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Under the portico of the Pantheon

Temple diagram with location of the pronaos highlighted

A portico (from Italian) is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in Ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures, including most Western cultures.

Some noteworthy examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome and the portico of University College London.

Bologna, Italy, is famous for its porticos. In total, there are over 45 kilometres of arcades, some 38 in the city center. The longest portico in the world, about 3.5 km (2 mi), extends from the edge of the city to Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. In Turin, Italy, porticos stretch for 18 kilometres.

Palladio was a pioneer of using temple-fronts for secular buildings. In the UK, the temple-front applied to The Vyne, Hampshire was the first portico applied to an English country house.

Pronaos[link]

A pronaos (UK: /proʊˈneɪ.ɒs/, US: /proʊˈneɪ.əs/) is the inner area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple, situated between the portico's colonnade or walls and the entrance to the cella, or shrine. Roman temples commonly had an open pronaos, usually with only columns and no walls, and the pronaos could be as long as the cella. The word pronaos is Greek for "before a temple". In Latin, a pronaos is also referred to as an anticum or prodomus.

Types of portico[link]

The different variants of porticos are named by the number of columns they have.

Tetrastyle[link]

Temple of Portunus, with its tetrastyle portico of four Ionic columns

The tetrastyle has four columns; it was commonly employed by the Greeks and the Etruscans for small structures such as public buildings and amphiprostyles.

The Romans favoured the four columned portico for their pseudoperipteral temples like the Temple of Portunus, and for amphiprostyle temples such as the Temple of Venus and Roma, and for the prostyle entrance porticos of large public buildings like the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine. Roman provincial capitals also manifested tetrastyle construction, such as the Capitoline Temple in Volubilis.

The North Portico of the White House is perhaps the most notable four-columned portico in the United States.

Hexastyle[link]

Hexastyle buildings had six columns and were the standard facade in canonical Greek Doric architecture between the archaic period 600–550 BC up to the Age of Pericles 450–430 BC.

Greek hexastyle[link]

The hexastyle Temple of Concord at Agrigentum (c. 430 B.C)

Some well-known examples of classical Doric hexastyle Greek temples:

• The group at Paestum comprising the Temple of Hera (c. 550 BC), the Temple of Apollo (c. 450 BC), the first Temple of Athena ("Basilica") (c. 500 BC) and the second Temple of Hera (460–440 BC)
• The Temple of Athena Aphaia (the invisible) at Aegina c. 495 BC
• Temple E at Selinus (465–450 BC) dedicated to Hera
• The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, now a ruin
• Temple F or the so-called "Temple of Concord" at Agrigentum (c. 430 BC), one of the best-preserved classical Greek temples, retaining almost all of its peristyle and entablature.
• The "unfinished temple" at Segesta (c. 430 BC)
• The Hephaesteum below the Acropolis at Athens, long known as the "Theseum" (449–444 BC), also one of the most intact Greek temples surviving from antiquity)
• The Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sunium (c. 449 BC)^[1]

Hexastyle was also applied to Ionic temples, such as the prostyle porch of the sanctuary of Athena on the Erechtheum, at the Acropolis of Athens.

Roman hexastyle[link]

With the colonization by the Greeks of Southern Italy, hexastyle was adopted by the Etruscans and subsequently acquired by the ancient Romans. Roman taste favoured narrow pseudoperipteral and amphiprostyle buildings with tall columns, raised on podiums for the added pomp and grandeur conferred by considerable height. The Maison Carrée at Nîmes, France, is the best-preserved Roman hexastyle temple surviving from antiquity.

Octostyle[link]

The western side of the Parthenon.

Octostyle buildings had eight columns; they were considerably rarer than the hexastyle ones in the classical Greek architectural canon. The best-known octostyle buildings surviving from Antiquity are the Parthenon in Athens, built during the Age of Pericles (450–430 BC), and the Pantheon in Rome (125 AD). The destroyed Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome, the centre of the Augustan cult, is shown on Roman coins of the 2nd century AD as having been built in octostyle.

Decastyle[link]

The decastyle has ten columns; as in the temple of Apollo Didymaeus at Miletus, and the portico of University College London.

