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Stairways
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles. Types of stairs include staircases (also called stairways), ladders, and escalators. Some alternatives to stairs are elevators (also called lifts), stairlifts, inclined moving walkways, and ramps. A stairwell is a vertical shaft or opening that contains a staircase. A flight (of stairs) is an inclined part of a staircase consisting of steps (and their lateral supports if supports are separate from steps). Components and terms A ''stair'', or a ''stairstep'', is one step in a flight of stairs.R.E. Putnam and G.E. Carlson, ''Architectural a ...
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Balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its construction are wood, stone, and less frequently metal and ceramic. A group of balusters supporting a handrail, coping, or ornamental detail are known as a balustrade. The term baluster shaft is used to describe forms such as a candlestick, upright furniture support, and the stem of a brass chandelier. The term banister (also bannister) refers to a baluster or to the system of balusters and handrail of a stairway. It may be used to include its supporting structures, such as a supporting newel post. Etymology According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', "baluster" is derived through the french: balustre, from it, balaustro, from ''balaustra'', "pomegranate flower" rom a resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open flower (' ...
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Baluster
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its construction are wood, stone, and less frequently metal and ceramic. A group of balusters supporting a handrail, coping, or ornamental detail are known as a balustrade. The term baluster shaft is used to describe forms such as a candlestick, upright furniture support, and the stem of a brass chandelier. The term banister (also bannister) refers to a baluster or to the system of balusters and handrail of a stairway. It may be used to include its supporting structures, such as a supporting newel post. Etymology According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', "baluster" is derived through the french: balustre, from it, balaustro, from ''balaustra'', "pomegranate flower" rom a resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open flower (''i ...
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Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearms magnate William Wirt Winchester. The house became a tourist attraction nine months after Winchester's death in 1922. The Victorian and Gothic style mansion is renowned for its size and its architectural curiosities. It is sometimes claimed to be one of the “most haunted places in the world”, but there is no evidence to support this belief. Much of the lore regarding the Winchester House and its owner is fanciful, unverified, and often provably false. Sarah Winchester Sarah Winchester, always called Sallie, after her paternal grandmother, was born in 1839 in New Haven, Connecticut. She married William Wirt Winchester in 1862. In 1866, Winchester gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Annie Pardee Winchester. The baby did not thrive, and was diagnosed with marasmus and died a month after birth. Between the fall of 1880 an ...
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Quarter-round
A quarter round is a convex molding whose cross section is a quarter circle. It is one form of ovolo. A variation is a base shoe, a quarter of an ellipse. Most quarter round is of small gauge and relatively flexible. It is typically used as a decorative build-up element in mantels and other architectural features, and at the lower edge of baseboard to hide any gaps between it and a floor. Base shoe is used similarly in flooring applications. Quarter round is produced in hardwood, softwood, engineered wood Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, or veneers or boards of woo ..., and extruded plastic. References Floors Architectural elements {{architecturalelement-stub ...
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Vertical Direction
In astronomy, geography, and related sciences and contexts, a '' direction'' or '' plane'' passing by a given point is said to be vertical if it contains the local gravity direction at that point. Conversely, a direction or plane is said to be horizontal if it is perpendicular to the vertical direction. In general, something that is vertical can be drawn from up to down (or down to up), such as the y-axis in the Cartesian coordinate system. Historical definition The word ''horizontal'' is derived from the Latin , which derives from the Greek , meaning 'separating' or 'marking a boundary'. The word ''vertical'' is derived from the late Latin ', which is from the same root as ''vertex'', meaning 'highest point' or more literally the 'turning point' such as in a whirlpool. Girard Desargues defined the vertical to be perpendicular to the horizon in his 1636 book ''Perspective''. Geophysical definition The plumb line and spirit level In physics, engineering and construction, t ...
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Kite (geometry)
In Euclidean geometry, a kite is a quadrilateral with reflection symmetry across a diagonal. Because of this symmetry, a kite has two equal angles and two pairs of adjacent equal-length sides. Kites are also known as deltoids, but the word ''deltoid'' may also refer to a deltoid curve, an unrelated geometric object sometimes studied in connection with quadrilaterals.See H. S. M. Coxeter's review of in : "It is unfortunate that the author uses, instead of 'kite', the name 'deltoid', which belongs more properly to a curve, the three-cusped hypocycloid." A kite may also be called a dart, particularly if it is not convex. Every kite is an orthodiagonal quadrilateral (its diagonals are at right angles) and, when convex, a tangential quadrilateral (its sides are tangent to an inscribed circle). The convex kites are exactly the quadrilaterals that are both orthodiagonal and tangential. They include as special cases the right kites, with two opposite right angles; the rhombi, wit ...
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