Types

double monasteries

Religious houses for communities of both men and women, dwelling in contiguous establishments, united under the rule of one superior.

double-framed roofs

Roofs in which the common rafters rest on purlins which transfer the loads to principal rafters or trusses.

double-gable roofs

Roofs formed by the junction of two gable roofs with a valley between them, resembling the letter M in section.

double-hung windows

Windows having two vertically sliding sashes, each closing a different part of the window; the weight of each sash is counter-balanced for ease of opening and closing.

double-pile houses

Houses having two rows of rooms in each story of the floor plan, often with a corridor between the two rows.

dovecotes

Birdhouses, often quite large, for doves or pigeons, usually having small interior niches to facilitate nesting and breeding.

downtowns

Core or central areas of cities or towns that are either the oldest areas of the city or the core business areas. The term is thought to derive from these areas, as the oldest areas, having the lowest street numbers; alternatively, term may derive from the development of New York City, where the oldest section is in the south, at the bottom of a map.

drawbridges

Movable bridges in which one or more span sections can be pivoted upward by means of chains, cables, or other ropelike devices; if the sections are pivoted by counterweights, use "bascule bridges."

drawing rooms

Formal reception rooms, as in a home or hotel, or rooms to which one may retire for privacy or rest.

dressing rooms

Rooms for dressing and the toilet, usually opening from a bedroom.

drill halls

Spaces set aside for the planning and practice of military drills.

drive-in banks

Buildings that house banks designed to allow customers to transact business, primarily to make withdrawals and deposits, from their automobiles. Customers typically pull up to a window on the bank building to access automated or human tellers without leaving their cars. Such banks typically also have interior spaces where customers may transact business during designated hours.

drive-in restaurants

Restaurants optimized for customers to park and remain in their automobile for service rather than entering the building. They are usually characterized by having rows of sheltered parking areas to which restaurant staff bring food to customers seated in their cars. They usually have a limited menu of fast food, such as burgers and fries. There may be a microphone at each parking slot to allow the placing of orders.

drive-in theaters

Designates outdoor movie theaters designed to accommodate patrons viewing from their automobiles.

drive-through restaurants

Restaurants designed and optimized to allow customers to drive automobiles alongside the building to take away fast food without exiting the cars. The design usually incorporates a window or microphone station where orders are placed from the cars, and a window where the food is delivered and paid for.

driveways

Refers to approach roads, usually private, for vehicles providing access to dwellings or other buildings.

drop arches

Pointed arches with radii that are located within the span of the arch, whether or not the centers are above, at, or below the springing.

drop testers

Folding testers, such as those found on a press bed.

drugstores

Retail stores that include a pharmacy and often sell other articles, such as toilet requisites, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and light refreshments.

drumlins

Long, smooth, cigar-shaped hills of glacial origin.

dry docks

Enclosures or narrow, artificial basins that hold single ships, boats, or other watercraft, and from which the water may be pumped or let out to leave the vessel dry for the purpose of maintenance, repair, or shipbuilding. (Sometimes also used for building ships.). Dry docks are known in the historical record as early as the 10th century in China.

dry walls (masonry)

Masonry walls constructed without mortar.

drying sheds

Structures of relatively simple design, erected to aid in the drying by flowing air of, for example, food, textiles, hops, or bricks.

dude ranches

Ranches that provide entertainment for paying guests and tourists who wish to learn to ride horses or bulls, herd cattle, or do other activities associated with ranching.

dumps (refuse areas)

Places where refuse, discarded excess materials, or temporarily useless products of human activities are deposited.

dunes

Hills or ridges of sand, typically in deserts, formed by shifting winds.

dungeons (jails)

Subterranean rooms or structures that comprise strongly fortified cells or other rooms of confinement; the term originally derived from such areas below the keep or donjon of a castle.

duplex apartments

Apartments with rooms on two levels.

duplex houses

Domestic structures with separate dwelling units for two individual families placed one above the other. When the units are placed side by side use "double houses."

dwellings

Accommodations designed or adapted for residential occupancy, usually but not always intended for human occupancy rather than for animals. For hotels or other buildings intended for use by transients see "public accommodations" and its narrower concepts. For the locale which constitutes the center of an individual's domestic life, personal relationships, and interests, together with the feeling of comfort and satisfaction that it conveys, use "home (concept)." For the collective concept referring to types of living arrangements of a particular group, use "housing."

