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Palisade

A timber defensive screen or fence.

Palladian Window

Common in high-style Georgian and Federal houses, the classical Palladian window (named for Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, 1508-1580) is composed of a major tall, rectangular sash surmounted by a semicircular sash of equal width and flanked by two smaller rectangular sashes. In modified form (typically, without the semicircular sash) it is also seen in Greek Revival and later styles. A typical location for a Palladian window is above the entry door, where it lights a central upstairs hall or stair landing.

Panelled Door

Paper & Cardboard Models

Interesting links for further information.

Parados

A low wall on inner side of main wall.

Parapet

A low wall on outer side of main wall.

Pebble Dash

Pediment

A pediment is an architectural embellishment used at the top of door- and window-surround compositions. Pediments can take many forms: triangular (peaked like a gable), segmental, scrolled, etc.

Perpendicular

Of or relating to a style of English Gothic architecture of the 14th and 15th centuries, characterized by emphasis of the vertical element.

Picture Frames

Old photographs scaled down photographically or scanned and printed smaller add atmosphere to any dolls house.

Pier

A vertical, unattached masonry support.

Pilaster

Pilasters are two-dimensional (flat) ornaments which represent columns. They occur very commonly in 18th- and 19th-century door surrounds. Giant pilasters rising the full height of the facade (usually, but not always, at the corners) are a major feature of many Georgian, Federal and Greek revival houses.

Pillar

Usually a weight-carrying member, such as a pier or a column; sometimes an isolated, freestanding structure used for commemorative purposes.

Pinnacle

A tower, primarily ornamental, that also functions in Gothic architecture to give additional weight to a buttress or a pier.

Piscina

A handbasin, usually set in or against wall, with drain.

Pitch

Roof slope.

Pitching

Rough cobbling.

Plan view

The plan view of a house is the flat (without perspective) view looking down from above at a horizontal plane located in a position of interest. For instance, a foundation plan shows what you would see from above with only the foundation in place; a first-floor plan shows the shape of the first-floor platform and the position of external and internal walls, stairways, door and window openings, etc.; all as seen from directly above.

Plaster of Paris

Platform framing

Platform framing has been the most common system of wood-frame house construction since the middle of the 20th century. In platform framing, the first structure built on top of the foundation is the first floor. The builders then use this floor as a platform on which to fabricate the first tier of stud walls. These are then erected and the next floor platform built on top of them, and so on, until finally the roof joists and rafters are put in place atop the final tier of walls. Advantages of this system over the earlier balloon-framing system are: smaller and cheaper pieces of lumber can be used in the walls; there is always something solid on which to stand while erecting the next higher part of the building; the walls can be fabricated down on the platform, which increases safety and reduces labor cost; and no added fire-stopping is necessary because each floor platform encloses the stud spaces above and below.

Plinth

Projecting base of wall.

Portcullis

A grating dropped vertically from grooves to block passage or gate in castle; of wood, metal or a combination of the two.

Portico

A portico (Latin) is a roofed area, open to the air on one or more sides, typically supported on one side by the facade of a building and on the remaining sides by columns or arches. Porticos are common on Federal, Early Classical Revival, Greek Revival, and other houses of the 18th and 19th centuries. The English word porch is derived from portico, and is approximately synonymous.

Post-and-beam

Post-and-beam framing is a traditional system of wood-frame construction, in common use into the 19th century, in which the skeleton of the house is formed from heavy posts (vertical members) and beams (horizontal members). Because suitable metal fasteners were not available, early post-and-beam frames were held together by mortise-and-tenon joints chiseled out of the ends of the massive structural members. Failure of these joints is generally what brings down an old post-and-beam structure. Today, much stronger post-and-beam frames can be built using various types of nailed or bolted metal connectors.

Postern

The back door of a castle.

Pyramidal roof

A pyramidal roof is a hipped roof which lacks a ridge, the four isosceles-triangular planes of the roof meeting at a common apex. As the name suggests, it resembles a pyramid. Low-slope pyramidal roofs are not uncommon on Greek Revival houses.

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