Cornice

Inarchitecture,acornice(from the Italiancornicemeaning "ledge"^[1]) is generally any horizontal decorativemouldingthat crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a pedestal, or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed with a crown, as incrown mouldingatop an interior wall or above kitchen cabinets or a bookcase.

A projecting cornice on a building has the function of throwing rainwater free of its walls. In residential building practice, this function is handled by projectinggableends, roofeaves,andgutters.However, house eaves may also be called "cornices" if they are finished with decorative moulding. In this sense, while most cornices are also eaves (overhanging the sides of the building), not all eaves are usually considered cornices. Eaves are primarily functional and not necessarily decorative, while cornices have a decorative aspect.

A building's projecting cornice may appear to be heavy and hence in danger of falling, particularly on commercial buildings, but it often is actually very light and made of pressed metal.

In classical architecture

InAncient Greek architectureand its successors using theclassical ordersin the tradition ofclassical architecture,the cornice is the topmost element of theentablature,which consists (from top to bottom) of the cornice, thefrieze,and thearchitrave.^[2]

Where a triangularpedimentis above the entablature, the cornice continues all round the triangle, the two sides being "raking cornices". The vertical space below the cornice is typically decorated bydentils(little teeth) or the largermodillons.Thesoffit,or horizontal space under a projecting cornice, may be elaborately carved with vegetal designs.

In modern residential architecture

Rake

Arakeis an architectural term for an eave or cornice that runs along thegableof the roof of a modern residential structure. It may also be called asloping cornice,araking cornice.The trim and rafters at this edge are calledrakes,rake board,rake fascia,verge-boards,barge-boardsorverge-orbarge-rafters.^[3]It is a sloped timber on the outside facing edge of aroofrunning between theridgeand theeave.^[4]On a typical house, any gable will have two rakes, one on each sloped side. The rakes are often supported by a series oflookouts(sometimes also calledstrong arms) and may be trimmed with arake fasciaboard (which is not a truefascia) on the outside facing edge and arakesoffitalong the bottom.

Types

The cornices of a modern residential building will usually be one of three types: aboxcornice, acloseorclosedcornice, or anopencornice.^[5]^: p.63

Box cornice

Box cornices enclose the cornice of the building with what is essentially a long, narrow box. A box cornice may further be divided into either thenarrowbox cornice or thewidebox cornice type. A narrow box cornice is one in which "the projection of the rafter serves as a nailing surface for the soffit board as well as the fascia trim."^[5]^: p.63This is possible if the slope of the roof is fairly steep and the width of the eave relatively narrow. A wide box cornice, a common practice on houses with gentle roof slopes and wide eaves, requires lookouts to support it and provide a surface to attach the soffits securely. Box cornices often have ventilation screens laid over openings cut in the soffits to allow air to circulate within the cornice.

Close cornice

A closed or snub cornice is one in which there is no projection of the rafters beyond the walls of the building and, therefore, no soffit or fascia. This type of cornice is easy to construct but provides little aid in dispersing water away from the building and is sometimes considered to lack aesthetic value.^[5]^: p.65

Open cornice

In an open cornice, the shape of the cornice is similar to that of a wide box cornice, except that both the lookouts and the soffit are absent. It is a lower-cost treatment that requires fewer materials and may even have no fascia board, but it lacks the finished appearance of a box cornice.

Cavetto cornice

Ancient Egyptianarchitectural tradition made special use of largecavettomouldings as a cornice, with only a short fillet (plain vertical face) above, and atorusmoulding (convex semi-circle) below. This cavetto cornice is sometimes also known as an "Egyptian cornice", "hollow and roll" or "gorge cornice". It has been suggested to be a reminiscence in stone architecture of the primitive use of bound bunches of reeds as supports for buildings, the weight of the roof bending their tops out.^[6]

The cavetto cornice, often forming less than a quarter-circle, influenced Egypt's neighbours and as well as appearing in earlyAncient Greek architecture,it is seen in Syria andancient Iran,for example at theTacharapalace ofDarius IatPersepolis,completed in 486 BC. Inspired by this precedent, it was then revived byArdashir I(r. 224–41 AD), the founder of theSasanian dynasty.^[7]

The cavetto took the place of the cymatium in manyEtruscantemples, often painted with vertical "tongue" patterns, and combined with the distinctive "Etruscan round moulding", often painted with scales.^[8]A typical example may be seen at thereconstructed Etruscan templeatVilla Giulia.

