Types

sacristies (religious spaces)

Rooms in or attached to churches where the sacred vessels and other treasures are kept. Vestments may also be stored here and the space used by the celebrants to dress for the services. For rooms used primarily for dressing for the services, use "vestries (dressing rooms)," although in modern usage, particularly for newer and smaller churches, the vestry and the sacristy are often the same room.

saddleries

No description is available for this term.

sail lofts

Large rooms where sails are cut out, fabricated, and maintained.

salons (rooms for entertaining)

Spacious, usually formal and elegantly furnished rooms, used primarily for entertaining.

saloons (bars)

Public refreshment places with more emphasis on drinking, normally alcoholic beverages, than on eating, and offering a stage show or other type of public entertainment in the main room, but providing no overnight accommodations; use "pubs" for similar facilities, but generally offering no staged entertainment; use "taverns" for establishments offering overnight accommodations as well as food and drink but no staged entertainment.

saltbox houses

Denotes houses with two stories in front and one in back and with an asymmetrical gable roof where the rear slope is longer than the front slope.

saltworks

Factories where salt is made on a commercial scale.

sample rooms

Showrooms in hotels specially arranged for the display of merchandise by traveling salesmen.

sanatoriums

Health care facilities for the chronically ill.

sanctuaries (religious building spaces)

Refers to the most sacred spaces of religious buildings; in a Christian church, the area containing the main altar.

sanitary landfills

Refuse dumps over which layers of earth or ashes are heaped regularly to control pests and odors.

sarcophagi (coffins)

Coffins made of stone or terracotta, generally ornamented with sculpture or carving and of a size large enough to contain the entire body. Antique examples were often extensively decorated with relief sculpture, which were highly influential on Renaissance artists. Many sarcophagi were also produced in the Baroque and Neoclassical eras. Pliny explains that the derivation of the word ("flesh eating" in Greek) refers specifically to coffins of limestone from the Troad (the region around Troy), which was believed to cause rapid dissolving of the body; more probably, the term refers to various religious and folkloristic ideas that resulted in calling any coffin a body eater. The word came into general use as the name for any large stone coffin in imperial Rome, and is now generally used to refer to large, ornate stone coffins from any period or place.

sash windows

Windows in a sliding frame, having a vertically or horizontally hung sash, but usually not a double-hung window.

satellite tracking stations

Buildings and other structures used for tracking satellites in orbit.

saunas (spaces)

Rooms for bathing in which steam is produced from water thrown on heated stones or other similar materials.

savannas

Category of grasslands having scattered individual trees, found in warm or hot climates where the annual rainfall is 51 to 127 cm. Rainfall is concentrated in six or eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought when fires can occur; if the rain were well distributed throughout the year, many such areas would become tropical forest.

savings banks

Buildings that house banks having the primary purpose of taking charge of relatively small sums of money that comprise the savings of members of the population, in contrast to money belonging to corporations or wealthy individuals.

sawmills (factories)

Factories in which logs are converted to lumber by running them through a series of saws.

scenic byways

Roads of aesthetic, cultural, or historic value, that contain outstanding scenic vistas, unusual geologic formations or other elements providing enjoyment for the traveler.

school camps

Camps run by a particular school, and typically promoting or supplementing the educational program of the school; typical school camps are outdoors and designed for children. Camps run by a particular school, and typically promoting or supplementing the educational program of the school; typical school camps are outdoors and designed for children.

school districts

Administrative areas having their own board and power of taxation and serving as the smallest units for administration of a public school system.

school farms

Farms attached to education facilities either for the purpose of teaching agriculture or providing meats and produce to the parent institution. Farms attached to education facilities either for the purpose of teaching agriculture or providing meats and produce to the parent institution.

schoolhouses

Buildings used to house schools, usually of the elementary level, either devised or appropriated for this use. The term is generally applied to a-frame structures often with one interior space found in rural areas of the United States and Canada, but may be applied to any building type in the context of primary education.

schools (buildings)

Individual buildings or groups of buildings designed or used as places of instruction, typically having one or more classrooms where students may sit at desks and listen to an instructor, often including a library and other areas having books, computers, or other items necessary for the lessons.

schools (institutions)

Organizations or establishments that provide instruction.

schoolyards

Open outdoor spaces adjacent to school buildings used for free or regimented play, or for other purposes.

science buildings

No description is available for this term.

science museums (buildings)

Buildings housing museums containing collections dealing with the development and application of science, scientific ideas, technology, and instrumentation.

science museums (institutions)

Museums containing collections dealing with the development and application of science, scientific ideas, technology, and instrumentation. Like museums of natural science and natural history, science museums have their origins in the Enlightenment. Some of them developed from the collections of learned societies, others from private collections

scientific facilities

Building or complex where activities having to do with any branch of science take place.

