When designing a public building or a custom house, an architect is often looking for opportunities to include unique design touches. Since ancient times, one of the more distinctive architectural touches of choice for both public and private buildings has been the column.

Greek Columns

The columns used in construction of ancient Greek buildings that survive today can be divided into three architectural categories: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. Primarily differentiated by the design of the column's top, Greek columns are also distinguishable by their bases and the relative width of the column's shaft.

Another distinguishing characteristic of Greek columns is that they were often "fluted," meaning that they had channels carved into the shaft running parallel to one another along its length. The aesthetic tradition for fluting called for twenty four channels along each column.

The three styles of Greek columns developed over time from basic to ornate as the Greek civilization grew, prospered and invested in public grandeur.

Doric Columns

Generally speaking, the oldest and simplest design among the Greek columns is the Doric. The Doric column's top, known as the capital, is a simple saucer-shaped design that is wider than the column's shaft and opens upward to support the square top surface which in turn provides the structural support for which the column is designed.

Ionic Columns

The Ionic style of the Greek column has a capital that features a carved scroll curving out from each corner of its square top. These scrolls, also called spirals or helixes, are often connected in the carving - resembling a piece of paper with both ends wrapped and curled downward.

Corinthian Columns

The Corinthian Greek column is the most ornate and the most slender of the three designs. The base of a Greek column was more functional than decorative until the Corinthian style was developed. The capital on a Corinthian design has carved acanthus leaves, often wrapped around carved scrolls and interspersed with carved flowers or other ornamentation.

Roman Columns

The ancient Roman civilization adopted many of the social, cultural and physical characteristics of the Greek era that preceded the Roman Empire. There are many facets of Roman architecture that can be recognized as having originated in Greece and the Roman column is one of them. The Romans adopted the three Greek architectural styles for columns - Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian - and added two of their own: the Tuscan and Composite.

These five design variations are the principal styles found in Roman columns. Very similar in style to Greek columns, the principal differences in Roman column designs are in the bases and the capitals.

Tuscan Columns

The simplest Roman column is the Tuscan, which is an adaptation of the Greek Doric style. But unlike the Doric, the Tuscan has no base, no fluting and a saucer shaped top that supports a flat square area above it.

Roman Doric Columns

The Roman version of the Doric columns have bases and a top similar to the Tuscan; the shafts are fluted but with fewer and shallower channels than the Greek style.

Roman Ionic Columns

Roman columns in the Ionic style have capitals that feature scrolled carvings at the corners of the square top. They are similar but more ornate than their Greek counterpart.

Roman Corinthian Columns

The Corinthian design is the most elaborate of the Greek styles adopted by the Romans. Its capital features detailed carvings of leaves and flowers, often extending down the column.

Composite Columns

The Composite style is a Roman column that combines features of both the Greek Ionic and Corinthian designs. This elaborate and intricate carving style incorporated the acanthus leaves and floral designs with the scrolls or spirals found in Ionic designs.

Architectural columns can be decorative, load bearing, or both no matter which style is chosen and have a number of uses that range from the purely functional to intricately decorative.