Wikipedia:Naming conventions (architecture)

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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WP:CHURCH

This page is a complement to Wikipedia's naming conventions, not a replacement. Always consider Wikipedia:Naming conventions when naming a page.

Naming convention

Common names should be used, plus the name of the settlement, administrative division or country in which the building is located where necessary.

Buildings

Towers

Tower articles should be titled after their common names (Leaning Tower of Pisa)

Eiffel Tower – only one; use singular.
Watts Towers – more than one; use plural.

Places of worship (churches, monasteries, cathedrals, abbeys etc.)

Places of worship articles should be named using the most commonly known English name (Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, formally known as the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine).

If there is no English name by which the church is commonly known, (mostly regarding places of worship in non-English-speaking territories)), then this order should be used:

The Saint's name(s) first, followed by the word monastery, church, cathedral, abbey, etc.—St. Archangels Monastery rather than Monastery of Saint Archangels; St. John's Church rather than Church of St. John.

The words Church, Monastery, Cathedral, Abbey should be capitalised; St. John's Church rather than St. John's church

When the church or monastery name is also the name of a church saint, "St." rather than "Saint"—St. Peter's Church, St. Peter's Cathedral, St. Peter's Abbey, etc. ^[1]

Use of full stop (period) (.) after "St"; St. Mary's Church versus St Mary's Church is a matter of WP:ENGVAR; refer to use in reliable sources and consistency within the nation.

In instances where multiple places of worship have the same name or dedication, use the name of the settlement or administrative division in which the building is located—St. Mark's Church, Belgrade; St. Mark's Church, Zagreb.
- The name of the location of the building should be used without brackets and should be separated from the building's name with a comma—St. Mark's Church, Zagreb rather than St. Mark's Church (Belgrade).

Geographical placenames (towns, cities, etc.)

For landmarks and geographical names in the US, the abbreviation "St." is commonly used with a full stop (period)—St. Augustine, Florida—
For landmarks and geographical names in the UK, the abbreviation "St" is commonly used without a full stop (period)—St Albans.
For landmarks and geographical names in other territories, use the most-common, locally-used convention. If no local variety of English can be defined, the word "Saint" should not be abbreviated Saint Petersburg for the Russian city). ^[2]

Mills

For named mills, use the name by which the building is most commonly known; this will usually follow the convention name of mill followed by location or location followed by type of mill. Examples: Union Mill, Cranbrook and Thelnetham Windmill. This applies to watermills, cotton mills and similarly-named buildings and locations.

Lighthouses

For named lighthouses that are well known and have common English names, use the name.
- For English-named locations with lighthouses, add the word "lighthouse" or "Lighthouse", depending whether sources capitalize it; Kõpu Lighthouse, Adziogol lighthouse, Cuvier Island Lighthouse.
  - For lighthouses that are best known by their non English names, use that name; Torre della Lanterna, Genoa, Italy.
  - For unnamed lighthouses, use the convention location followed by lighthouse; Cape Palliser lighthouse.

An alternative convention is to use "light" or "Light" instead of "Lighthouse". There is no established preference of one format over the other, or variance on a case-by-case basis based on use in sources.

Landmarks

Landmarks should follow the same conventions as all other buildings, written above.

Architects

Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) is useful as a guide to writing architects' names.

References

[1] Buildings named after people

[2] "Saint" / inconsistent use of "St" and "St."

[1]

[2]