what the weight which it has to carry requires.  In this case a bracket is shown above the capital, projecting longitudinally only (in the direction of the lintel bearing), a method of giving a larger bearing surface for the ends of the lintels, shortening their actual bearing[4] (in other words, widening the space which can be bridged between column and column) and giving a workmanlike appearance of stability to the construction at this point.  The idea of the division of the column into two sections, suggested in Fig. 8, is kept up in Fig. 9 by treating the lower portion up to the same height with incised decorative carving.  The dotted lines on each side in Fig. 9 give the outline of the original square column as shown in Fig. 4.  The finished column was within that block; it is the business of the architectural designer to get it out.[5]

   [Footnote 3:  This is the feature called “abacus” (i.e., “tile”)
   in Greek architecture, but I am here considering it apart from
   any special style or nomenclature.]

[Footnote 4:  “Bearing,” in building language, is used in a double sense, for the distance between the points of support, and the extent to which the beam rests on the walls.  Thus a beam which extends 20 feet between the points of support is a beam of 20 feet bearing.  If the beam is 22 feet long, so that 1 foot rests on the walls at each end, it has “1 foot bearing on the wall.”]

[Footnote 5:  None of the forms of column sketched here have any existence in reality.  They are purposely kept apart from imitation of accepted forms to get rid of the idea that architecture consists in the acceptance of any particular form sanctioned by precedent.]

Let us see if we can apply the same kind of process of evolving expression in regard to a building.  We will take again the very simplest form of building (Fig. 10), a square house with a door in the center and uniform rows of windows.  There cannot be said to be any architectural expression in this.  There is no base or plinth at all, no treatment of the wall.  The slight projection at the eaves is only what is necessary to keep the rain from running down the walls, and facilitate the emptying of the gutters, and the even spacing of the windows is essential for constructive reasons, to keep the masses of wall over each other, and keep the whole in a state of equally balanced pressure.  The first thing we should do in endeavoring to give some expression to the building would be to give it a base or plinth (Fig. 11), and to mark that and the cornice a little more decidedly by mouldings and a line of paneling at the plinth.

[Illustration:  Figs. 10 and 11]