BREAK, a projecting part of the front of a building. carried up through one or more stories in a vertical surface. In its general acceptation, it implies only a part, which stands forward in a plane parallel to the other parts of the front behind the break ; or a cylindric wall concentric with a reeeding one, and in this it comprehends not only the parallel projecting face, but the two flank parts which join the parallel walls. The break therefore forms, with the receding part or parts, two external and two internal angles. The term is, however, not restricted to this disposition of the planes, or cylindric faces of the building, it may also imply bow, whether cylindric or canted. No break can be formed unless it have at least one internal angle, or, it' the building adjoin on both sides, there will be at least two internal angles, Small breaks, or those projecting only a few inches, never add to the eftcet of the building.
A building may have either one, two, or several breaks in a front. When the disposition of the rooms naturally falls into the same plane on the inside of the front wall, no break should be admitted, because, in this case, it can only project a few inches. Breaks only fritter away the parts of a small building, and destroy the beauty and elegance which arises from the simplicity of its figure ; but in large buildings they give the utmost spiel] lour to the design, provided they have bold projections, and appear as distinct parts of the building, so that if the other connecting parts be supposed to be taken away, they would be so many insulated buildings, insisting each upon a simple rectangular plan. The greatest effect
would, therefore, be produced by giving each part or break its separate roof, termination, or covering. For this reason, breaks should either be left lower, or carried higher than the main body, or the connecting part or parts of the building. When a break is carried higher than the connecting part or parts, it must have an entire roof, or uniform termination all round its four In the ancient architecture of Greece, the walls insisted upon simile rectangular plans, and there we had no internal angles, and consequently no breaks. The Romans indulged in building:: consisting of greater variety of parts than the Greeks, and formed many of their principal edifices with breaks.
When the upper part of a front wall is intended to be one continued plane, with a break or breaks in the lower part or story, the superior continued wall may either be supported upon a row of columns arched above the intorvals in long apartments, or with one arch, when the front horizontal dimension is small, and finished as above.
Breaks in cylindric walls destroy the harmony arising from the continuity of the figure, and should therefor° be rejected in every round edifice.