Earth Art

No description is available for this term.

earth dams

Dams using earth or rock as fill, utilizing natually available materials with minimum processing to construct embankments.

earth lodges

Designates certain Native North American dwellings framed by heavy timbers and covered with earth or sod and a dome-shaped arrangement of branches.

earth sheltered buildings

Structures that are surrounded by earth on all sides or on all sides except overhead, typically creating an almost invisible profile on the landscape and a green ideal in the savings of fuel and insulating materials. Structures that are surrounded by earth on all sides or on all sides except overhead, typically creating an almost invisible profile on the landscape and a green ideal in the savings of fuel and insulating materials.

earthen architecture

Buildings and other architectural structures constructed wholly or primarily of earth. For engineering works, such as trenches, created in the earth, use "earthworks (engineering works)." For structures built on a hillside rather than into it, use "hillside architecture." For structures built under the surface of the ground, but not made primarily of earth, use "underground structures."

earthworks (engineering works)

Formations made of earth, resulting from the grading, trenching, or embanking of earth for utilitarian or cermonial purposes. Examples include Medieval fortifications and ancient ceremonial sites in Britain and Europe. For earth constructions having more of an artistic, rather than functional, purpose, use "earthworks (sculpture)." For works considered architecture rather than engineering works, prefer "earthen architecture."

earthworks (sculpture)

Artist works that manipulate natural earth and stone, altering the terrain of the land itself for artistic purposes. For large-scale outdoor works that otherwise exploit or incorporate aspects of their sites, use the more general term "environmental art." For the results of grading, trenching, or embanking earth, for utilitarian purposes, use "earthworks (engineering works)."

eave components

Parts or components of eaves.

education

Discipline that concerns the entire process of imparting knowledge, attitudes, skills, or socially valued qualities of character or behavior. For the specific activities involved in deliberately conveying knowledge, skills, or social values to others, use "educating."

educational centers (buildings)

Buildings, part of a building, or complex in which training or education takes place. It is not necessarily a formal school.

educational complexes

Groupings of educational buildings and other facilities; if possible, use a more specific term.

educational parks

Complexes of schools, usually ranging from kindergarten through high school or two-year college, that draw students from a metropolitan area and are intended to minimize the effects of segregation.

Effigy Mound (regional style)

No description is available for this term.

effigy mounds (monuments)

Large earthworks formed in the likeness of birds and animals.

electric substations

Bulk delivery points for electrical power, from which it is distributed to consumers.

elementary schools (buildings)

Buildings that house schools providing the first stage of compulsory education, generally extending from grade 1 through grades 6 or 8 and teaching the rudiments of learning; may house a kindergarten.

elephant houses

No description is available for this term.

elevated roads

Roadways raised about ground level by being supported on banks of earth, arches, pillars, or other structural elements.

elevators

Cars, cages, or platforms and associated machinery for the vertical conveying of goods or people to and from different levels.

ells (building divisions)

Extensions that are at right angles to the length of buildings.

embankments

Long ridges of earth, rocks, or gravel primarily constructed to carry a roadway; if built to retain water, use "levees" or "dikes."

embassies

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

emergency medical centers

Buildings, groups of buildings, or relatively large areas within a building specializing in the prompt treatment of acute illness, trauma, or other medical emergencies, often having treatments for a broad range of illnesses and injuries. The term is distinguished from "emergency rooms," which tend to be smaller facilities or rooms attached to a general hospital.

