Corbelled houses

Oil on canvas + gilded stucco wood frame. Dimensions: 59 cm X 49 cm. Signed lower right. Corbelled houses. Principle of corbelling. Corbelling is a projecting construction of the vertical plane of a wall, supported cantilevered by an assembly of crows or consoles. A floor, a gallery, a balcony, etc., can be corbelled. In the cities of europe, corbelling is typical of medieval half-timbered architecture. In paris, street corbelling has been prohibited since the ordinance of 18 august 1667 (see paris urban planning regulations). This term is derived from corbel, an ancient form of crow. Corbelling was able to develop thanks to the technique of short woods. This construction system makes it possible to carry a load overhanging on the bare of a wall. The houses will therefore have one or more floors, protruding on the ground floor. From the fourteenth century. Over time, this technique will improve, which will allow the multiplication of corbels. Some houses could have two or three floors corbelled. The primitive corbelling was very simple: the post on the ground floor bore the box spring and flared upwards while carrying the pigeard; the first sand pit on the first floor was placed directly on it. This system will evolve towards a more complicated assembly: the box spring is based on the pigeard. There are two sand pits, one lower, corresponding to the wall of the ground floor and one upper, serving the wall of the first floor. The advantages. Corbelled construction had several advantages: it saved a little space on the floors, but in particular it prevented rainwater from flowing onto the façade; thus, each corbelled floor protected the lower floor. However, gradually this system was banned. In rouen, for example, it was banned in 1520, on the pretext of "circulating the air to fight against.