The dentil cornice, has its origins in the temples and buildings of ancient Greece and Rome, so called, of course, from the fact it resembles teeth.

All things Roman became the height of fashion during the Georgian period when a visit to the ruins of ancient Rome was considered an essential part of their education for those who could afford it. 

The ideas they brought back were incorporated into both the interior and exterior of their houses, with dentil designs in the exterior of many public buildings and grand houses from the Georgian and Victorian periods.

Inside the houses, dentil designs were to be found in furniture, and decorative plaster work, sometimes as part of a more complex moulding combining many elements, or as in this case, a simple but striking single dentil cornice.

With a drop of 135mm or just over five inches, this cornice is a useful size, ideal for ceilings of average height and slightly above. Which makes it an popular choice when restoring Victorian and Edwardian houses.

If you're planning to install your cornice yourself, we have a range of installation tools and installation materials, along with some helpful instructional videos on the website.

We make all our plastic cornice by hand. Each piece is individually moulded using the same techniques and materials that were used in Victorian times. It would be impossible to cast the dental blocks cleanly any other way than by hand.