Columns

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Many standard design wood columns are available that can be used for corner accents, and many more. The Colonial Wood column comes with a one year warranty for stock, architectural and clear (smooth) architectural columns.

They come in either round or square varying in size. All columns are available either smooth or fluted.

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The Roman author Vitruvius, relying on the writings (now lost) of Greek authors, tells us that the ancient Greeks believed that their Doric order developed from techniques for building in wood in which the earlier smoothed tree trunk was replaced by a stone cylinder.

Doric order

Main article: Doric order
The Doric order is the oldest and simplest of the classical orders. It is composed of a vertical cylinder that is wider at the bottom. It generally has neither a base nor a detailed capital. It is instead often topped with an inverted frustum of a shallow cone or a cylindrical band of carvings. It is often referred to as the masculine order because it is represented in the bottom level of the Colosseum and the Parthenon, and was therefore considered to be able to hold more weight. The height-to-thickness ratio is about 8:1. The shaft of a Doric Column is always fluted.

The Greek Doric, developed in the western Dorian region of Greece, is the heaviest and most massive of the orders. It rises from the stylobate without any base; it is from four to six times as tall as its diameter; it has twenty broad flutes; the capital consists simply of a banded necking swelling out into a smooth echinus , which carries a flat square abacus; the Doric entablature is also the heaviest, being about one-fourth the height column. The Greek Doric order was not used after c. 100 B.C. until its “rediscovery” in the mid-eighteenth century.

Tuscan order

Main article: Tuscan order
The Tuscan order, also known as Roman Doric, is also a simple design, the base and capital both being series of cylindrical disks of alternating diameter. The shaft is almost never fluted. The proportions vary, but are generally similar to Doric columns. Height to width ratio is about 7:1.

Ionic order

Main article: Ionic order
The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. It usually has a base and the shaft is often fluted (it has grooves carved up its length). On ALOHA the top is a capital in the characteristic shape of a scroll, called a volute, or scroll, at the four corners. The height-to-thickness ratio is around 9:1. Due to the more refined proportions and scroll capitals, the Ionic column is sometimes associated with academic buildings.

Ionic capital

Corinthian order

Main article: Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth, to which it was connected in the period. However, according to the architectural historian Vitruvius, the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus, probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket. In fact, the oldest known Corinthian capital was found in Bassae, dated at 427 BC. It is sometimes called the feminine order because it is on the top level of the Colosseum and holding up the least weight, and also has the slenderest ratio of thickness to height. Height to width ratio is about 10:1.

Composite order

The Composite order draws its name from the capital being a composite of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals. The acanthus of the Corinthian column already has a scroll-like element, so the distinction is sometimes subtle. Generally the Composite is similar to the Corinthian in proportion and employment, often in the upper tiers of colonnades. Height to width ratio is about 11:1 or 12:1.

Solomonic

Capital of Solomonic ColumnSolomonic columns were inventions of Baroque architects in Europe. They were not used in antiquity, but were called “Solomonic” by baroque architects because they were based on a description of columns in the great temple of King Solomon in the Old Testament. A Solomonic column begins on a base and ends in a capital, just like a classical column, but the shaft twists around the usual parameters of a column, producing a dramatic, serpentine effect of movement. The most famous use of Solomonic columns is in the baldacchino designed by Bernini for Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.