Swedish Blonde Girl On The Terrace With White Columns

A column that carries the load down to a foundation must have means to transfer the load without overstressing the foundation material. Reinforced concrete and masonry columns are generally built directly on top of concrete foundations. A steel column, when seated on a concrete foundation, must have a base plate to spread the load over a larger area and thereby reduce the bearing pressure. The base plate is a thick rectangular steel plate usually welded to the bottom end of the column.
Classical orders
The Roman author Vitruvius, relying on the writings (now lost) of Greek authors, tells us that the ancient Greeks believed that their Doric order developed from techniques for building in wood in which the earlier smoothed tree trunk was replaced by a stone cylinder.