The term cornice comes from Italian cornice, meaning “ledge.”

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.

The function of the projecting cornice is to throw rainwater free of the building's walls. In residential building practice, this function is handled by projecting gable ends, roof eaves, and gutters. The elimination of the cornice has been important enough in modernist architecture, often simply for demands of style, that elaborate internal drainage systems are provided.

Classical architecture

The sloping cornice, “raking cornice” or “rake board,” is also carried across the top of the triangular pediment, at the gable end of a building. (refer to image), found on the front of such buildings as the Parthenon, the Acropolis, or Schinkel's Schauspielhaus. The sloping cornice hangs over the end of the structure supporting the roof. In classical and neoclassical architecture, the sloping cornice uses the same molding profile as the cornice below.

Each of the classic orders has certain characteristic profiles to its cornice:

• The cornice of the Doric order
• The cornice of the Ionic order
• The cornice of the Corinthian order

The geison in classical Greek architecture

main: Geison

Horizontal geison

Doric order

Ionic and Corinthian orders

Horizontal geisa of these orders relied on moldings rather than the mutules of the Doric order for their decoration.

Raking geison

References

• Robertson, D. S. 1943. Handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Gallery

Image: Italianate1.png|Example of the projecting cornice of an Italianate residence Image:Louis Sullivan - cornice detail - Wainwright Building, Seventh + Chestnut Streets, Saint Louis, St. Louis City County, MO.jpg|Wainwright Building by Louis Sullivan Image:Cornice plaster MET 40-170-267.jpg|English cornice with finials Image:DecorazioneASquame.jpg|del palazzo dei Flavi sul Palatino (peristilio)