The icons illustrated here
include the capitals, one base, and a rosette of the five orders of
Roman classical architecture as illustrated in The British
Architect by Abraham Swan (London 1758). Swan's design book, with
its beautifully delineated plates, was widely used by 18th-century
British and American builders and contains what Swan describes
as "An easier, more intelligible, and expeditious METHOD of
drawing the FIVE ORDERS." Plate L, a design for a chimneypiece, was copied almost exactly by George
Washington's artisans for the small dining room in Mount Vernon. The
five orders were chosen for the department's Web site icons since the
orders are the foundation of the architectural vocabulary of
traditional buildings throughout Virginia and the Western
world.
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Metope rosette in the Doric entablature, Plate
IV |
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Tuscan order
capital, Plate II |
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Doric order
capital, Plate IV |
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Ionic order capital,
Plate VII |
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Corinthian order
capital, Plate XI |
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Composite order capital, Plate XV |
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Column
base for the Doric Order, Plate IV |
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