Types

hill towns

Settlements situated on a hill.

hillocks

Small hills, small elevations in the earth's surface, or small mounds or heaps of earth or stones.

hippodromes (Greek sports buildings)

Oblong enclosures curved at one end and built for horse and chariot racing, usage is typically restricted to such structures in Greek cities of the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras; meaning overlaps with similar structures in ancient Rome itself, "circuses (Roman arenas)." For sports structures used for horse racing in more modern contexts, use "horse racetracks."

historic buildings

Buildings that are significant in the history of architecture, that incorporate significant architectural features, or that played significant historic roles in local cultural or social development; may or may not be officially designated. For buildings that are abandoned but not considered necessarily historic, use "abandoned buildings."

historic display space

No description is available for this term.

historic districts

Former administrative or electoral districts that have been designated by a modern governing body as being culturally or historically significant, or embodying distinctive characteristics of a period, method of construction, or inhabitants. For historic areas of a city or town, use "historic quarters."

historic farms

Farms that are considered historical because they preserve methods of rural life and farming from past centuries, whether for tourists, historical preservation, or to produce crops or livestock. For former farms that have been abandoned, use "abandoned farms."

historic gardens

Gardens designed to reflect a period in history, either in form or through the use of heirloom plants.

historic house museums (buildings)

Houses with historical importance locally, regionally, or internationally that have been restored and opened to the public as museums.

historic house museums (institutions)

Museums in houses with historical importance locally, regionally, or internationally that have been restored and opened to the public.

historic houses

Houses with architectural, social, or cultural significance; may or may not be officially designated.

historic landscapes

Cultural landscapes that are significant in the history of landscape architecture or gardening or that were developed as a result of historic use of natural features; includes shaped areas of land and sometimes structures.

historic monuments

Refers to monuments with local, regional, or international political, cultural, or artistic significance.

historic sites

Parcels of land with historic significance due to historic events, architectural, engineering or archaeological activities, etc.

historic towns

Towns designated by a governing body as being culturally or historically significant, or embodying distinctive characteristics of a period, method of construction, or inhabitants.

historical parks

Areas containing properties and buildings of historical significance, and extending to include significant natural features as well.

historical societies

Groups formed to study and disseminate information about the history of a place, usually a town, city, county, or state; such groups often maintain a museum or research institute.

historical society museums (buildings)

Buildings housing museums administered by a historical society, which is a group formed to study and disseminate information about the history of a place, usually a town, city, county, or state.

history museums (buildings)

Buildings for any of a wide variety of museums where collections are amassed and typically presented to give a chronological perspective of the history of a city, town, region, group of people, etc.

history museums (institutions)

Any of a wide variety of museums where collections are amassed and typically presented to give a chronological perspective of the history of a city, town, region, group of people, etc.

hitching posts

Fixed posts to which horses can be fastened to prevent straying.

hog houses

Enclosed buildings for keeping hogs, usually with pens and other facilities for breeding.

hogans

Navajo single-family dwellings, generally low and roughly conical, usually constructed of logs and sticks covered with mud, sod, or adobe.

hoists

Any mechanical devices for lifting loads.

hollows (landforms)

Small valleys.

home offices (workspaces)

Workspaces in the home set aside exclusively for income-producing businesses; for reading and writing spaces used for household accounting or recreational purposes, use "studies (rooms)."

homes for the aged

Long-term care facilities, originally for the older segment of the population and now generally restricted to those over 80 years old, in which some medical care is offered, but is not a major component of the care available to residents.

homesites

Lots or portions of land sufficient for and intended to be used or currently being used as the site of a house.

homesteads

Designates the dwelling, land, and outbuildings, if any, where a family lives.

hoppers

Top-loading, bottom-discharging funnels or storage bins, as for crushed stone, sand, or food stuffs.

horse barns

Distinguished from "stables" by their barnlike appearance and their use as housing primarily for farm stock, feed, and associated maintenance equipment.

horse farms

Farms primarily engaged in the keeping, feeding, or breeding of horses for by-products, livestock increase, or investment.

horse racetracks

Racetracks designed or used for horse racing. For ancient Greek or Roman oblong structures designed for horse and chariot racing, use "hippodromes (Greek sports buildings)" or "circuses (Roman arenas)" respectively. Racetracks designed or used for horse racing. For ancient Greek or Roman oblong structures designed for horse and chariot racing, use "hippodromes (Greek sports buildings)" or "circuses (Roman arenas)" respectively.

horticultural buildings

Describes structures devoted to the cultivation of plants.