emergency rooms

Hospital areas equipped and staffed for the prompt treatment of acute illness, trauma, or other medical emergencies.

employees' buildings

Buildings or parts of buildings housing facilities for use by the employees for activities not strictly required for the job, such as a break room, meeting rooms, lockers, human resources offices, etc.

endangered places

Refers to open spaces, buildings, or other structures that are of historic or environmental significance and threatened with development or demolition.

energy efficient buildings

Buildings that employ methods and systems aimed at making optimal use of electricity and other resources, including using the largest possible proportion of regional resources and materials, in contrast to the conventional, inefficient practice of providing for only minimal efficiency in use of energy and drawing materials and energy from distant, centralized sources.

English barns

Rectangular, gable-roofed barns divided on the interior into three roughly equal bays arranged widthwise rather than lengthwise, the center bay comprising a passageway entered from the long sides.

English basements

Floor of a building that is partially both below and above ground level, and lacking an entrance at that level.

English hoods

Headdresses, usually of black fabric, characterized by a peak that projects above the forehead and is maintained by wires or a stiffened decorated framework; usually with embroidered strips that frame the face and either a fall of fabric that continues beyond the shoulders or two long pendant flaps that are sometimes pinned up at the sides; worn with an undercap by women from the late 15th to the mid-16th century.

entertainment buildings

Distinguished from "recreation buildings" by more narrowly designating buildings with devices or equipment for amusement or diversion and not active sports, nor for which membership is required.

entertainment centers (inhabited places)

Communities of any size that have entertainment as a major industry.

entrance halls

Passages or rooms just inside the entrance of a residence, but sometimes with a vestibule between it and the outdoors. Prefer "lobbies" for such spaces in larger public buildings.

entrances

Refers to points or places of entering.

environmental art

Contemporary works of art, usually outdoors and on a grand scale, that surround or involve the participation of the viewer and that especially exploit or incorporate aspects of their sites. For such works that specifically manipulate the land itself, use "earthworks (sculpture)." For indoor installations that create surroundings that can be entered by the viewer, use "environments (sculpture)." For sculpture that is designed to be placed outdoors but is not especially site-specific, use "outdoor sculpture." For art that utilizes natural physical forces, biological organisms and processes, and performance to illustrate, question, and explain ecological and environmental issues, use "ecological art."

environmental laboratories

Laboratories where issues regarding the natural environment are studied and tested, including issues surrounding effective resource use, resource conservation, and environmental protection.

environmentally sensitive areas

Areas having beneficial qualities to the surrounding environment or considered as natural assets to their region, typically including wetlands, flood plains, critical habitats of endangered species, and recharge zones of sole-source bodies of water.

equestrian centers

Facilities offering equestrian training, board, and care, typically comprising race tracks, barns, stables, and veterinary hospitals. For schools where equitation is taught, use "riding schools."

escarpments (landforms)

Steep slopes in front of fortifications. Also, long, steep cliffs or slopes resulting from erosion, and which separate two comparatively level surfaces.

estates (commercial agricultural holding)

Large, usually commercialized, agricultural landholdings with associated buildings and other facilities. The term is often used for former European colonial land holdings, similar to plantations. For landholdings that are intended primarily or in large part as the residence of the private owner, even if there are crops and tenant farmers, use "estates (residential complexes)." Meaning and usage of "estates" overlap with "plantations," although plantations are usually larger enterprises than agricultural estates.

estates (residential complexes)

Landed properties, usually of considerable extent, which typically have a grand house and outbuildings, and which may, but not necessarily must, have certain land on which a crop is cultivated; may have tenants who operate the agricultural lands. For commercial agricultural lands, particularly those similar to plantations and located in European colonial areas, use "estates (commercial agricultural holdings)."

estuaries

Category of marine body of water comprising areas where freshwater streams or rivers merge with the ocean. This mixing of waters with such different salt concentrations creates a very interesting and unique ecosystem. An estuary is usually a funnel-shaped stream mouth or embayment where fresh water mixes with sea water under tidal influences.

