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The Doric order is one of the Classical order of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic order and the Corinthian order. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of the . Originating in the western Doric region of Greece, it is the earliest and, in its essence, the simplest of the orders, though still with complex details in the entablature above.
The Greek Doric column was fluted,Art a Brief History 6th Edition and had no base, dropping straight into the stylobate or platform on which the temple or other building stood. The capital was a simple circular form, with some mouldings, under a square cushion that is very wide in early versions, but later more restrained. Above a plain architrave, the complexity comes in the frieze, where the two features originally unique to the Doric, the triglyph and gutta, are memories of the beams and retaining pegs of the wooden constructions that preceded stone Doric temples.Summerson, 13–14 In stone they are purely ornamental.
The relatively uncommon Roman and Renaissance Doric retained these, and often introduced thin layers of moulding or further ornament, as well as often using plain columns. More often they used versions of the Tuscan order, elaborated for nationalistic reasons by Italian Renaissance writers, which is in effect a simplified Doric, with un-fluted columns and a simpler entablature with no triglyphs or guttae. The Doric order was much used in Greek Revival architecture from the 18th century onwards; often earlier Greek versions were used, with wider columns and no bases to them.
The ancient architect and architectural historian Vitruvius associates the Doric with masculine proportions (the Ionic representing the feminine).Summerson, 14–15 It is also normally the cheapest of the orders to use. When the three orders are Superposed order, it is usual for the Doric to be at the bottom, with the Ionic and then the Corinthian above, and the Doric, as "strongest", is often used on the ground floor below another order in the storey above.Palladio, First Book, Chapter 12
The Parthenon is in the Doric order, and in antiquity and subsequently has been recognized as the most perfect example of the evolved order. It was most popular in the Archaic Period (750–480 BC) in mainland Greece, and also found in Magna Graecia (southern Italy), as in the three temples at Paestum. These are in Archaic Doric, where the capitals spread wide from the column compared to later Classical forms, as exemplified in the Parthenon.
Pronounced features of both Greek and Roman versions of the Doric order are the alternating and metopes. The triglyphs are decoratively grooved with two vertical grooves ("tri-glyph") and represent the original wooden end-beams, which rest on the plain architrave that occupies the lower half of the entablature. Under each triglyph are peglike "stagons" or "guttae" (literally: drops) that appear as if they were hammered in from below to stabilize the post-and-beam (trabeated) construction. They also served to "organize" rainwater runoff from above. The spaces between the triglyphs are the "metopes". They may be left plain, or they may be carved in low relief.Summerson, 13–15, 126
The architecture followed rules of harmony. Since the original design probably came from wooden temples and the triglyphs were real heads of wooden beams, every column had to bear a beam which lay across the centre of the column. Triglyphs were arranged regularly; the last triglyph was centred upon the last column ( illustration, right: I.). This was regarded as the ideal solution which had to be reached.
Changing to stone cubes instead of wooden beams required full support of the architrave load at the last column. At the first temples the final triglyph was moved ( illustration, right: II. ), still terminating the sequence, but leaving a gap disturbing the regular order. Even worse, the last triglyph was not centered with the corresponding column. That "archaic" manner was not regarded as a harmonious design. The resulting problem is called the doric corner conflict . Another approach was to apply a broader corner triglyph (III.) but was not really satisfying.
Because the metopes are somewhat flexible in their proportions, the modular space between columns ("intercolumniation") can be adjusted by the architect. Often the last two columns were set slightly closer together ( corner contraction), to give a subtle visual strengthening to the corners. That is called the "classic" solution of the corner conflict ( IV.). Triglyphs could be arranged in a harmonic manner again, and the corner was terminated with a triglyph, though the final triglyph and column were often not centered. Roman aesthetics did not demand that a triglyph form the corner, and filled it with a half ( demi-) metope, allowing triglyphs centered over columns ( illustration, right, V.).
Some of the earliest examples of the Doric order come from the 7th-century BC. These examples include the Temple of Apollo at Ancient Corinth and the Temple of Zeus at Nemea.Robin F. Rhodes, "Early Corinthian Architecture and the Origins of the Doric Order" in the American Journal of Archaeology 91, no. 3 (1987), 478. Other examples of the Doric order include the three 6th-century BC temples at Paestum in southern Italy, a region called Magna Graecia, which was settled by Greek colonists. Compared to later versions, the columns are much more massive, with a strong entasis or swelling, and wider capitals.
