All architecture is influenced from the four central orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian and Tuscan.
Many variations have evolved over the centuries in response to our ever-changing environments and lifestyles. When designing columns and other exterior appointments, we take into consideration the theme of the overall architectural style prior to rendering a design.
All of our columns are constructed from marble, limestone or travertine and then each is sanded extensively to reveal the unique character and rich patina of the stone. The columns can be either solid or split and hollowed, depending on the structural requirements.
Reinforcement Columns
Residential structural support beams are common due to county and state building codes. In this situation, we split and hollow our column shafts and bind the two sections together at the time of installation.The end result is nearly identical to our solid version.
The Orders of classical architecture were formalized by the Greeks and applied to the design and proportion of buildings used the post-and-lintel, or column and entablature construction.
The Doric Order emerged in the sixth century BC, and was followed by the Ionic Order in the east Greek territories of Anatolia. The Doric Order of architecture was little used by the Romans in Italy. The Tuscan order was a simplified version with base, unfluted shaft and simply molded capital.
Doric Order: The column and entablature developed by the Dorian Greeks
Temple of Apollo
The Doric Order is the oldest and plainest of the three orders of classical Greek architecture. In the Roman Doric order, the columns are more slender, usually have bases, and the fluting is sometimes altered or omitted.
Doric column: Heavy, fluted column with plain saucer-shaped capital and no base Doric columns are generally carved with vertical, parallel channels known as flutes, which should, properly speaking, number twenty.
Entasis: From early times the Greeks incorporated intentional distortions, including entasis, a slight curving of the outline of the shaft of the column so that it was wider in the middle. This corrected an optical illusion that perfectly straight sides appeared concave.
Greek Ionic Order:
The Greek Ionic order:
Ionic capital: The capital of the Ionic column has characteristic paired scrolling volutes. The major features of the Ionic order are the volutes of its capital. In most cases, the capital is adorned with egg-and-dart. The shaft of an Ionic column is slender and fluted.
Ionic base: Unlike the Greek Doric order column, Ionic columns normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform. The Romans also used a variation of the Greek Ionic order. The difference is that the Romans used a smooth shaft instead of a fluted one.
Corinthian Order
The Corinthian is commonly regarded as the most ornate of the three orders. It is thought that this order was developed in Athens, although the Corinthian order's name is derived from the Greek city of Cornith. Even with its Greek origin, the Corinthian order was seldom used in Greek architecture. The other two orders were the Doric and the Ionic (which also features volutes, although proportionately larger).
The Composite Order is similar to the Corinthian, with one main difference being the egg-and-dart molding used on the Composite, but absent on the Corinthian.
Tuscan Order
The Tuscan Order is the simplest of all the orders. The Order consists of a plain entablature, a plain capital, unfluted shaft, and a simple base.
From the perspective of these writers [Sebastiano Serlio and Andrea Palladio], the Tuscan order was an older primitive Italic architectural form, predating the Greek Doric and Ionic. They made a valid argument for this claim by reference to several historic examples still available to them at the time. However, there is a difference of opinion on the relative age of the Tuscan to this day. In the Classical world, this strong order was considered most appropriate in military architecture and in docks and warehouses when they were dignified by architectural treatment.