hospices (public accomodations)

Lodging places providing a variety of amenities for travelers and often maintained by a religious order.

hospital wards

Divisions, floors, or rooms of hospitals for a particular type or group of patients.

hospitals (buildings for health facility)

Buildings housing institutions that are built, staffed, and equipped for the diagnosis of disease, for medical and surgical treatment of the sick and the injured, and for their housing during this process. The modern hospital also often serves as a center for investigation and for teaching.

hospitals (buildings for pilgrims)

Buildings that house establishments, often charitable institutions, for the reception, housing, and care of pilgrims, travellers, or the needy. The term was originally reserved for the similar establishments of the Knights Hospitallers.

hospitals (institutions, health facility)

Institutions that are staffed and equipped for the diagnosis of disease, for medical and surgical treatment of the sick and the injured, and for their housing during this process. The modern hospital also often serves as a center for investigation and for teaching.

hostels

Public houses of lodging for strangers and travellers, typically distinguished from an inn or hotel by being inexpensive and providing communal accommodations, with several beds in a single room and shared bath facilities.

hot springs

A spring whose water is much warmer than the surrounding air because it has been heated by geothermal energy.

hot tubs

Large bath structures filled with hot aerated water, originally made of wood but more frequently constructed with plastic or fiberglass impregnated with resin. Typically used for recreation or physical therapy.

hotels (public accommodations)

Buildings where travellers or tourists are provided with overnight accommodation, meals, and other services; often distinguished from inns and other forms of temporary lodging for travellers by their larger size and range of facilities, in modern times often equipped with a restaurant, bar, conference rooms, and leisure facilities.

housebarns

Dwellings that house humans and livestock under a single roof. Housebarns include rectangular buildings sheltering animals and people at opposite ends, often with a common entry, and two-story buildings with people living on the top story and livestock below. Such houses have been used since the Neolithic period, especially in the colder climates of Europe and North America.

houses

Individual dwellings designed to be occupied by a single tenant or family. May also refer to a building for human occupation, for some purpose other than that of an ordinary dwelling; with this usage, "house" is generally prefaced (e.g., "cowhouse," "almshouse").

houses of correction (buildings)

Buildings that house institutions of confinement and correction, using hard labor and strict discipline with a view to reformation of the inmates; especially those dating to the 16th century and later in Europe and colonial America. For general reference to buildings housing any institution of correction, use "correctional institutions (buildings)."

housing (concept)

Collective concept referring to the types of living arrangements of a particular group. For the specific structures or groups of structures designed for these arrangements, use the descriptors collocated under "dwellings", <housing complexes>, or "settlements."

housing complexes

Buildings or complexes providing housing and related facilities.

housing developments

Commercially developed real estate tracts commonly consisting of one- to four-unit dwellings.

housing for the elderly

Housing designed or used primarily for people over 55 years old.

housing projects

Planned residential developments, generally publicly built and operated, intended for low- and moderate-income tenants.

Howe trusses

Planar trusses of various configurations in which the diagonal members are in compression and the vertical members are in tension; when the diagonals are in tension and the verticals are in compression, use "Pratt trusses."

hunting bases

Operational centers of any size used for activities surrounding hunting; may be contemporary or prehistoric.

hunting lodges

Temporary residences used during hunting trips.

huts (houses)

Simply constructed or small and humble dwellings, generally of natural materials.

hydroelectric dams

Dams built on rivers to harness the energy of waterpower to produce electricity.

hydroelectric power plants

Power plants in which electricity is produced using the energy of flowing water.

hyphens

Use to designate the elements connecting the central block with the outlying wings of a building of five-part Palladian form.

I-houses

Houses that are generally two-story, one-room deep, and which have a thin profile. Prominent in England, they became particularly popular in the American mid-Atlantic states from 1700-1915, and symbolized rural prosperity.

ice cream parlors

Establishments where ice cream and ice cream based drinks are sold, generally with a counter for seating. The first ice cream parlor opened in New York City in the late 18th century.

ice skating rinks

Bounded areas of ice suitable for skating, usually artificially frozen and enclosed.

icehouses

Specially insulated and ventilated agricultural buildings, increasingly popular after the mid-19th-century rise in dairy production, for the storing of ice blocks.

igloos

Eskimo houses usually made of sod, wood, or stone when permanent or of snow blocks in the shape of a dome when built for temporary purposes.

imperial palaces

Palaces housing an emperor, and often his family, members of the court, and servants.

inactive mines

Pits, tunnels, or open-air excavations originally made for underground extraction of metals, metallic ores, coal, or another substance, that are now not used or abandoned.

