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Among the Classical orders of architecture, the Tuscan order is the newcomer, a stocky simplified variant of the Doric order that was introduced into the canon of classical architecture by Italian architectural theorists of the 16th century. The five orders including a "Tuscan order" were meticulously described by the Italian Sebastiano Serlio in his treatise on architecture (1537 51). In the Tuscan order as Serlio envisaged it, the column had a simpler base and was unfluted, while both capital and entablature were without adornments. A plain astragal ringed the column beneath its plain cap.
This primitive and sturdy order was considered most appropriate in military architecture and in docks and warehouses when they were dignified by architectural treatment.
Because the Tuscan mode is easily worked up by a carpenter with a few planing tools, it became part of the vernacular Georgian style that has lingered in places like New England and Ohio deep into the 19th century. In gardening, "carpenter's Doric" which is Tuscan, provides gate posts and fences in many traditional garden contexts.
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