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Caps and Bases for Decorative PVC Pipe Column Systems

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A History Lesson in Classic Column Capitals

Different Styles Through History

DORIC COLUMNS
Doric Columns are the oldest and simplest column of the Greek style.  This Greek column typically features fluted sides, a smooth rounded top, or capital, and no separate base.  It was the first column created. There are many examples of ancient buildings and temples using the Doric order. Perhaps the most famous one is the Parthenon in Athens, one of the most studied buildings standing. Buildings built even now borrow some parts of the Doric order.  It is generally believed that the column and its capital derive from an earlier architecture in wood. The cornice details, resembling carpentry forms, have also led to the theory of its origin in wooden column forms. The type had arrived at a definite form in the 7th cent. B.C., but further improvements to the Doric order of columns produced the perfected order in the 5th cent. B.C.

IONIC COLMUNS
Ionic columns are identified by the scroll-shaped ornaments at the capital, which resemble a rams horns. The Ionic column rests on a rounded base.  Ionic shafts are taller than Doric ones. This makes the columns look slender. They also had flutes carved into them from top to bottom of the column shaft. The shafts had a special characteristic: entasis, which is a little bulge in the columns to make them look straight, even at a distance. Since you would see the building from eye level, the shafts would appear to get narrower as they rise. This bulge allows for the illusion that the columns are straight. The frieze is plain. The bases were large and looked like a set of stacked rings. Ionic capitals consist of scrolls above the shaft. The Ionic style is a little more decorative than the Doric.  The spreading scroll-shaped capital is the distinctive feature of the Ionic order.  It was primarily a product of Asia Minor, where early embryonic forms of this capital have been found. In the Ionian colonies of Greece on the southwestern shores of Asia Minor, the Ionic order had attained a full development in the 6th cent. B.C.

CORINTHIAN COLUMNS
Corinthian columns are the latest of the three Greek column styles and show the influence of Egyptian columns in their capitals, which are shaped like inverted bells. Capitals are also decorated with olive, laurel, or acanthus leaves. Corinthian columns rest on a base similar to that of the Ionic style. Corinthian also uses entasis to make the shafts look straight. The Corinthian capitals have flowers and leaves below a small scroll. The shaft is fluted and a base like the Ionian. Unlike the Doric and Ionian cornices, which are at a slant, the Corinthian roofs are flat. It was also the last of Greek columns, not arriving at full development until the middle of the 4th cent. B.C. The oldest known example is found in the temple of Apollo at Bassae.

COMPOSITE COLUMNS
The Composite order created by the Romans is a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian orders invented by the Greeks. It usually combines the Corinthian foliage.  Although it wasnt named until the 16^th century, it is speculated that this decorative column has been around as early as the first century AD.  

TUSCAN COLUMNS
The Tuscan order is very plain, with a plain shaft, a simple capitol and base, and a plain frieze. This is the second of the two types of Roman columns developed. These columns tend to be widely spaced and short in proportion.  It has a tapered shaft whose length is usually seven times the diameter of the column base. It is similar to the Doric, and the Composite, with an Ionic shaft and a decorative Corinthian capitol.