U3A November Lecture - Classical Tricks in Building Design

Today I went to my second Bury St. Edmunds U3A monthly lecture in the APEX.

John Sherlock gave us a very lucid and entertaining talk about classical architecture, starting with greeks and romans with illustrations of buildings, both ancient and modern, that exhibit the stylistic forms and components, including columns, aedicules, arches and domes and the "Golden Ratio". And now I know the difference between Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and Composite columns, the difference between a Greek theatre, Roman theatre and an amphitheatre, how to engineer to properly support an arch... and many other things.

He also provided us with  handy take-away copies of his architecture timeline..

It was a great talk and I highly recommend John as a speaker.

Then I went out into Bury St. Edmunds and saw lots of examples!

An aedicule at the Market Cross building with ionic columns (volutes at the top)

The  Tuscan columns outside Harriet's Tearoom.

The classical portico of the old Corn Exchange (now Wetherspoons) with its composite style capitals.

The Market Cross building again from the other side.

The front of the Athenaeum.

...and the Abbey Gate.

I feel quite enlightened and interested to find out more. Thank-you John!