenbelts

Permanently reserved zones of land around and between cities.

greenhouses

Structures enclosed by glass and devoted to the cultivation and protection of plants out of season, usually free-standing but may be attached to another building. Greenhouses may be small or very large. For rooms attached to houses and used as sun lounges or for growing indoor plants, prefer "conservatories."

greens (open spaces)

Grassy, public open spaces near the center of a town and used for a variety of community functions, found especially in New England and Mid-Atlantic states.

greenswards

Landscaping section comprising turf on which grass is growing.

greenways

Ribbons of protected lands and waters, primarily within or near cities, established to provide the public with access to open spaces that mitigate the hard edges and overdeveloped landscapes of urban areas.

grocery stores

Stores that sell food and some nonedible household goods.

groins (erosion protection works)

Long, narrow, permeable or impermeable protective structures built out from a seashore to check or increase erosion. For similar structures located along a river or stream bank, use "wing dams"; when such structures are built to control shoaling, use "jetties (erosion protection works)."

grottoes

Refers to artificially constructed garden features, common since the 16th century in French and English landscapes. A grotto is characterized by being an excavation or structure made to imitate a rocky cave, often adorned with shell-work, colorful stones, etc., and serving as a place of recreation or a cool retreat. For natural features, use "caves" or "caverns."

grounds (open spaces)

Delimited portions of land, usually as lawn, plantings, or left natural surrounding and belonging to a house or other building. Grounds serve chiefly for ornament or recreation. Grounds may be enclosed; they may include gardens.

group dwellings

Relatively small dwellings containing two or more living units for people not of the same family or household, where each dwelling does not necessarily have a full range of residential facilities so that residents must share certain common areas, such as a kitchen, bathroom, and sitting room. Examples include dwellings used as temporary transitional residences. Distinguished from larger "multiple dwellings," which contain relatively complete residential units for multiple households within a single building or complex that has a smaller number of common areas, such as a laundry room.

group homes

Residential dwellings that are single housekeeping units, provide care for small groups of unrelated residents requiring supervision, and are intended to reproduce the circumstances of family life; for temporary residences of former convicts, drug users, or mental patients awaiting a return to society, use "halfway houses."

groves (plant communities)

Groups of trees, often of a single species, smaller than forests in extent, growing naturally or planted in formation, and generally with little or no undergrowth.

guardhouses

Buildings for the shelter or accommodation of military guards, sometimes in which prisoners are temporarily detained under guard.

guardrooms

Rooms for the accommodation of guards while on duty.

guest rooms

Rooms in dwellings set aside or otherwise intended for temporary use by guests and usually not regularly used by household members.

guesthouses (dwellings)

Separate residences for guests, particularly when on a private estate or monastery and maintained specifically for receiving visitors.

guided missile bases

Military bases for the storage and deployment of guided missiles, which are self-propelled projectiles used as weapons, including but not limited to long-range ballistic missiles.

guideposts

Posts, usually mounted on the roadside or at intersections, bearing a sign or signs for the guidance of travelers.

guildhalls

Buildings belonging to and for the assembly of members of crafts, trades, or merchants' guilds.

gulfs (bodies of water)

Large inlets of the sea, usually more enclosed and more deeply indented than bays.

gullies

Small, commonly V-shaped channels carved in the land by fluvial action and through which water flows only occasionally or seasonally.

gymnasiums

Buildings designed and equipped for indoor, or, in antiquity, indoor and outdoor, sports, exercise, or physical education and training and usually including changing rooms and bath or shower facilites; in ancient Greece, often combined with educational facilities; generally larger than "palaestrae."