A lambrequin is a pleated, scalloped or serrated decorative border that hangs over an edge, usually at the top of a window, door, canopy or eaves. Its lower edge is often cut into an irregular profile and may finish in fringes, tassels or pendant drops.
Origin
The word comes from French and goes back to lambeau (a rag or strip). The lambrequin is originally a textile motif: the short drapery above a curtain or beneath a canopy. In architecture that motif was translated into rigid materials — timber, cast iron, zinc, sheet steel or plaster — with the fall of the fabric imitated in a sawn or cast profile.
Application
Lambrequins are found mainly in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture:
- Timber verandas, conservatories and canopies — a sawn decorative border along the front edge of the roof.
- Chalet style and Swiss-influenced work — decorative fretwork along overhangs and bargeboards.
- Station canopies and market halls — cast iron or pressed steel borders along the platform roof.
- Colonial architecture — timber borders along galleries and verandas.
- Interiors — as a fixed timber or plaster pelmet above a window, doubling as a curtain-track cover.
Points to watch when restoring
- End grain is the weak point. The lower, fretted profile consists largely of end-grain fibres that draw water up like a straw. Treat every saw cut with a primer suited to end grain, and repeat that at every later alteration.
- Take the template from a sound piece. Replace only the decayed sections and copy the shape precisely; a slightly different scallop stands out immediately in a run.
- Water must be able to drain. A lambrequin should not hold water. A slight fall on the top face and enough clearance to the timber behind it prevent rot.
- Cast iron: check the fixings. Rust at the bolts expands and can split the brittle iron. Replace steel bolts with stainless and keep the coating maintained.
Related terms
- Canopy
- Garland
- Ornament
- Bargeboard
- Chalet style
- Mouldings
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