Water Table (architecture)

A water table is a masonry architectural feature that consists of a projecting course that deflects water running down the face of a building away from lower courses or the foundation. A water table may be found near the base of a wall or at a transition between materials, such as from stone to brick.

WATER TABLE: A projection of lower masonry on the outside of the wall slightly above the ground. Often a damp course is placed at the level of the water table to prevent upward penetration of ground water. Technical Notes 2 - Glossary of Terms Relating to Brick Masonry www.bia.org

Note the water table around the base of the Arthur Heurtley House (illustration provided in that article) designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902.

Famous quotes containing the words water and/or table:

    Our star was brighter perhaps when it had water in it.
    Now there is no question even of that, but only
    Of holding on to the hard earth so as not to get thrown off,
    With an occasional dream, a vision ...
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)

    Life is a thin narrowness of taken-for-granted, a plank over a canyon in a fog. There is something under our feet, the taken-for-granted. A table is a table, food is food, we are we—because we don’t question these things. And science is the enemy because it is the questioner. Faith saves our souls alive by giving us a universe of the taken-for-granted.
    Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)