Indian reservations (Native American reservations)

Tracts of land set aside, usually by the United States government or a single US state's government, for the use of one or more native North American peoples.

indoor swimming pools

Swimming pools enclosed by a building or other structure and covered by a roof.

indoor tracks

Indoor spaces, usually oval in plan and having special floor surfacing, designed for running or jogging; for similar recreation spaces outdoors, use "running tracks."

industrial archaeology

Field of archaeology dealing with the sites, structures, and artifacts of the industries and processes of industrialization of former times.

industrial buildings

Refers to buildings or groups of buildings intended to house the machinery and activities associated with modern industry and machine manufacture that arose after the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the mid-19th century.

industrial complexes

Use generally for any grouping of diversified industrial buildings and related facilities.

industrial districts

Refers to areas set aside for or occupied primarily by buildings that house industrial activities.

industrial housing

Housing provided by an industry to its employees.

industrial landscapes

Landscapes significantly altered or modified by industry.

industrial museums (buildings)

Industrial buildings or complexes converted into museums or as part of museums.

industrial museums (institutions)

Museums located in industrial buildings or complexes that have been expressly converted into a museum.

industrial parks

Refers to areas zoned and planned for so-called clean industries, developed and managed as a unit, where plots are offered fully equipped with transport and installation facilities, often already including a number of multi-use buildings.

industrial plants (structures)

Refers to the land, buildings, machinery, apparatus, and fixtures used to carry on a trade or an industrial business, which can include a factory or workshop for the manufacture of a particular product or the total facilities available for production or service. There is some overlap in usage of this term with "industrial buildings," "industrial complexes," and "factories (structures)."

industrial sites

Building sites upon which one or more industries are planned or located. For a grouping of industrial buildings, use "industrial complexes" or "industrial parks."

industrial structures

General term that groups all structures built for the purpose of industry. For buildings or groups of buildings intended to house the machinery and activities associated with modern industry and machine manufacture that arose after the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the mid-19th century, use "industrial buildings."

industrial towns

Communities of modest size, built mostly since the Industrial Revolution, in which the primary employment is in factories. When the primary employment is in factories for the manufacture of paper, steel, or textiles, use "mill towns." When settlements are purposely built by factory owners to attract workers to isolated locations, use "factory villages."

infirmaries

Health care facilities providing uncomplicated medical and nursing care for residents or members of an institution or other facility.

information centers (facilities)

Buildings or other structures erected for the dissemination to the public of such items as tourist brochures, shopping guides, travel maps, or other documents, or for structures on which such information is publicly displayed.

information signs

Use to distinguish those signs that convey general information from those that are "direction signs," "identification signs," or "regulatory signs."

infrastructure

Refers to the underlying foundation or basic framework of a system or organization, especially the services and facilities which are an integral part of the life in an urban community.

inglenooks

Recessed seating areas by a fire or hearth.

inlets

Generally used for narrow openings of rivers into riverbanks or lakes and seas into shores.

inner cities

Refers to the usually older and more densely populated central sections of cities.

inns

Relatively small public buildings that offer for a fee rooms for sleeping and a tavern for food and beverages.

installations (visual works)

Works dating from the 1960s or later that use their exhibition space as part of their design. Demanding a viewer's active engagement, installations are often created by artists in direct opposition to the notion of permanent artwork, or art as a commodity.

institutes (buildings)

Buildings housing organizations, societies, or regular meetings for the promotion of a particular literary, scientific, artistic, professional, or educational endeavor that is labeled an "institute."

institutional buildings

Built works used by, or in support of, institutions.

institutions (buildings)

The buildings used by an institution, which is a formally structured organization, establishment, or association created for the promotion of a specific benevolent objective.

insurance

No description is available for this term.

intaglio (sculpture technique)

Technique of creating a design that is sunken into the surface, by carving or incising.

intensive care units

Areas in hospitals for critically ill patients requiring especially close surveillance and special life-support equipment.

interchanges

Road junctions that permit vehicles to pass from one road to another by a system of separate levels.

international museums (buildings)

Buildings or spaces for museums that are owned or administered by representatives of multiple nations, or that specializes in exhibitions from multiple nations.

Ionic order

Refers to the architectural order characterized by capitals with volutes, richly carved moldings, and columns with bases.

iron mines

Mines from which the primary extraction is iron, which is an element and lustrous, silvery, soft metal.