The Temple of the Delians is a "peripteral" Doric order temple, the largest of three dedicated to Apollo on the island of Delos. It was begun in 478 BC and never completely finished. During their period of independence from Athens, the Delians reassigned the temple to the island of Poros. It is "hexastyle", with six columns across the end and thirteen along each long face. All the columns are centered under a triglyph in the frieze, except for the corner columns. The plain, unfluted shafts on the columns stand directly on the platform (the stylobate), without bases. The recessed "necking" in the nature of fluting at the top of the shafts and the wide cushionlike echinus may be interpreted as slightly self-conscious archaising features, for Delos is Apollo's ancient birthplace. However, the similar fluting at the base of the shafts might indicate an intention for the plain shafts to be capable of wrapping in drapery.
A classic statement of the Greek Doric order is the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, built about 447 BC. The contemporary Parthenon, the largest temple in classical Athens, is also in the Doric order, although the sculptural enrichment is more familiar in the Ionic order: the Greeks were never as doctrinaire in the use of the Classical vocabulary as Renaissance theorists or Neoclassical architects. The detail, part of the basic vocabulary of trained architects from the later 18th century onwards, shows how the width of the metopes was flexible: here they bear the famous sculptures including the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs.
Roman Doric columns also have moldings at their bases and stand on low square pads or are even raised on . In the Roman Doric mode, columns are not usually fluted; indeed, fluting is rare. Since the Romans did not insist on a triglyph covered corner, now both columns and triglyphs could be arranged equidistantly again and centered together. The architrave corner needed to be left "blank", which is sometimes referred to as a half, or demi-, metope ( illustration, V., in Spacing the Columns above).
The Roman architect Vitruvius, following contemporary practice, outlined in De architectura the procedure for laying out constructions based on a module, which he took to be one half a column's diameter, taken at the base. An illustration of Andrea Palladio's Doric order, as it was laid out, with modules identified, by Isaac Ware, in The Four Books of Palladio's Architecture (London, 1738) is illustrated at Vitruvian module.
According to Vitruvius, the height of Doric columns is six or seven times the diameter at the base."... they measured a man's foot, and finding its length the sixth part of his height, they gave the column a similar proportion, that is, they made its height, including the capital, six times the thickness of the shaft, measured at the base. Thus the Doric order obtained its proportion, its strength, and its beauty, from the human figure." (Vitruvius, iv.6) "The successors of these people, improving in taste, and preferring a more slender proportion, assigned seven diameters to the height of the Doric column." (Vitruvius, iv.8) This gives the Doric columns a shorter, thicker look than Ionic columns, which have 8:1 proportions. It is suggested that these proportions give the Doric columns a masculine appearance, whereas the more slender Ionic columns appear to represent a more feminine look. This sense of masculinity and femininity was often used to determine which type of column would be used for a particular structure.
Later periods reviving classical architecture used the Roman Doric until Neoclassical architecture arrived in the later 18th century. This followed the first good illustrations and measured descriptions of Greek Doric buildings. The most influential, and perhaps the earliest, use of the Doric in Renaissance architecture was in the circular Tempietto by Donato Bramante (1502 or later), in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome.Summerson, 41–43
In Germany it suggested a contrast with the French, and in the United States republicanism virtues. In a customs house, Greek Doric suggested incorruptibility; in a Protestant church a Greek Doric porch promised a return to an untainted early church; it was equally appropriate for a library, a bank or a trustworthy public utility. The revived Doric did not return to Sicily until 1789, when a French architect researching the ancient Greek temples designed an entrance to the Botanical Gardens in Palermo.
