Proper Column Placement

When in Rome or New Orleans or your yard, do as the Romans did. Follow these guides for putting columns in place.

What do the ancient Greeks and Romans have to do with the ways we build our homes today? Plenty. Not only did these amazing civilizations set the stage for our present-day society, but their architectural principles are also equally as significant. Even the type and positioning of our porch columns are directly influenced by the ingenuity of these ancient builders.

Past Perfect Precedents

Originally, wood served as the primary building material where available. With the developments of concrete and tools that could cut stone, ancient builders moved away from wood to these stronger, more durable materials. In time, larger buildings with greater spans, such as elaborate temples and public markets, called for richly carved and decorated header beams, or entablatures. Likewise, simple posts evolved into distinct columns, denoted by strict ornamentation known as the Classical Orders. Yet even with these embellishments, the basic language of design remained the same.

Fast-forward a couple millennia, and we can easily locate the same building components that our distant predecessors used. Instead of a temple, though, let's imagine ourselves at a typical entry stoop or front porch. At issue is the junction of beam and column.

Why Reinvent the Wheel?

If correctly positioned, the column body, or shaft, should align with the outer edge of the entablature above. Likewise, the column's capital juts out beyond this upper structure, allowing its weight to be directly and evenly distributed on the column or columns below. Flashing placed on top of an exposed wood capital and bent over its edges with a slight reveal will help prevent weathering. Furthermore, the width of the beam should be constructed so that it equals the minimum width or diameter of the column shaft (see sketches at left).

Even though a building is perfectly sound, it can also be architecturally incorrect. Just remember this: With plenty of good examples all around us-particularly the porches, stoops, and covered extensions found on older homes-why build something wrong? ROBERT MARTIN

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation May 2004
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