IT’S A PUN, YOU SEE.

Inscription
Capital

When people asked the president of the bank, “What is the capital of the Monongahela Trust Company?”—do you suppose he said “Corinthian!” and waited for the laugh that never came?

. 7 comments.

Comments

  1. Von Hindenburg says:
    July 15, 2023 at 3:42 am

    I’m enjoying the way in which 1900 was written in two different ways so that there would be the same number of characters in 1901 and 1926.

    Reply
  2. tom says:
    July 15, 2023 at 6:53 am

    Actually a sort of stylized Corinthian, but nevertheless sweet.

    Reply
  3. Dr. Boli says:
    July 15, 2023 at 9:03 am

    If you like the building, you can visit. Now that the Homestead business district is becoming trendy, this old bank houses the Co-Sign Speakeasy (a cocktail bar), as well as an axe-throwing emporium and an escape room. Cocktail bar, axe-throwing emporium, and escape room—a perfect microcosm of a trendifying neighborhood, all in one building.

    Reply
  4. Charles Louis de Secondcat, Baron de La Brèed et de Montemeow says:
    July 15, 2023 at 9:29 am

    Isn’t this technically Composite Order, since it has prominent volutes (the little scrolly-things on the top)? If so, it is always good to hear one’s bank has composite capital.

    Reply
    • Dr. Boli says:
      July 15, 2023 at 11:40 am

      Both the Corinthian and the Composite orders have prominent volutes. The volutes of the Composite order are larger and more prominent, so that the Composite order (an invention of the Renaissance) looks like a “modern Ionic” capital on top of the acanthus leaves of a Corinthian capital.

      One distinctive mark of the Corinthian capital is the smaller internal volutes that frame the little flower, as we see on this ancient example from Tivoli.

      Photo by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

      The Composite order instead has the egg-and-dart molding of the Ionic order:

      Perhaps we should publish a field guide to the architectural orders, but that is a project for the future.

      Reply
  5. Charles Louis de Secondcat, Baron de La Brèed et de Montemeow says:
    July 15, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    Ah, I see, thank you! I have recently tried to learn the difference between the orders based on a few examples, but I see I misunderstood what to look for.

    Reply

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