Palladio in the context of "Portico"

In architecture, a loggia (/ˈloʊdʒ(i)ə/ LOH-j(ee-)ə, usually UK: /ˈlɒdʒ(i)ə/ LOJ-(ee-)ə, Italian: [ˈlɔddʒa]) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only partial, with the upper part usually supported by a series of columns or arches. An overhanging loggia may be supported by a baldresca.

From the early Middle Ages, nearly every Italian comune had an open arched loggia in its main square, which served as a "symbol of communal justice and government and as a stage for civic ceremony".

Astylar (from Gr. ἀ-, privative, and στῦλος, a column) is an architectural term given to design which uses neither columns nor pilasters for decorative purposes; thus the Riccardi and Strozzi palaces in Florence are astylar in their design, as opposed to Palladio's palaces at Vicenza, which are columnar.

Queen's House is a former royal residence in the London borough of Greenwich, which presently serves as a public art gallery. It was built between 1616 and 1635 on the grounds of the now demolished Greenwich Palace, a few miles downriver from the City of London. In its current setting, it forms a central focus of the Old Royal Naval College with a grand vista leading to the River Thames, a World Heritage Site called, Maritime Greenwich. The Queen's House architect, Inigo Jones, was commissioned by Queen Anne of Denmark and her successor as queen consort, Queen Henrietta Maria. The House was a royal retreat and place to display and enjoy the artworks the queens had commissioned; this included the ceiling in the Great Hall that featured a work by Orazio Gentileschi titled Allegory of Peace and the Arts.

Queen's House is one of the most important buildings in British architectural history, due to it being the first consciously classical building to have been constructed in the country. It was Jones's first major commission after returning from his 1613–1615 grand tour of Roman, Renaissance, and Palladian architecture in Italy. Some earlier English buildings, such as Longleat and Burghley House, had made borrowings from the classical style, but the structure of these buildings was not informed by an understanding of classical precedents. Queen's House would have appeared revolutionary during this period. Although it diverges from the mathematical constraints of Palladio, Jones is often credited with the introduction of Palladianism with the construction of the Queen's House. Jones' unique architecture of the Queen's House also includes features like the Tulip Stairs, an intricate wrought iron staircase that holds itself up, and the Great Hall, a perfect cube.