XXVI. Windows

When Pentridge House wer’ still the nest / Of souls that now ha’ better rest, / Avore the vier burnt to ground / His beams an’ walls that then wer’ sound—/ ‘Ithin a nail-bestudded door, / An’ passage an’ a stwonen vloor.

There spread the hall, where zan-light shone. In drough a window fream’d wi’ stwone.

William Barnes.

The primary object of the introduction of windows into a house is to let light into its rooms. They also afford a means of looking at the outside world, and in their modern development also afford the outside world a means of looking in. While apart from these uses they also serve for the ventilation of i the house.

In the modern house, windows are almost invariably too large, and this excessive size is fatal both to the comfort and beauty of the rooms. If we enter an old house on a hot summer’s day, one of the most pleasant qualities we notice is its coolness, and though it is amply lighted there is a sensation of remoteness from the outside world. We feel at once really an inhabitant of an indoor world, where the blazing sun, or the pouring rain, may be almost forgotten. It is a shelter and retreat—a pleasant haven, and this quality about it goes far to give us the feeling of rest associated! with the idea of home.

And all this is greatly due to the small windows. But on entering the modern villa no such pleasant impression meets us. Already fromi the outside we have been made aware of these ashes in the structure, which reveal the window arranged, like a shop is, for outside effect. There is the table with its vase, the lace curtains, and the rest. Inside, we are met by a glaring and pitiless light which destroys all sense of repose or shelter. The rain beats in torrents against the glass, and the sun blazes uncheckecd into the room. The window is indeed furnished with all kinds of expensive dust-collecting upholstery, but even this cannot cloak the glaring light. The window has also made the room susceptible to every change of temperature outside. It is impossible to cool it in summer, or heat it in winter.

So much for its practical effect. To say that large windows make architecture all but impossible is to touch an aspect of the case which Will interest few, but I can recall no example of building where the windows are formed with large sheets of glass which have survived their disastrous effect. The beauty of glass depends entirely on its use in small pieces, in a setting which, allowing of a slight variation in their planes, will make them sparkle and twinkle. The large sheet, with its blank and vacant stare, should never be used unless under stress of circumstances.

One of the most essential reforms in the modern house is thee reduction of its windows to a reasonable size, and their careful placing to amply light the interior without destroying its repose, or making it unduly subject to the changes of the external temperature. With the large window will also be banished all its trappings and the Venetian blind, and the rest of the upholstery with t: he cumbrous poles and rings will be replaced by a simple curtain blind, on a light rod of brass or iron.

Many people who regard the window mainly as a means of prospect demand they large sheet of glass. Such a demand can, however, be generally met by concessions introducing a larger pane of plate-glass to command a particular new, Windows can be made large enough to meet such requirements without any serious drawbacks, but there are those who find a peculiar pleasure in the prospect afforded by the smaller pane. The leaded line becomes a bar of shade which seems to enhance the beauty of the landscape it conceals, and yet reveals. Imagination, which is foiled by the bald complete revelation of the plate-glass window, has here a chance to play its part, and to way/e a beauty of its own out of the actual facts partially displayed, and the wimdow becomes a picture gallery of separate scenes, each with its own little frame. The type of window most suitable, at any rate in the country andi suburbs, is the casement opening outwards like a door. It is the simplest to construct, and least likely to get out of order. As it enlarges it increases horizontally in the low room, and in higher apartments it increases vertically bw one or more rows of lights separated by horizontal bars. The long low type of window has a practical advantage which is not always recognised. On a south aspect it may be left uncurtained without fear of the direct rays of the sun raking the whole room. The sash window is more suitable in the town than in the country, though it is a necessary part of the house whichi is based on Georgian traditions. It is better adapted for lofty rooms than low ones, and is not suited for the horizontal type of window which is adwocated for the average house. In its modern form it has been much debased by the thinness of its cross-bars, but when these are of reasonable thickness, amd well moulded as in its earlier forms, it is more acceptable, but it never achiieves the simple constructional appearance of the casement.

In the small house the casement window will, on economical grounds, be constructed in wood, but in larger houses stone will be admissible, and this building ofF the window-frame with the leaded glass let into the stone, reduces the openings to their simplest structural form. There is no external woodwork to require painting, and the whole exterior of the house will look capable ot standing the weather. Stone window-frames are specially suitable in the stone house of a stone district, and especially in bleak exposed positions where woodwork often has a flimsy appearance. Casement window-frames of both wood or stone should be simple and solid in their construction, and should -.appear to be fully capable of carrying the wall over them without the additioni of concealed lintels or arches. The wooden casement is most happily at home in the house framed in half timber, where its mullions appear part of the general framing.

In order to secure the feeling of enclosure from the outside world it is desirable that the window sill should not be too near the floor, and to make the best use of the window area for lighting it, is important that the window-head should be near the ceiling level.

In order to secure ideal artistic conditions, especially in low-toned rooms, it is desirable that all windows which are on the level of the eye should be toned by means of stained glass or other means. Any light in a room which has the effect of causing inhalation in a photograph off the room has also the effect of dazzling the eye and making it out of focus with the lower tones, of the interior, which would be best seen if all the light came from above.

The function of muslin curtains to windows is to temper the crudeness of the light. For the same purpose the Japanese use oiled paper in their windows, and this suffused and tempered light helps to maintain that feeling of repose which is somewhat diminished by the glare of light from a window which is on the level of the eye. The objection may be much reduced by the placing of the windows so that the room may be viewed on entering it lighted from a side which is not facing the observer. In a hall, part of the lighting may be gained from windows at a high level, but it is impossible under ordinary conditions to quite get over this difficulty, andi the best that can be effected is a more or less successful compromise. The objection is much reduced by the reduction in the size of the windows, which has been advocated.; but as long as windows are considered necessary for outlook as well as inlets of light, they must necessarily involve a certain glare of light. It is best, therefore, to concentrate the window space so that the light comes from one side only, and that side being the one wherever possible which it is not necessary to face. This lighting from one point is also desirable for the general appearance of the room and its occupants. Cross-lights are always undesirable, and most things look best when lighted from one side only.

The function of the bay window is chiefly to enlargfe the range of prospect and aspect in a room. By this means a window on an east or west front may admit the southern sun or display a view to north or south which might otherwise be lost. Their position and form should be to a great extent the outcome of local requirements in this respect. They also have their uses in extending the floor-space of the room. They may often be fitted with a window-seat, which, in helping to reduce the mowable furniture, will tend towards the ideal of the unobstructed floor-space in the room.

Where means will allow it is desirable to glaze the leadedl squares of the window with crown-glass. Instead of the absolutely flat surface of sheet-glass, this has subtle modulations which, while they do not detract from its uses, give it that characteristic quality which it should be one“s aim to secure in all the materials for the house.

The casement window will give opportunities for some interesting blacksmiths’ work in the form of casement stays and fasteners.