April 19, 2005

Obscure Architectural Term of the Day!

QUOINS. The dressed stones at the corners of buildings, usually laid so that their faces are alternately large and small. From the French coin (corner).

From the Penguin Dictionary of Architecture, Third Edition.

Often used in the both the humblest of modular abodes and the grandest of McMansions to symbolize Olde Worlde craftsmanship, even if it's only done up in 1" thick foam.

Here's a picture of the thing in question.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at April 19, 2005 01:01 PM
Comments

Also term for wedges of various usage.

http://www.dictionary.net/quoin

Posted by: Steevil (Dr Weevil's bro Steve) at April 19, 2005 02:41 PM

True--I once gave someone an atomic quoiny.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at April 19, 2005 03:04 PM

I think they were sometimes used to adjust the firing angles of Ye Olde Cannone. Up a hair, down a smidge, that sorte of thinge.

Posted by: skinnydan at April 19, 2005 03:14 PM

Indeed so--I was merely being silly.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at April 19, 2005 03:53 PM

Until today, the only definition I knew was the wedge controlling the elevation of a naval cannon (17th to early 19th centuries).

Posted by: Steevil (Dr Weevil's bro Steve) at April 19, 2005 04:48 PM

Hey, what can I say--Possumblog is your source for all the world's knowledge!

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at April 19, 2005 04:55 PM

Quoins are also the little wedges used to hold hand-set printing type in the frames.

Do the architectural quoins serve any useful purpose, such as strengthening the corner, or are they just decorative?

Posted by: Tom Jackson at April 19, 2005 06:26 PM