Cast-iron architecture
Buildings originally designed to emulate stone buildings in Renaissance style designs. They eventually developed a recognizable style of their own. They housed manufacturing companies who have since vanished, leaving large uninterrupted spaces with heavy timber and iron construction in its wake. Many have now been converted to living lofts above commercial stores.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
cast-iron architecture
In building construction, cast iron used in combination with wrought iron for the framing of commercial buildings and for the components of cast-iron fronts; used primarily before the advent of steel-frame construction. Usually characterized by: prefabricated cast-iron components, repetitive modules, and large windows, in contrast to earlier masonry façades in which large windows were impractical because they weakened the wall into which they were set.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.