See also[link]

Portico close to piazza Santo Stefano, Bologna

• Classical architecture
• List of classical architecture terms
• Hypostyle
• Loggia
• Stoa

Line notes[link]

References[link]

• Greek architecture Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1968
• Stierlin, Henri. Greece: From Mycenae to the Parthenon, TASCHEN, 2004, Editor-in-chief Angelika Taschen, Cologne, ISBN 3-8228-1225-0
• Stierlin, Henri. The Roman Empire: From the Etruscans to the Decline of the Roman Empire, TASCHEN, 2002, Edited by Silvia Kinkle, Cologne, ISBN 3-8228-1778-3

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John Leckie is a British music producer, notable for producing many high-profile albums such as The Stone Roses's debut (The Stone Roses) and Radiohead's The Bends. Leckie has received several awards for his work including the prestigious “Producer of the Year” award by Jimmy Page at the Music Managers Forum in 2001.

Early career[link]

Leckie began work at Abbey Road Studios on 15 February 1970 as a Tape-Operator, later graduating to Balance Engineer.^[1] During this early career he worked with artists such as John Lennon (Plastic Ono Band), George Harrison, (All Things Must Pass),^[1] Syd Barrett (Barrett) and Pink Floyd (Meddle and Wish You Were Here). With Paul McCartney's Wings Leckie worked on Red Rose Speedway and the then-controversial single Hi, Hi, Hi. He mixed Be-Bop Deluxe's debut album Axe Victim. His first job as producer was the same band's third album Sunburst Finish, which fruitful collaboration continued through Modern Music, Live! In The Air Age and Drastic Plastic.

Leckie left Abbey Road in 1978 and produced albums for Simple Minds (Life in a Day, Real to Real Cacophony and Empires and Dance) and Magazine (Real Life). For Be-Bop Deluxe founder Bill Nelson, he produced the Red Noise album Sound on Sound and Nelson's subsequent solo album Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam (the latter unreleased until 1981). Leckie produced the debut single, Public Image for the post-Sex Pistols formation Public Image Ltd while singer John Lydon was still technically with the Pistols. Leckie's work with XTC included 3D-EP, as well as the band's later albums: White Music,^[1] Go 2, 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot which XTC issued under the pseudonym The Dukes of Stratosphear.

1980s work[link]

High profile album productions in the 1980s included work with The Fall, Brix Smith's post-Fall project The Adult Net, The Lucy Show, The Doctor's Children, Gene Loves Jezebel, Bill Nelson, The Posies, The Dukes of Stratosphear, and Let's Active. For some of his work with The Dukes, The Adult Net and The Doctor's Children, all bands that had strong 1960's psychedelic overtones, Leckie adopted the pseudonym 'Swami Anand Nagara'.

However, a landmark in Leckie's career came in 1989 when he produced The Stone Roses' debut album The Stone Roses.^[2] The album was voted the best record of all time on a music poll taken by BBC 6 and features as Number 1 on the Observer Music Monthly’s June 2004 “100 Greatest British Albums”.

1990s[link]

Throughout the 1990s Leckie's work continued to garner awards being named Best Producer by Music Week (1995) and at the Q Awards (1996) and Brit Awards (1997), the latter accolade arriving almost exactly 27 years to the day after he first started at Abbey Road Studios.^[1]

With Madchester and Britpop dominating British popular music of the early and mid 1990s nineties, Leckie's talents were in constant demand. Notable production credits from this era include Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians' 1991 album Respect, the Stone Roses' album Second Coming, The Lilac Time's And Love For All, Ride's 1993 (Carnival of Light), Elastica's 1994 eponymous debut album, Cast's albums All Change (1995) and Mother Nature Calls (1997), Kula Shaker's debut K (1996), and The Verve's A Storm in Heaven.