Additional more obscure varieties of cornice include thearchitravecornice,bracketedcornice, andmodillioncornice.^[9]

Cornice return

Acornice returnis an architectural detail that occurs where a roof's horizontal cornice connects to a gable's rake.^[5]^: p.67It is a short horizontal extension of the cornice that occurs on each side of the gable end of the building (see picture of Härnösands rådhus with two of these). The two most common types of cornice return are theGreek returnand thesoffit return(also called aboxedorboxsoffit return). The former includes a sloped hip shape on the inside of the cornice under the eaves, which is sheathed or shingled like the rest of the roof above it and is considered very attractive; the latter is a simple return without these features.^[10]

As window treatment

The term cornice may also be used to describe a form of hardwindow treatmentalong the top edge of a window. In this context, a cornice represents a board (usually wood) placed above the window to conceal the mechanism for opening and closing drapes. If covered in a layer of cloth and given padding, it is sometimes called a soft cornice rather than a hard cornice.

Gallery

Projecting cornice of a painted woodenItalianateresidence
TheWainwright BuildingbyLouis Sullivan
Cornice with running leaf pattern fromNishapur,10th century, exhibited in theMetropolitan Museum of Art(New York City)
Roman cornice of ionic order, from Imperial palace on the Palatine hill in Rome (Flavian epoch)
Art Nouveaucorniche with crabs, shells and seaweeds, inValence(France)
Bracketed cornice

References

^CompareHarper, Douglas."cornice".Online Etymology Dictionary.Retrieved19 May2019.
^Leffler, Lue."What Is Architrave?".MDF Skirting World.Retrieved23 November2022.
^Christy, Wyvill James (1879). "Bargeboard" inA universal dictionary for architects, civil engineers, surveyors, sculptors...London: Griffith and Farren.
^Allen, Edward; Thallon, Rob (2011).Fundamentals of Residential Construction.John Wiley & Sons. p. 251.ISBN 978-0-470-90512-8.
^^a ^b ^c ^dAnderson, Leroy Oscar (2002) [1970].Wood-frame house construction.New York: Books for Business.ISBN 0-89499-167-1.
^Brier, Bob, Hobbs, A. Hoyt,Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians,p. 200, 2008, Greenwood Publishing Group,ISBN 0-313-35306-9,9780313353062,google books
^Dominique Collon, et al. "Iran, ancient, II, 3." Grove Art Online,Oxford Art Online,Oxford University Press, accessed 5 January 2017,subscription required
^Winter, Nancy A. (2012)."Monumentalization of the Etruscan Round Moulding in Sixth Century BCE Central Italy".In Thomas, Michael; Meyers, Gretchen E. (eds.).Monumentality in Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture: Ideology and Innovation.University of Texas Press. pp. 61–67.ISBN 978-0-292-74982-5.
^Harris, Cyril M.(2003).American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia.W. W. Norton & Company. p. 77.ISBN 978-0-393-73103-3.Retrieved13 January2014.
^Spence, William P. (1999). Neumann, Rodman P. (ed.).Carpentry & Building Construction: A Do-It-Yourself Guide.New York: Sterling. p. 273.ISBN 978-0-8069-9845-9.

[1] CompareHarper, Douglas."cornice".Online Etymology Dictionary.Retrieved19 May2019.

[2] Leffler, Lue."What Is Architrave?".MDF Skirting World.Retrieved23 November2022.

[3] Christy, Wyvill James (1879). "Bargeboard" inA universal dictionary for architects, civil engineers, surveyors, sculptors...London: Griffith and Farren.

[4] Allen, Edward; Thallon, Rob (2011).Fundamentals of Residential Construction.John Wiley & Sons. p. 251.ISBN 978-0-470-90512-8.

[anderson-5] Anderson, Leroy Oscar (2002) [1970].Wood-frame house construction.New York: Books for Business.ISBN 0-89499-167-1.

[6] Brier, Bob, Hobbs, A. Hoyt,Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians,p. 200, 2008, Greenwood Publishing Group,ISBN 0-313-35306-9,9780313353062,google books

[7] Dominique Collon, et al. "Iran, ancient, II, 3." Grove Art Online,Oxford Art Online,Oxford University Press, accessed 5 January 2017,subscription required

[8] Winter, Nancy A. (2012)."Monumentalization of the Etruscan Round Moulding in Sixth Century BCE Central Italy".In Thomas, Michael; Meyers, Gretchen E. (eds.).Monumentality in Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture: Ideology and Innovation.University of Texas Press. pp. 61–67.ISBN 978-0-292-74982-5.

[9] Harris, Cyril M.(2003).American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia.W. W. Norton & Company. p. 77.ISBN 978-0-393-73103-3.Retrieved13 January2014.

[10] Spence, William P. (1999). Neumann, Rodman P. (ed.).Carpentry & Building Construction: A Do-It-Yourself Guide.New York: Sterling. p. 273.ISBN 978-0-8069-9845-9.

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