Dado

Dado (Ital., 'a die'), in classical Architecture, the term applied to the cubic block which forms the body of a pedestal. It is also applied to the plane face and the series of mouldings which, in the interiors of buildings, form, as it were, a continuous pedestal. The interior dado is formed of wood, and, running round the bottom of the walls of a room, serves to protect the plaster or paper from injury. Dados and wall-linings were much used in Elizabethan and subsequent styles till this century, when, under the classic regime, they were dispensed with. The recent revival of the 'Queen Anne' taste, however, has led to the reintroduction of dados not only in the form of wooden panelings, but also in the painting and papering of the walls.