CHADSWORTH COLUMNS
THE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
 
To study the Orders of Architecture, one must first look at the orders of Ancient Greece.  There were
many Renaissance writers who codified the orders while ignoring the Greeks – mostly because there
was little to look at to compare with.  Albeit, Vitruvius referenced Greek architecture in his treatise,
The Antiquities of Athens – by Stuart and Revett.
 
Greece is not the original source of the classical orders; it is simply the area that they matured and
developed.  Posts and beams are practically universal and can be seen in work found in Cretan and
Minoan.  In the Near East, you can find volutes and flower decorations – precursors to the Ionic
capital.  Fluting and molded entablatures appear in early Egypt.  The Greeks, however, brought it
all together over a period from about 700 B.C., and they continued to evolve the orders –
recognizable and classifiable in all their elements.
 
At a closer look, the Greeks evolved the Doric Order and the Ionic Order.  There is a tendency
to regard the Doric Order as the earliest of all the orders because it is often viewed as the simplest
order.  The Ionic Order is known for its sophistications, but the underlying theme is that both the
Doric Order and Ionic Order developed side-by-side during Ancient Greece.
                   
 
THE FIVE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE
Click below to review each classical order.  
 
 
TUSCAN DORIC IONIC CORINTHIAN COMPOSITE
 
 
 
To see more about the Classical Orders of Architecture, follow the link below:
 

 

 
COMPARE THE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE BY ARCHITECT

 
CHAMBERS GIBBS PALLADIO PERRAULT


SCAMOZZI SERLIO VIGNOLA VITRUVIUS