Illustration of the peristyle from the home of a rich Athenian woman, from Wonders - Images of the Ancient World, 1907.jpg|Illustration of a peristyle with Doric columns the home of a rich Athenian woman, showing the polychromy Doric columns had in antiquity, from Wonders - Images of the Ancient World, 1907
Korinth BW 2017-10-10 10-55-47.jpg|Ancient Greek columns of the Temple of Apollo, Corinth, Greece, 540 BC (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:"Als Mittelpunkt der Welt" galt Delphi für die Menschen der Antike. 08.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric columns and entablature of the Athenian Treasury, Delphi, Greece, 525 BC (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:Order of the columns of the portico Fig 1 Profile of the necking of the columns Fig 2 Plan of the shaf below the capital - Wilkins William - 1807.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric capital of the Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy, with a band of compressed leafs just under the echine, 425 BC
File:Paestum, Italy (15036271487).jpg|Ancient Greek Doric columns of the Temple of Hera I, with their usually large entasis on the shafts
File:The plan and elevation of two Doric columns of the Temple of Apollo at Delos - Stuart James & Revett Nicholas - 1794.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric columns of the Temple of the Delians, Delos, Greece, fluted only at the top and bottom of the shaft, 5th century BC
File:20190507 169 bassae.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric capitals in the Temple of Apollo at Bassae, Bassae, Greece, 429-400 BC (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:Allard Pierson Museum Cult statue in temple amphora 7770.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric temple depicted stylized on an amphora shard, 400-385 BC, ceramic, Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
File:Φθινοπωρινή ιστορια.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric columns of the Tholos of Delphi, Greece, 375 BC (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:Temple of Nemean Zeus, 330 BC, 201757.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric columns of the Temple of Zeus, Nemea, Greece, 330 BC
File:Agios Athanasios, Ancient Macedonian Tomb - I (37120832445).jpg|Ancient Greek Doric pilasters and entablature of the Tomb III, Agios Athanasios, Greece, 325-300 BC
Krisseos (Judgement) Makedonian Tomb.jpg|Ancient Greek Doric columns of the Great Tomb of Lefkadia, Mieza, Greece, 300 BC (2025). 9780500051931, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500051931
File:Sarcofago di scipione barbato, a forma di altare con volute ioniche, in marmo peperino, 280 ac., dal sepolcro degli scipioni sull'appia antica.jpg|Roman Doric frieze on the Sarcophagus of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, Vatican Museums, Rome, 270 BC
file:Piranesi-4038.jpg|Roman Doric order of the Theatre of Marcellus, Rome, 1st century BC
File:Palazzo Vendramin Calergi Canal Grande Venezia.jpg|Creative Renaissance reinterpretation of the Classical order on the facade of the Ca' Vendramin Calergi, Venice, by Mauro Codussi, 1481-1509. At the top level, despite the Corinthian order columns, the frieze is empty, except some eagles and two above each column, a playful reinterpretation of the triglyph that is above columns in the Doric order
Tempietto del Bramante Vorderseite.jpg|Renaissance Doric columns and entablature of The Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, by Donato Bramante, 1502 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
Altar enframement MET DP271811.jpg|Renaissance Doric altar enframement, probably from Tuscany, Italy, 1530–1550, marble, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Chateau d'anet 004.jpg|Renaissance Doric columns and entablature of the entrance gateway of the Château d'Anet, near Dreux, France, by Philibert de l'Orme, 1547–1552 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
Dorique_2_-_Serlio_-_en.jpg|Renaissance Doric capital at Hôtel d'Assézat designed according to a model published by Sebastiano Serlio, France, 1555–1556
Château du Pailly -3 (cropped corbels).jpg|Renaissance combination of Doric and of the Château du Pailly, Le Pailly, France, 1563–1573
File:Maisons-Laffitte Chateau de Maisons 2011 19.jpg|Baroque columns and entablature of the Château de Maisons, France, by François Mansart, 1630–1651
Hôtel de Castries (Montpeller) - Porta.jpg|Baroque Doric pilasters and entablature on the facade of the Hôtel de Castries (Rue Saint-Guilhem no. 31), Montpellier, France, by Simon Levesville, 1647
File:ASC - sala lettura camino O3250026.JPG|Chinoiserie reinterpretation of the Doric frieze on a fireplace in the oval room inside the Oratorio dei Filippini, Rome, by Francesco Borromini, 1637–1650
Basílica, Ottobeuren, Alemania, 2019-06-21, DD 103.jpg|Rococo Doric columns and pilasters on the facade of the Ottobeuren Abbey of Ottobeuren, Germany, by Johann Michael Fischer, 1748–1754 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
The Casino at Marino - panoramio.jpg|Neoclassical columns and entablature of the Casino at the Marino House, near Dublin, Ireland, by William Chambers, 1758–1776 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:Saloon dome frieze, 1 of 4 - Stowe House - Buckinghamshire, England - DSC07187.jpg|Neoclassical Doric frieze with circular motifs in the that alternate with mascarons, in the Marble Saloon of the Stowe House, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, UK, probably by Vincenzo Valdrè, 1775–1788
