edifice

noun

Etymology: From Middle English edifice, from Old French edifice, a classical borrowing of Latin aedificium (“building”), derived from aedificāre (“to build, establish”) (whence also English edify).

1. A building; a structure; an architectural fabric, especially a large and spectacular one.
2. An abstract structure, such as a school of thought, an argument, a theoretical position, etc.

   “The real difficulty was moral, not intellectual. Was the whole edifice of Ptolemy to be destroyed?”

   “With a great thump on the table, Poirot demolished his carefully built up edifice.”