scientific instruments

Crafted instruments used for scientific purposes and research, in all branches of science.

scientific laboratories

Rooms, buildings, or groups of buildings specifically equipped with apparatus for scientific experiments.

scientific research bases (facilities)

Scientific facilities used as bases from which research is carried out or monitored.

screened porches

Porches, usually attached to residential buildings, that are enclosed with small mesh screening between the columns or pillars, to permit ventilation but bar insects.

screening rooms

No description is available for this term.

screens (furniture)

Refers to furniture or built-in features in the form of an upright partition that can be used to embellish, partition, shelter, and provide privacy. Screens are often highly decorated.

sculpture (visual works)

Three-dimensional works of art in which images and forms are produced in relief, in intaglio, or in the round. The term refers particularly to art works created by carving or engraving a hard material, by molding or casting a malleable material (which usually then hardens), or by assembling parts to create a three-dimensional object. It is typically used to refer to large or medium-sized objects made of stone, wood, bronze, or another metal. Small objects are typically referred to as "carvings" or another appropriate term. "Sculpture" refers to works that represent tangible beings, objects, or groups of objects, or are abstract works that have defined edges and boundaries and can be measured. As three-dimensional works become more diffused in space or time, or less tangible, use appropriate specific terms, such as "mail art" or "environmental art."

sculpture gardens

Gardens designed to display sculpture, publicly or privately.

seaports

Ports on a seacoast.

seashores

Coastland adjacent to the sea. Literally the land washed by the sea between high and low tides, but in extended use describes entire administrative areas near the seafront.

seaside resorts

Resorts located on the seaside or beach.

seasonal dwellings

Dwellings occupied seasonally or for only a few months of the year, as by seminomads, tourists, or migrant workers.

seawalls

Walls built as breakwaters specifically to protect land from erosion or other damage due to wave action.

second homes

Second dwellings that are owned in addition to a principal home.

secondary schools (buildings)

Buildings that house schools providing education between primary or elementary education and the higher or university level education, differing by school district in grades included.

semicircular arches

Arches with intradoses that are full semicircles.

semidomes

Domes consisting of one quarter of a sphere, such as would surmount an arched niche.

seminaries (buildings)

Buildings that house schools providing education in theology.

senior centers

Drop-in centers for elderly, ambulatory adults that provide classes and unsupervised activities and programs, but no medical services.

servants' halls

Rooms where servants gather and dine.

service cores

Areas rising through the centers of buildings, devoted to such service functions as pipe chases, air ducts, elevators, fire stairs, and rest rooms.

service roads

Roads that run parallel to an express or highway, providing access to local stores and businesses. Roads that run parallel to an express or highway, providing access to local stores and businesses.

service stations

Establishments that primarily sell gasoline, lubricating oils, and other merchandise, such as tires and batteries, for motor vehicles and that often also perform minor repair work. For buildings or parts of buildings where motor vehicles are parked or housed, usually temporarily, use "garages."

settlement houses

Buildings that house a variety of individual and family social, educational, and recreational facilities provided for recent immigrants or residents of underprivileged neighborhoods; especially in England and the United States since the late 19th century.

sewers (drainage structures)

Underground conduits for carrying away waste and storm water.

sewing rooms

No description is available for this term.

shacks

Roughly and often crudely built dwellings.

shaft houses

Structures, often enclosed, located at the tops of mining shafts, for housing hoisting machinery.

shafts (spaces)

Well-like passages or enclosed vertical spaces in a building.

shaped gables

Gables each side of which is multicurved.

shear walls

Rigid planar surfaces that inherently resist lateral thrusts of shear. Rigid planar surfaces that inherently resist lateral thrusts of shear.

shed dormers

Dormers whose eaves lines are parallel to the eaves lines of the main roof instead of being gabled; provide more attic space than gabled dormers. Dormers whose eaves lines are parallel to the eaves lines of the main roof instead of being gabled; provide more attic space than gabled dormers.

sheds (storage structures)

Refers to modest outbuildings used for shelter or storage. A shed is usually one story, typically has one or more open sides, and may be covered by a lean-to roof with one high pitched plane covering the entire structure. It may be leaning against a permanent structure or standing alone. The special purpose of the shed is typically indicated by a defining word prefixing (e.g., "cowshed," "woodshed," "train shed").

sheep barns

Barns constructed or used for the housing of sheep, usually having a pen or pens large enough to contain several sheep or a flock, smaller pens for lambing (giving birth), and areas for shearing, feeding, and watering.

sheep farms

Tracts of land devoted to rearing sheep.

sheepfolds

Pens or shelters for sheep.

