The Pediment

In architecture, a pediment is an ornamental feature placed above a door or window to embellish the portal and provide a decorative element to the structure, either indoors or on the exterior. These features can be placed directly over a portico, window, door, niche, or other opening within a wall.

This decorative element can also apply to the triangular end of a roof gable on the outside of a house, or it could act as a crown over an entry door. You will often see them over doors of Colonial or Early American style homes.

Doors and windows are framed with pilasters, which are like flat columns, made with moldings. Pilasters are the vertical pieces along the sides of the opening.

They are connected at the top with a horizontal piece called the breast board (sometimes referred to as a cornice). A pediment is then mounted to the top of these pieces.

Some have pre-attached breast boards, some don't. If you're creating a new decorative element, you will be better off with the attached breast board because the seams will be tighter when done in a factory.

Another prominent design, in addition to triangular, is rounded. This can mean a half-circle, or two arcs , each less than a quarter circle, to create an open rounded effect. Open shapes usually add a decorative finial in the center (like the picture).

A decorative accent was often used as a predominant feature on the fronts of ancient Greek temples. This triangular wall surface (the tympanum) was often decorated with sculpture or reliefs, depicting a scene from mythology.

Virtually all of the early Greek examples were on exterior surfaces, and made with plaster. Today, exterior pediments are often produced from synthetic materials such as polyurethane or fiberglass.

If you install them over existing windows, you can find designs that will match the wooden molding of the window nicely. These synthetics will resist the impact of weather better than wood will.

The Romans later adapted pediments as a decorative form to finish doors, windows and niches, sometimes using a series of alternating triangular and curved assemblies. They began carving these pieces from wood.

This design was revived centuries later by the Italian Renaissance. Shortly after that, Baroque era designers developed many variations of broken, scrolled and reverse-curved pediments.

If you travel through Europe today, you can still see many examples of these, in which the two sides of the cornice do not join. The scrolled broken form was a favorite in American Colonial work, especially in doorways and over mantels. The picture above is an example of that, showing a typical finial in the center.

As you can probably tell, there are dozens of styles (not all of them attractive) to choose from. Get advice from a professional designer for the appropriate match to the rest of your woodwork, and shop around extensively before you pick the one you like best.

If you have a question, contact me about pediments by clicking here.

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