Thru-Tenoning

On Friday, whilst getting a tire patched at Kumho tires on Western (again, those marvelously convenient West Adams services), I became transfixed by the house at the corner of Western and 14th St., and the thru-tenoning effect around the window moldings.
I stared and stared, drawing closer and closer, inveigled by the Craftsman cajolery.
"I'll be back", I instructed the yard attendant, "I need
sustenance."

I marveled at the exposed tenon detail, wondering if there was another like it on the block.
(Sadly there wasn't, though I photographed some other cool things on Harvard Heights' northernmost east/west street.)

Some might refer to this detail as a Cross-key Overlay. Surely it's meant to imitate a form of joinery, the process of connection or joining two pieces of wood.

The little man inside me began to recount, "it's like that porch column detail on 29th, one of the 29th's." The tire was repaired by this point, so I coasted down to Jefferson Park in search of a sister detail.

More thru-tenon or exposed-tenon details (with locking pins). The tenon is the male part of a mortise and tenon joint, where the cut end--or tenon fits into the matching opening--or mortise.

The tenon is referred to as exposed or thru because it passes through the mortise (a locking pin in this case holds it in place).

Most of these house details (as evidenced by the photograph left where some pieces have gone missing) are in reality false, the elements are merely attached to the surface (butt-jointed) imitating complex joinery.

Still, they're way cool.