When I was describing the location of my house to a friend, she said, “Oh, the one with the fake quoins?” Though, I did get her drift, I felt a correction was in order. “No, the one with the real quoins,” I responded.

Quoins are the large, alternating blocks that climb and wrap the corners of many antique buildings. On my c. 1768 Georgian home, they are wooden (not “fake”) and take their inspiration from the sizable, masonry blocks often set to form the corners of classical, stone or brick buildings. They lend the buildings they adorn a certain heft, an appearance of elegant authority. Many folks are quite taken with them. Earlier this week even Zippy The Pinhead fell under their spell.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast