AIVCIIITECT, one who is skilled in architecture. The architect forms plans owl designs for edifices, conducts the work. and directs the artificers employed in it. AR'C lICTECTURE, the art of invent ing and drawing designs for buildings, or the science which teaches tho method of constructing- any edifice for use or orna ment. It is divided into civil, military, and naval ; according as the erections are for civil, military, or naval pur poses; and for the sake of convenience, other divisions are sometimes introduced. Architecture appears to have been among the earliest in- , ventems, and its works have been commonly regnlat ed by some principle of hereditary imitation. Whatever rude structure the climate and materials of any country have obliged its early in habitants to adopt for their temporary shelter, the same structure, with all its promi nent featur. s, has been after wards in some measnre kept up by their refined and opu lent posterity. To Greece we arc indebted for the three principal orders of architec ture, the Doric, (Fig. 1.) the ionic, ;Fig. 2.) and the Corinthian, (Fig. 3.) ; Rome added two others, both formed out of the former, the '1'ascan, (Fig. 4 ) and the Composite, (Fig. 5.) Each of these has a part sion; so that a building, or different parts of a building, may be rude, solid, neat, deli cate, or gay, accordingly as the Tuscan, the Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian, or tho Composite are employed. The columns of these several orders are easily distinguishable to common observers, by reason of the ornaments that are pe culiar to their capitals ; hut the scientific difference con sists in their proportions. The Tuscan order is charac terized by its simplicity and strength. It is devoid all ornament. The Doric (Fig. 1.) is enlivened with ornaments in the frize and capital. The Ionic is ornamented with the volute scroll, or spinal horn : its ornaments are style of composition betwe.m the plainness of the Dori', and the richness of the Corin thian. The Corinthian order is known by its capital being adorned with two sorts of loaves ; bet ween these rise little stalks, of which the volutes that support the highest part of the capital, nrc formed. The Composite is nearly the same as tho Corinthian, with an addition of the Ionic volute. In their private buildings the Ro man architects followed tho Greeks ; but in their public edifices they far surpassed them in grandeur. During
the dark ages which followed the destruction of the Roman empire, the classic architec ture of Greece and Rome was lost sight of, but was again revived by the Ital ians at the time of the res toration of letters. The Gothic style was so called because it was first used by the Visigoths ; but at first it was vastly inferior to that which we now call Gothic, and which exhibits grandeur and splendor, with the most accurate execution. The Saxon and Norman styles were so called because they were respectively used by the Saxons before the Conquest, and by the Normans after, in the building of churches. The Saxon style was dis tinguished by the semicircular arch, which they seem to have taken partly from the Romans, and partly from their ancestors on the continent. The Norman was dis tinguished by the following particulars the walls were very thick, generally with out buttresses ; the arches, both within and without, semicircular, and supported by very plain and solid columns. These two styles continued to be the prevailing modes of building in England until the reign of Henry II., when a new mode was introduced, which was called modern Gothic. Whether this was purely a de viation from the other two modes, or whether it was derived from any foreign source, is not known. It is, however, supposed to be of Saraeenic extraction, and to have been introduced by the crusaders. The style is distinguished by its numerens buttresses, lofty spires and pinnacles, large and ramified windows, with a profusion of ornaments throughout. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the taste for Greek and Roman architec ture revived, and brought the five orders again into use, although for sacred edi Secs the Saxon and Gothic styles still maintain the pre-eminence. ARCHITRAVE, in architecture, that part of a column, or order of columns, which lies immediately upon the capital; being the lowest member of the entabla ture. Over a chimney, this member is called the mantle-piecc ; and over doors or windows, the hyperthyron.
AR'ClIIV AULT, in architecture, the inner contour of an arch, or a frame set olf with mouldings, running over the faces of the arch stones, and hearing Upon the imposts.