What is an ornament?
An ornament is a building element added to decorate rather than to carry load. It can be made of stone, timber, plaster, cast iron, zinc or terracotta, and appears both inside and outside a building. As soon as an element also does structural work — a bracket carrying a balcony, for instance — it is strictly more than ornament alone.
Where ornamentation sits on a building
- In the facade — decorative panels, keystones above windows, string courses, datestones, a frieze below the eaves.
- At the cornice — brackets, dentil courses, bead and egg-and-dart mouldings.
- Around windows and doors — surrounds, transoms, carved fanlights.
- Inside — plaster ceilings with roses, cornice mouldings, chimneypieces, carved newel posts.
- On the roof — finials, ridge crestings, carved bargeboards.
Common motifs
Ornament usually follows the style of its period, which helps in dating a building: acanthus leaf and egg-and-dart in classicism, heavy scrolls and swags in baroque, stylised plant and whiplash motifs in art nouveau, and crisp geometry in art deco.
Maintenance and repair
- Identify the material first. A painted ornament may be timber, plaster, zinc or cast iron. Tap it: timber sounds dull, zinc and iron ring. The material determines the repair method.
- Water is the enemy. Most damage starts where water sits on a horizontal surface. Repair the drainage and the flashings first, then the ornament itself.
- Repair with a compatible material. Cement mortar on lime-based plaster or natural stone is too hard and too dense; it pushes the damage into the softer surrounding material. Use a lime-based repair mortar on historic fabric.
- Work with a template. For a repeating profile, make a running mould or a silicone cast from an intact section — more accurate and usually cheaper than modelling each piece by hand.
- On a listed building, replacing or altering ornamentation almost always needs consent. Check with the local authority before starting.
Related terms
- Mouldings
- Cornice
- Frieze
- Corbel
- Capital
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