The Construction of the Small House / A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to Build

by H. Vandervoort Walsh

XX
TRADITIONS OF THE CONSTRUCTION
OF DOORS AND WINDOWS

Windows

Primitive window

What are the elements of design in the elevations of the small house? Surely they are not the five classical orders, as commonly used in monumental architecture, but rather they are the doors and windows. The successful placing and careful detailing of the doors and windows of a small house will have more to do with the architectural attractiveness of the structure than anything else, for, after all, the most important part of any elevation is the treatment of the holes in it. The walls would be plain and uninteresting but for the holes where the doors and windows are placed. The fenestration cannot be too large or too small, and here is the problem. We desire plenty of light and air, but we must also recognize that windows which are too large leave little wall space in the rooms, are cold in winter, and appear less homelike than smaller and snugger appearing ones. Then, too, windows which are of plain, clear glass in very large sheets make these holes appear open and black, and this is quite contrary to our traditions of the windows of a home, which should be safe and cosey. The omission of muntins from the windows of small houses is a great mistake in design, even though these small panes require a little more work to wash.

Lattice Window

Our traditions of door and window construction come, as do other structural traditions, from England. Undoubtedly the earliest structures had no windows at all, but were lighted by the openings through the defective construction of the walls and also through the door. Our ancestors of those days were more interested in protecting themselves from outside intruders than they were in fresh air and sunshine in their rooms. When it was safe to build windows they were only holes in the walls. Some of the old huts, built on crucks, a construction previously described, had holes in the roofs for windows, which served the double purpose of letting in light and letting out the smoke of the fire. We get an inkling of what a window was from the very derivation of the word itself, which comes from the old Norse word “wind-auga” or wind-eye. This does not sound like a glazed sash, nor does the other Anglo-Saxon term for window, “wind-dur,” meaning wind-door, suggest a closed aperture. Of course these windows were undoubtedly closed in some way or other in stormy weather or when danger was outside. Probably a wooden board or shutter was used, which had a small peep-hole cut in it. These were hung from the top, and when opened were held in position with a prop on the outside.

There is no certainty of when the smaller domestic houses of England began to use glazed windows. In 1519 William Horman wrote: “I wyll haue a latesse before the glasse for brekynge.” This would suggest that windows of latticework were preferred because of the cost of glass, and this might have been filled instead with canvas, horn, or tile to let in some light. But another writer in 1562 says: “Lattice keepeth out the light and letteth in the winde.” When glass windows were used, however, the small bits of glass were held in position by lead in diamond-shaped patterns, which probably were adopted from the form of the old lattice windows, although later it was found that rectangular panes were cheaper. But the use of glass in small houses is comparatively modern, for, before the reign of Henry VIII, glass windows were rare except in churches and gentlemen’s houses.