Balustrade

By Deane Barker • • tags: architecture •
Updates
This content has been updated 2 times since it was first published. The last update happened .

Basically, it’s a railing of some kind, like those on a balcony or open staircase.

Technically, the balustrade is the horizontal part (where your hands would rest), while the vertical parts are called balusters (the balustrade sits atop of the balusters).

It comes from an Italian word for the pomegranate tree, which some balusters evidently resembled.

Why I Looked It Up

In Information Hunters:

Warren had planned to place a Latin inscription on a balustrade…

Update

Added on

I found another reference in Neuromancer:

The girl’s face appeared as abruptly as one of Riveria’s projections, her small hands on the polished wood of the balustrade…

Update

Added on

Found this in London.

Links from this – Information Hunters: When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe October 25, 2023
This is a history book that answers the question: what did librarians do to help the war effort during World War II? Well, a lot it turns out. They amassed foreign periodicals and scoured them for intelligence information They captured and cataloged information left behind in German facilities...
Links from this – Neuromancer October 15, 2023
I tried to read this years ago, but didn’t get too far. It’s a weirdly tough read. I picked it up in an airport on the way home from a conference and tried again. Gibson has an odd writing style. He’s done a lot of world-building, and he uses all sorts of nomenclature and jargon without much...