However, Leckie's work during the 1990s widened considerably to include the work of Dr John (Anutha Zone) and the Cowboy Junkies (Miles From Our Home) along with a series of world musicians. During the Real World Recording Weeks he worked with Papa Wemba, Shivkumar Sharma, Gopal Shankar and Rizwan Qualli. In 2000, John produced the album Missing You for Palm Pictures' African artist Baaba Maal. The music was recorded in challenging insect-plagued conditions, mostly after dark in Baaba Maal's house in rural Senegal. As the house had no electricity everything was powered from a Honda generator. Despite heat, biting insects and the sounds of cicadas sometimes so intense that the microphones had to be turned off, the album earned rave reviews.

Recent career[link]

Leckie's career took another important forward step in 1999 when producing the debut album Showbiz for Taste Media’s then new signings Muse. This went platinum on the heels of the band's breakthrough 2001 second album Origin of Symmetry, also produced by Leckie, which reached No. 3 in the UK album Chart.

In 2002, Leckie produced a single for Suede (Positivity from the album New Morning), and the eleventh album of Latin superstars and three time Grammy winners Los Lobos (Good Morning Atztlan), for Mammoth Records at CGR Studio’s in California. The latter album entered the Billboard 100 at number 82.

In 2003, he oversaw the remastering of the The Stone Roses compilation on Silvertone and produced the One Minute Silence album “One Lie Fits All” for Taste Media. At this time Leckie also did a stereo mix of “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum from the original four-track tape for vinyl release only. The track was mixed on an Edwardian houseboat called "Astoria” which belongs to David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Leckie also produced a solo LP for John Power (from The La's and Cast) for Eagle Rock and shared in producing The Blockheads album 'Where's The Party"

In 2004, he produced tracks for New Order, "Waiting For The Siren's Call" and highly acclaimed My Computer No CV. Working in the USA he produced an album for Longwave “There’s A Fire” with RCA.

In 2005, Leckie produced the highly critically lauded 4th album for My Morning Jacket entitled “Z”, also for RCA, recorded at Allaire Studios in upstate New York and mixed at infamous Sunset Sound in Hollywood. Later that year, he produced a self-titled album for Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela for Irish label Rubyworks. This album, after initially going straight to number one in Ireland, continued gaining ground across the world and was No.1 in the American 'Heat Seekers' chart and also a regular No.1 in the Billboard World Music charts for many months.

In 2006, he produced the debut album by newcomers Tiny Dancers entitled 'Free School Milk' for Parlophone, the EP 'Fast', and the track 'Back To The Start' for Razorlight for Vertigo / Mercury.

2007 saw a union of two household names around Manchester, John Leckie and Doves. Leckie produced 3 tracks for the new album between Rockfield and Mickie Most’s RAK Studios. John also traveled to LA to produce further tracks by Rodrigo y Gabriela and was reunited with Baaba Maal (this time in a London studio) to produce the album Televison He also recorded what became known as The John Leckie String Quartet Sessions for Scott Matthews

In 2008, Leckie produced a debut album for new signing to Mercury, Sergeant, and travelled to India, as part of a British Council led project to produce for local Indian Rock acts at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai: Medusa, Swarathma, Indigo Children and Advaita.

In 2009 he travelled to Mexico to work again with Rodrigo y Gabriela on tracks for the album 11:11. Leckie then returned to Abbey Road to record and produce the jazz sounds of Portico Quartet and was also called in to remaster the Anniversary Edition Box Set of The Stone Roses eponymous first LP complete with John's videos of the sessions and some long lost demos. Leckie also appeared in TV's Classic Album Series playing and commenting on tapes from Plastic Ono Band sessions he had worked on some 40 years previous at Abbey Road Studios

In 2010, Leckie produced The Coral's much acclaimed 6th studio album, Butterfly House. Back at Abbey Road this time to record live the album Hedonism for the award winning 11 piece folk big band Bellowhead. He also gave a masterclass talk on his work at British Music Experience at O2 in London.