File:Kepler Denkmal (Regensburg).JPG|Greek Revival columns of the Johannes Kepler Monuments, Regensburg, Germany, inspired by those of the Temple of the Delians in Delos, designed by Emanuel Herigoyen and sculpted by Philipp Jakob Scheffauer and Johann Heinrich Dannecker, 1808
150214 Neue Wache Berlin.jpg|Greek Revival columns of the Neue Wache, Berlin, where the triglyphs were replaced by Nike figures, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Salomo Sachs, 1816 (2025). 9780714879253, Phaidon. ISBN 9780714879253
Paris Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève 20161111 16h31.jpg|Neoclassical Doric pilasters with on the entrance front façade of the Sainte-Geneviève Library, Paris, designed by Henri Labrouste in 1838–1839, built in 1834–1850 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
Casimir Perier’s grave, Pere Lachaise, Paris.JPG|Neoclassical Doric pilasters on the Grave of Casimir Pierre Perier, Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, designed by Achille Leclère, and sculpted by François-Joseph Bosio and Jean-Pierre Cortot, 1837
Pair of doric pilasters in the avant-foyer of the Opéra Garnier.jpg|Beaux Arts Doric pilasters in the avant-foyer of the Palais Garnier, Paris, by Charles Garnier, 1861–1874 (2025). 9780500022368, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500022368
File:Façaden und Details moderner Bauten (1886) - T008.jpg|Renaissance Revival Doric pilasters with on them, of the Deutsche Bank (Mauerstraße no. 29), Berlin, by W. Martens, 1882
92 rue du Ranelagh, Paris 16e 3.jpg|Eclectic façade with and of the Suriname Embassy (Rue du Ranelagh no. 94), Paris, unknown architect, 1885 STUCK, FRANZ-VON - SüNDE - CC-BY-SA BSTGS 7925.jpg|Vienna Secession Doric columns on the frame of Die Sünde, painted by Franz Stuck, 1893, gilt wood and oil on canvas
File:W 44 St Sep 2021 159.jpg|Greek Revival columns at the entrance of the House of the New York City Bar Association, New York City, inspired by the one from the Temple of Hera I at Paestum, but decorated with meanders on the and bands of compressed leafs that are a little more complex and bases you would never see on Ancient Greek Doric columns (not visible in this photo), by Cyrus Eidlitz, 1895
File:Musee d'Orsay, North view 140402 1.jpg|Beaux Arts Doric pilasters on the façade of the Gare d'Orsay, Paris, designed by Victor Laloux in 1896–1897, and built in 1898–1900 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:Leopold bauer per jw. müller, vienna 1900-02, credenza.jpg|Vienna Secession Doric columns on a dresser, by Leopold Bauer, 1900–1902, various types of wood, in a temporary exhibition called Il Liberty e la rivoluzione europea delle arti at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague
Park Güell - panoramio (11).jpg|Art Nouveau Doric columns and entablature of The Greek Theatre in the Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain, by Antoni Gaudí, 1900–1914 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
Pont Bir Hakeim Paris 21.jpg|Beaux Arts Doric pilasters of the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Paris, by Jean Camille Formigé and Louis Biette, 1903–1905
File:Avenue du Président-Wilson 18.jpg|Art Deco reinterpretation of the Doric pilasters on the facade of Avenue du Président-Wilson no. 18, Paris, by Henri Tauzin, 1913
File:Westmorland House (4870178224).jpg|Art Deco reinterpretation of the Doric columns, with no flutings and with little or no entasis, on the Westmorland House (Regent Street no. 117–131), London, by Burnet & Tait, 1920-1925
Gustave Simon caveau.jpg|Art Deco reinterpretation of the Doric columns, with no capitals or bases, on the Gustave Simon Grave, Préville Cemetery, Nancy, France, unknown architect, after 1926
Grave of the Vasile I. Prodanof Family in the Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest, Romania (01).jpg|Neoclassical and Art Deco Doric columns of the Vasile I. Prodanof family tomb, Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest, unknown architect,
File:Stuttgart - Neue Staatsgalerie (35736940202) (cropped columns).jpg|Postmodern Doric columns of the Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany, by James Stirling, 1984 (2025). 9780714879253, Phaidon. ISBN 9780714879253
File:Chicago, Illinois, U.S. (2023) - 166.jpg|Postmodern reinterpretation of the Doric columns in the Harold Washington Library, Chicago, by Hammond, Beeby & Babka, 1991 (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
File:Cmglee Judge Business School rear.jpg|Postmodern Doric columns of the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, England, by John Outram, 1995 (2025). 9780500519141, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500519141
File:Duncanhall.JPG|Postmodern Doric pilasters and columns of the Duncan Hall, Rice University, US, by John Outram, 1996
Entrance of Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace (cropped).jpg|New Classical Doric columns of the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, inspired by the one from the Temple of Hera I at Paestum, by John Simpson, 2000-2002 (2025). 9781529420302, Laurence King. ISBN 9781529420302
File:US Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama..jpg|New Classical Doric columns of the Federal Building and Courthouse, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, US, inspired by those of the Temple of Zeus in Nemea, by the Chicago architectural firm Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, 2011
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