shell middens

Term used to describe archaeological deposits consisting of the refuse from food preparation, particularly the shells of marine animals discarded after the removal of the edible portion. Shell middens are found throughout the world in many different cultures.

shell structures

Curved enclosing structures, almost always of concrete and very thin in relation to their span, and depending for structural stability on actions that may be computed by the membrane theory.

shelters (single built works)

General term for structures providing some degree of protection, refuge, or defense; if possible, use a more specific term.

shelving (storage area)

Storage area or structure containing shelves upon which books, boxes, and other materials are stored, such as in a libary, archives, or museum.

ships

Watercraft generally larger and more seaworthy than boats, usually propelled by sails or engines.

shipyards

Places or enclosures where ships are built or repaired. For places servicing small vessels, use "boatyards." Places or enclosures where boats or ships are built or repaired.

shooting ranges

Areas or facilities designed or used primarily for shooting guns at targets, whether for sport or as training. Typically the area includes various ranges or distances marked off between the respective firing points and the targets.

shopping arcades

Covered pedestrian passageways lined with shops or booths; usually found in urban settings and often linking two or more thoroughfares.

shopping centers

Concentrations of stores, markets, and service establishments, along with parking facilities, often in a suburban location.

shopping districts

Areas of a town or city designed for, zoned for, or used primarily by stores and other establishments selling goods. Characteristics may include sections that are open only to pedestrian traffic, adequate parking facilities for automobiles, and other features that attract shoppers.

shopping malls

Structure or series of structures, either under a single roof or in open air, designed to house multiple retail outlets and to allow free passage of pedestrians on one or more levels.

shopping plazas

Relatively buildings or sets of buildings containing a relatively small number of retail units with interconnecting walkways, generally having only one or a small number of stories, often located outdoors in a suburban area, and typically arranged in a single row facing a shared parking lot. For larger, more elaborate structures housing a larger number of retail units, often under a roof with indoor walkways, use "shopping malls."

shores (landforms)

Use either generally for strips of land bordering large bodies of water or specifically for the areas of land between the lowest low-water spring tide and the highest point of storm waves; for the line forming the boundary between land and sea, use "coastlines."

shot towers

High towers, usually round, in which shot is made by dropping molten lead from an upper story into a cistern of water.

shotgun houses

Houses in which all the rooms are in direct line with one another usually front to back, common in the 19th century in southern United States cities; also, narrow gable-front dwellings one room wide.

showrooms

Rooms devoted to the display of merchandise for sale.

shrines (structures)

Structures or large furnishings in which devotion is paid to a statue, picture, saint, deity or other holy objects. For containers for safeguarding the relics of a saint, use "reliquaries".

signage

Systems of posted signs arranged to communicate directions or essential information.

signal towers (elevated structures)

General term for elevated structures, either open or enclosed, from which signals of any kind are sent, including telegraphic, electronic, or manual signals. Examples are towers in the Great Wall of China and towers used to relay railroad signals.

signs (declatory or advertising artifacts)

Lettered notices or other displays that bear names, directions, warnings, advertisements, or symbols that are displayed or posted for public view. For smaller, less public identifying notices, use "labels (identifying artifacts)." For systems of signs arranged to communicate directions or essential information, use "signage."

silos (agricultural structures)

Tall, usually cylindrical, structures in which animal feed is stored and which are normally sealed to exclude air and promote fermentation of green fodder (silage) without spoilage.

silver mines

Mines from which silver is obtained.

single room occupancy hotels

Hotel-like housing providing single, private, furnished rooms for short- or long-term rental at very low rates; usually offering shared bath and kitchen facilities, with or without housekeeping, linen, or front-desk services. For similar housing but providing larger rooms or sets of rooms, generally for long-term rental and providing a larger array of services, use "apartment hotels."

single-family dwellings

Detached houses designed for or used exclusively by one family.

single-pen houses

No description is available for this term.

single-pile houses

Houses having one rows of rooms in the floor plan, typically allowing access to rooms only through other rooms rather than via a corridor. Single-pile houses may have one or two stories.

single-span bridges

Bridges having only one span, being anchored only at each end with no supports in the middle; the longest single span bridges are suspension bridges.

sinkholes

No description is available for this term.

sitting rooms

Rooms for sitting and relaxation, often located adjacent to bedrooms and generally more private than living rooms or parlors.

skating rinks

Structures containing large, bounded, smoothly surfaced areas for skating.

ski jumps

Steeply inclined, snow-covered courses with a horizontal take-off at the end from which skiers glide off into the air.

ski lifts

Conveyances that transport skiers up slopes or mountainsides, consisting typically of a series of seats suspended from an endless cable driven by motors.

ski lodges

Main buildings, typically located in a resort or park, and primarily serving tourists or sportsmen who are skiing.

ski resorts

Resorts specializing primarily in snow skiing.