Illustrated Architecture Dictionary .......................... Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary

Buttress
BUTT ris

A structure, usually brick or stone, built against a wall for support or reinforcement to resist the pressure of a arch or vault

Old French: "bouter" = to bear against

Commonly found in Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture

Types of buttresses: Pier ... Flying ... Scroll ... Curved ... Triangular

Scroll(ed) buttresses evolved in the early 17th century Baroque style. See also an example of the 19th century Second Empire style which is the French version of Baroque Revival.

See also: Church Vocabulary

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Examples from Buffalo architecture:

• Left illustration above: Pier buttresses - St. Paul's Cathedral
  
  
• Pier buttresses - Darwin Martin House

• Pier buttresses - Buffalo Gas Light Company
  
  
• Pier buttresses - St. Frances de Sales RC Church
  
  
• Pier buttresses - Buffalo Seminary
  
  
• Right illustration above: Scroll buttresses - Silverthorne House
  
  
• Scroll buttresses - Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society Museum
  
  
• Second Empire style (Baroque Revival) buttresses based on Baroque scroll buttresses - 186 Linwood Avenue

Other examples:

• Scroll buttress - St. Roch RC Church, Paris, France
  
  
• Curved (monumental) buttresses - Sea Monarch Condominiums, Pompano Beach, Florida
  
  
• Furniture: scroll buttress - Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily