Know your Architectural terminology?

Porte-cochere.
One I like, and metaphorically apt but not 100% correct, is vomitory.
K.

If it’s wide enough for a vehicle, it could be a ‘carriage arch’.
Note: it can be square-headed and still be an arch (as long as the construction isn’t post and lintel).

the Scots use the word ‘pend’, which is much the same thing, but as with many things, such as the law, the Scots have a lingo that is peculiar to their country.

Are you specifically asking about archways into quads, or just access archways in general? I’ve never heard of a specific term for an arch into a quad.

AFAIK, a porte cochere is a (sort of) gateway that allows vehicles to pull up parallel to the building to allow passengers to alight without getting wet, and is usually a projection from the entrance rather than incorporated into the main fabric of the building, i.e. it doesn’t allow access into a building or its courtyard in a perpendicular fashion, as a carriage arch would.

I’ve just googled it. According to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/porte-cochere

1. A carriage entrance leading through a building or wall into an inner courtyard.
2. A roofed structure covering a driveway at the entrance of a building to provide shelter while entering or leaving a vehicle.
[French porte coch

No. Presuming there is no direct name for it, simple carriage arch is the most appropriate to be honest.
Other than ceremonial gateways, there’s few (if any) other arches that permit the passage of carriages other than those leading into quadrangles.

Two examples of the more common interpretation of a porte cochere are those at Belfast City Hall:

And Lissadell House in Sligo:

@KerryBog2 wrote:

I’ve just googled it. According to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/porte-cochere

1. A carriage entrance leading through a building or wall into an inner courtyard.

KB

The above would apply to an arch onto a quadrangle. In this situation whee it passes through a building as a “carriage entrance” it is essentially the same as a carriage arch.

That’s interesting, KB2. I’ve never heard of porte cochere to describe an archway into a building, only ever for one external to the main fabric as I described above.
I’ve a feeling, though, that it should have the function of access to the building to qualify.

Keating- your terminology all seems to be from classical architecture, specifically of the ancient type. I’d be of the opinion that you should go for ‘carriage arch’ and be done with it.
Do you have a picture of the feature in question? What’s the question in relation to: building history; inventory; new build? Who led you to believe that there was a specific term?

While on the matter of terminology, does anyone know of a term that describes the rear wall of a portico – essentially the part of the facade of a building trapped behind the columns, often adorned with pilasters etc?

Graham-
I’ve never heard of a specific term for that part of the wall. I do know that pilasters on the wall directly behind the columns are called pilaster responds, but a term for the wall eludes me, if one exists.

KB2-
Another interesting turn. Looking up my Oxford Dictionary of Architecture (JS Curl), a book to which I’d generally defer in matters of definition, I found this for porte-cochere:

1. Doorway to a house or court, often very grand, large enough to permit wheeled vehicles to enter from the street.
2. Erroneous term for a projecting canopy or porch large enough to admit carriages.

So I can’t magnanimously say we were both right. It appears I was wrong. (It doesn’t say what the correct term for such a projecting canopy might be.)

keating-
The dictionary is silent on the possible answers to your question too, sadly. If you’d asked the name of the pianist I could have helped, but it wasn’t to be.

A Steinway arch perhaps?

:

Ctesiphon,
Above I believe is a Liberarchi.
As for the porte-cochere I used a direct translation from the French and based it on that;. I think it would be wrong – or if not, very pedantic, to deny the present usage of the word for a projecting canopy.
KB2

@KerryBog2 wrote:

Above I believe is a Liberarchi.

🙂

I thought it might be a Yamaha.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

While on the matter of terminology, does anyone know of a term that describes the rear wall of a portico – essentially the part of the facade of a building trapped behind the columns, often adorned with pilasters etc?

Could it be reredos? In addition to the altar, it’s also the name for the back wall of a fireplace.
KB2

@keating wrote:

I wonder if anybody knows the term for ‘an archway opening into a quadrangle’ for instance the main gate into trinity or the east and west entrances to the royal hospital kilmainham. Here are some suggestions all incorrect.

Verstibule
Bastion gate
quadrangle arch

I think it might be called a “portal” or an “arched portal” or a “portal arch”. This would originally have been used to refer to the entrance to a walled city but can equally be applied to a quadrangle which is a walled city on a micro level, if you like.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

While on the matter of terminology, does anyone know of a term that describes the rear wall of a portico – essentially the part of the facade of a building trapped behind the columns, often adorned with pilasters etc?

Not sure if you mean a portico or a loggia but as some books refer to the area under a loggia as a “gallery”, It might be called a “gallery wall”?? The pilasters you refer to are also known as “engaged columns” and the wall is often further articulated with niches for statues etc.

Pilasters are one type of engaged column, so to speak, but shouldn’t really be called engaged columns. A pilaster is like a column that has been run over by a steamroller, whereas engaged columns look like full columns that have been embedded in the wall to varying degrees- 1/4 engaged (3/4 exposed), 1/2 engaged (1/2 exposed) and 3/4 engaged (1/4 exposed). Or put another way, pilasters are always flat and engaged columns are always rounded.

3/4 engaged, 1/4 exposed?!
What the heck does that look like?!

1/4 engaged are more common than some might often think; columns that appear to be freestanding are in fact 1/4 engaged in many cases, probably more often than not.

@ctesiphon wrote:

Pilasters are one type of engaged column, so to speak, but shouldn’t really be called engaged columns. A pilaster is like a column that has been run over by a steamroller, whereas engaged columns look like full columns that have been embedded in the wall to varying degrees- 1/4 engaged (3/4 exposed), 1/2 engaged (1/2 exposed) and 3/4 engaged (1/4 exposed). Or put another way, pilasters are always flat and engaged columns are always rounded.

ctesiphon, you are correct of course. I like the steamroller analogy although if I were to be pedantic I’d say that a pilaster, although “flat”, should still also have an expressed capital and base

@Graham Hickey wrote:

3/4 engaged, 1/4 exposed?!
What the heck does that look like?!

Found with considerable difficulty, I might add.
My original thought was that they’d be found in re-entrant corners of classical buildings, but nothing came up. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled on the ride home.

burge_eye-
Agreed.
I scoured in vain for a picture of a pilaster with incised decoration to the capital, i.e. where the decoration is carved into the body of the column rather than standing proud of it. 1930s classicism springs to mind. I’m sure such a thing exists, but I can’t find one. Even if I had, it wouldn’t have undermined your point, though. I was just trying to be cheeky.:)

Hang on- just had a thought.

*scurries to archiseek gallery*

How about this?

Cheeky enough?;)