Architectural illiteracy is increasingly evident – sometimes to the point of the absurd. Take quoins for example. Quoins are the big corner blocks you see on old brick and stone buildings. Their purpose is structural, not decorative, though they typically are shaped to be attractive.
Quoins in masonry construction serve to strengthen corners and lock them together to ensure the structural integrity of the building. Below are four photos – the first is of a tower built in the 1870’s of limestone. The quoins here are real and serving a purpose.
This is how quoins are supposed to function; when the blocks are staggered they hold the corners together and add strength to the walls. They are integral with the bricks – not pretentious appliqués.
The remaining photos illustrate how builders today use the imagery of quoins to try and make their flimsy work look more substantial, but don’t understand them well enough to pull the look off convincingly:
Houses with cantilevered second floors are NOT good candidates for fake quoins! The gravity-defying antics of quoins slapped onto this overhang are not believable. Quoins look silly on wood houses in any event. And they are not staggered.
Here the fake quoins are spaced far apart totally destroying any potential illusion of utility… clearly they are just supposed to impress people. I’m impressed, but not in a good way.
I think this is the first wood-shingled house I’ve seen where someone felt the urge to add fake quoins.
Quoins gone bad.
why are architects and historic preservation so snarky and rude and make fun of everyone for not being an expert on architecture? Does your mechanic or plumber or local symphony set up blogs to make fun of everyone for not understanding the complexities of writing music or fuel filters? I have worked in historic preservation for ten years and i adore architecture but I have notices that only architecture people are this awful to everyone else for not seeing the world how they do. I am waiting for artists and nurses to start entire social media pages lambasting people for being unable to draw or no wealthy enough to afford good supplies or not knowing how to start an IV. I love my profession but i am disgusted by they abusive behavior in my field. All it does it push people away from learning to use appropriate materials or care about historic preservation. Also due to arthritis i have use an aid to type, but i am expecting to be verbally assaulted for typos!
Hmmm… your question is very interesting, I’ve personally never considered (or recognized) the issue before but do believe your observation is a valid one. I would argue, however, that mechanics, plumbers and musicians do criticize others, but that they do so more subtly or politely. It’s no secret, for example, that many older musicians are horrified by what passes for music today.
Why do design-related professionals tend to be more snarky? Maybe it’s a sense of elitism instilled during their university experiences. Maybe it’s a hyper-sensitivity to the built environment. Maybe these fields just attract people predisposed to being snarky. I’m just guessing here, but you’ve made me curious.
Personally I see architecture as a physical reflection of our culture and our culture seems to be deteriorating quite rapidly. When I snark about design issues I’m really expressing frustration with larger issues such as our failed system of public education which, in my opinion, has been in free-fall for quite some time.
You’ve brought up a fascinating topic and I would very much like to read your thoughts. Please reply! And don’t worry about any typos, I’m seriously not that snarky!
The fake quoins on the colonial are silly enough to laugh at. But unless my eyes deceive me, they’ve got a real structural problem on their hands with the posts supporting that second floor carbuncle. I’d swear that those posts aren’t vertical. My eye also picks out the fake keystone over the bay window, and the fake shutters that can’t possibly close over the windows.
The one story stucco house is a legitimate use of fake quoins. There are real masonry structures that use real quoins spaced like that. And real masonry is occasionally stuccoed over so quoins don’t look too ridiculous plopped onto a stucco wall. Where the believability falls apart is that this style of house never had quoins and wouldn’t need them structurally if built in masonry because it’s simply not tall enough to require such reinforcement. Aesthetically, I think these quoins are heavy-handed. I’d like to see 5 smaller quoins in place of the 4 large ones (at each corner) and the exact same color as the stucco.
The wood shingled house is an illegitimate use of fake quoins. Not only is the structure wood, but you would never see a solid row of real quoins like that on a real masonry building. Quoins must be either rectangular and staggered, like the real example in the first picture, or square and spaced apart like the one story stucco example. A solid column of quoins screams “I don’t know what I’m doing here”. Also, aesthetically, it’s a mistake to emphasize the corners of this house in any way because it only makes more noticeable the fact that the gable is off-center and the left side of the house is shorter than the right side.