<P> An order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions , regulated by the office that each part has to perform `` . Coming down to the present from Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman civilization , the architectural orders are the styles of classical architecture , each distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details , and most readily recognizable by the type of column employed . The three orders of architecture -- the Doric , Ionic , and Corinthian -- originated in Greece . To these the Romans added , in practice if not in name , the Tuscan , which they made simpler than Doric , and the Composite , which was more ornamental than the Corinthian . The architectural order of a classical building is akin to the mode or key of classical music , the grammar or rhetoric of a written composition . It is established by certain modules like the intervals of music , and it raises certain expectations in an audience attuned to its language . </P>
doric ionic and corinthian orders all refer to types of
styles of classical architecture , each distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details , and most readily recognizable by the type of column employed