Even though you might not know exactly what a balustrade/spindle is, you probably encounter one more often than you would expect. Found lining lots of staircases and terraces, a balustrade/spindle is a row of small columns topped by a rail. The term is derived from the form's constituent posts, called balusters, a name coined in 17th-century Italy for the bulbous item’s resemblance to blossoming pomegranate flowers (balaustra in Italian). "The balustrade's functions are multiples, from prevent or reducing the possibility of a person falling off a stairway to cordoning off an area for the purposes of privacy.
The earliest examples of balustrades are from ancient bas-reliefs, or sculptural murals, dating from sometime between the 13th and 7th centuries B.C. In depictions of Assyrian palaces, balustrades could be seen lining the windows. Interestingly, they don't appear during the architecturally innovative Greek and Roman eras (there are, at least, no ruins to prove their existence), but they resurface in the late 15th century, when they were used in Italian palaces.
A notable example of the architectural element once graced the Castle of Vélez Blanco, a 16th-century Spanish structure designed in the Italian Renaissance style. The intricate marble balustrade lined a 2nd-floor walkway overlooking a courtyard. The ornamentation around the terrace was disassembled in 1904 and eventually sold to banker George Blumenthal, who installed it in his Manhattan townhouse. The patio has since been reconstructed in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Balustrades/Spindles are continue to be used as of today in a vast variety of shapes and materials, from simple wood posts to elaborate wrought-iron spindles, for both decorative and practical purposes.
Post time: Jun-28-2021