excavations (earthworks)

Cavities in the earth resulting from removal of soil and rock for purposes of building construction or archaeology.

excavations (sites)

Locations where there is digging or other uncovering of evidence of ancient life, including artifacts of human activity, fossils, frozen remains, or other preserved evidence.

exchanges (financial institutions)

In modern usage, buildings that house banks that specialize in the exchange of stocks and securities. The term historically refers to buildings in which the merchants of a town assemble for the transaction of business.

exhibition buildings

Buildings built or used exculsively or primarily for exhibitions, which are organized displays of works of art or other objects of human making. Exhibition buildings may be permanent facilities or temporary structures, as at a world's fair.

expansion

No description is available for this term.

experiment stations

Buildings or outdoor facilities where research and experiments are carried out in a specific field, such as agriculture or mining, where practical applications are tested, and from where the results are disseminated. Distinct from "research stations" which are primarily for the observation of natural phenomena.

expressways

Divided multilane highways with a minimum of traffic signals where grades are separated at important intersections, although there may be some grade crossings; can be freeways or turnpikes.

eyebrow dormers

Low dormers in a roof over which the roof is carried in a continuous curve. Low dormers in a roof over which the roof is carried in a continuous curve.

factories (structures)

Refers to a building or group of buildings with the function of housing the action or process of making goods or producing anything, whether before or after the Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century.

factory building

No description is available for this term.

factory villages

Designates industrial settlements purposely built by factory owners to attract workers to isolated or otherwise undesirable locations with a minimum of services.

faculty clubs

Facilities for meetings, study, or recreation, reserved for the faculty of an educational institution.

faculty housing

Housing for staff, provided by an educational institution.

fair buildings

Temporary or permanant structures built or used for a fair.

fairgrounds

Spaces where fairs, horse races, and other events are held, typically set aside by a city, county, or state for an annual fair. Fairgrounds often include exhibition buildings.

false fronts

Refers to façades extending beyond, especially above, the dimensions of a building with the specific purpose of giving a more imposing appearance; for façades which exceed the height or width of buildings but not with that intention, use "screen façades."

family rooms

Informal living rooms, often adjacent to the kitchen, where a family may gather.

fanlights

Semicircular windows over doors or other openings with radiating bars giving the appearance of an open fan.

farmhouses

Chief dwellings attached to farms, particularly a dwelling for the family of a family-owned and -operated farm. Modern farmhouses characteristically comprise two stories with spacious, if modest, rooms and furnishings. Earlier farmhouses were characteristically one-story.

farmland

Land under cultivation or capable of being cultivated.

farms

Complexes where plants or animals are raised for livelihood or commerce.

farmyards

Yards or enclosures attached to a farmhouse or surrounded by farm buildings, used for airing livestock and other purposes. Yards or enclosures attached to a farmhouse or surrounded by farm buildings, used for airing livestock and other purposes.

fast food restaurants

Restaurants optimized for the fast filling of orders, typically focusing on take-away food and offering minimal or no table service. There is usually a limited menu; food is often cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot; and the restaurant usually belongs to a franchise operation that dictates both the menu and design of the restaurant.

federal prisons (buildings)

Buildings housing prisons administered by a federal government, in the U.S., those managed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Federal Reserve banks

Buildings that house banks that belong to the Federal Reserve System, which is the central banking system of the United States.

fences (site elements)

Roofless enclosures, barriers, defenses, or bulwarks, such as a railings, walls, hedges, or palisades constructed along the boundary of a field, park, yard, or another place for the purpose of defending from intruders, marking boudnaries, or keeping livestock or people within.

fencing (barriers)

Series of fences or other barriers, usually metal or wood and substantial in size.

fens

Designates waterlogged areas with pondweeds, reeds, and rushes and in which peat is accumulating but the water remains alkaline. Distinct from "bogs," in which the peat has reached a higher acidity.