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B

baldachin: Decorated canopy, usually over an altar.
balustrade:  A decorative railing composed of post (balusters) and a handrail often used at the front of a parapet or gallery.
bandcourse:  A thin projecting course of brickwork or stone; also “stringcourse.”
Baroque:  Ornate classical motifs and eccentric mathematic architecture accented with bright colors and gold trim.
barrel roof:  Like a covered wagon, or inverted ship; barrel vault is a plain vault of uniform cross section.
bas-relief or low relief:  Sculpture in which the carved forms project only slightly from the background.
bastions: 1. Projecting parts of a fortification. 2. Well fortified positions.
battlement: A notched parapet built on top of a wall.
batten board:  A small strip of wood used to cover joints.
Bauhaus style:  Bauhaus buildings have flat roofs, smooth facades, and cubic shapes. Colors are white, gray, beige, or black. Floor plans are open and furniture is functional. Segmentation of space into modular units showcased in glass, screens and moveable walls. 
bay:  Compartment or unit of division of an interior or of a facade - usually between one window or pillar and the next.
Bay window:  A window or set of windows that project out from a wall, forming an alcove or small space in a room.
Beaux-Arts:  Distinguished by its emphasis on the beautiful plan and clear distinction of function.  Coupled columns, monumental flights of stairs, figural sculptures, and both Greek and Roman elements are features.
bell-cote:  A small shelter for bells; has a gable or shed roof.
belvedere:  An open sided structure designed to offer extensive views, normally in a formal garden.
blind arcades: A row of decorative arches that looks like an arcade but is attached to a wall surface and has no real openings.
blind arch:  An arch applied to a wall.
bracketed style: A term occasionally used for the Italianate style. An eclectic style of Italian-influenced residential and commercial architecture; fashionable in England and America from the 1840s to around 1890.
blind opening:  A term applied to windows, arches, balustrades, etc. that are applied to a wall for decorative purposes but are blocked with recessed stone, brick, etc.
board and batten: Describes a type of exterior siding or interior paneling that has alternating wide boards and narrow wooden strips.
boss: In masonry construction, a projecting ornament, often located at the intersection of two components.
brutalist architecture:  Named for “beton brut.”  The French term for concrete with an unfinished surface.
bulls-eye window: Oeil-de boeuf means bulls eye—a small circular window.
buttress:  A structure built against a wall to support or reinforce it. When the buttress is a free-standing pier attached to the wall by one or more arches, it is called a flying buttress.

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