Awards[link]

• 1995 — Music Week award for Best Producer
• 1996 — Q Award for Best Producer
• 1997 — Brit Award
• 2001 — UK Music Managers Forum for Best Producer

Notable album credits as producer[link]

• The Adverts: Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts
• The Atrix: The Atrix
• Baaba Maal: Missing You (Mi Yeewnii) Senegal
• Baaba Maal: "Television"
• Be-Bop Deluxe: "Sunburst Finish"
• Be-Bop Deluxe: 'Modern Music"
• Be-Bop Deluxe: "Live! In The Air Age"
• Be-Bop Deluxe: Drastic Plastic
• Red Noise: "Sound on Sound"
• Bill Nelson: Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam
• Bill Nelson: The Love That Whirls
• The Blockheads "Where's The Party"
• Phillip Boa & Voodoo Club: Copperfield Germany
• Bellowhead: Hedonism
• Cast: All Change
• Cast: Mother Nature Calls
• The Coral: Butterfly House
• Cowboy Junkies: Miles from Home Canada
• Denim: Back in Denim
• De Press: Block to Block and Product Norway
• The Doctor's Children: Rose Cottage EP and King Buffalo album
• Doctors of Madness: Figments of Emancipation
• Doves: Kingdom of Rust (album tracks "Winter Hill" and "10:03," and the B-side "Push Me On" only)
• Dr. John: Anutha Zone
• The Dukes of Stratosphear: 25 O'Clock, Psonic Psunspot (as Swami Anand Nagara, his sannyasin name, when he was a follower of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)^{[citation needed]}
• Endgames: Futures Looking Fine EP
• The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
• The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace
• The Fall: Bend Sinister
• Fear of Music: Fast. Faster. Fastest. EP
• Felt: The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories
• Gene Loves Jezebel: Immigrant
• Gopal Shankar Misra: Out of Stillness
• The Grapes of Wrath: These Days Canada
• Roy Harper: Bullinamingvase
• Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: Respect
• Thee Hypnotics: Soul, Glitter,Sin
• House of Freaks: Tantilla USA
• Hamell on Trial: Tough Love USA
• The Human League: Holiday 80 EP
• Kula Shaker: K
• Let's Active: Every Dog Has His Day USA
• Los Lobos: Good Morning Aztlán USA
• Longwave: There's a Fire USA
• The Lilac Time: & Love for All
• The Lucy Show: Mania
• Magazine: Real Life
• Roger McGough: Summer With Monica
• Morgan Fisher: Seasons
• Muse: Showbiz
• Muse: Origin of Symmetry
• My Morning Jacket: Z USA
• My Computer: No CV Manchester UK
• New Order: Waiting for the Sirens' Call (certain tracks) as above..
• One Minute Silence: One Lie Fits All
• Mark Owen: Green Man
• Portico Quartet: "Isla (album)"
• John Power: Happening For Love
• The Posies: Dear 23 USA
• Public Image Ltd: Public Image 1st single
• Radiohead: The Bends
• Ride: Carnival of Light
• Rodrigo y Gabriela: Rodrigo y Gabriela
• Scarlet: Chemistry
• Scott Matthews: The John Leckie Sessions with Strings EP
• Shivkumar Sharma: Sampradaya
• The Skids: Masquerade EP
• The Silencers: Dance to the Holy Man
• Simple Minds: Life in a Day
• Simple Minds: Real to Real Cacophony
• Simple Minds: Empires and Dance
• Six By Seven: The Closer You Get
• Suede: "Positivity" (tracks)
• Starsailor: Shark Food (tracks)
• The Cut: Shadow Talk Norway
• The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses 1st album
• The Stone Roses: "One Love"
• The Stone Roses: "Fools Gold/What the World Is Waiting For"
• Trashcan Sinatras: Cake
• The Troubadours: Gimme Love - Here Comes The Tide (Double A-Side)
• Tiny Dancers: Free School Milk
• The Verve: A Storm in Heaven
• Papa Wemba: Molokai
• XTC: White Music
• XTC: Go 2
• XTC: Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 78-80

References[link]

External links[link]

• Producer John Leckie On The Ten Essential Records He's Worked On
• John Leckie On That Stone Roses Album & The Trouble With Kids These Days
• Official website celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Stone Roses' debut album
• The making of "Fools Gold"
• John Leckie gives young Indian rock groups a push with Soundpad
• John Leckie's interview with Daily Music Guide

Video links[link]

• TMV Video Interview – John Leckie, Record Producer