February 10, 2006

Obscure Architectural Term of the Day!

It's been a while, and since we had a related set of Thursday Three questions yesterday, it seemed like as good a time as any to give you another obscure term that you can throw into a conversation sometime. Or not. ANYway, today's word term is:

JIB or GIB DOOR. A concealed door flush with the wall-surface painted or papered to correspond with the walls. The dado and other mouldings are similarly carried across the door.

From the Penguin Dictionary of Architecture, Third Edition.

The ol' hidden doorway, favored by mystery writers and the naughty sorts. Oddly enough, there aren't a lot of photos of this type of door, at least under the name of "jib door." Here's a small picture of one that's not particularly well hidden. The hinges and the hydraulic door closer at the top kinda gives it away.

This one is a bit more fun, from "the Crown Prince of Too Much Time to Spare." Scroll down to the bottom, and click where it says "Rotate the painting."

Posted by Terry Oglesby at February 10, 2006 10:52 AM
Comments

Doesn't the Oval Office have one? I found this picture online.

Posted by: Byron Todd at February 12, 2006 11:11 AM

Well, I guess it does! Great photo--although I have to say they could have done a bit better job disguising it--that doorknob kinda gets in the way.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at February 13, 2006 08:12 AM