Windows and Window Motives 



101 



Except for the Spanish in Florida and southern California, the French in 

 Louisiana, the Dutch in New York and the Swedes in Delaware^ the influence 

 in the United States was that of the English down to the latter part of the nine- 

 teenth century. The forms of windows were generally simple, and as the English 

 copied largely from the Italian revival, many of the better forms are from 

 this source. 



One of the first considerations in regard to- windows is their location in the 

 room. They must admit light and air; they must give a clear outlook, and yet 

 not rob one of one's privacy. If your estate be small it is not well that your 

 neighbour should be able to tell by casual observation (through an opera glass) 

 whether the label on your smoked ham be that of Swift or another, or that 

 the game piece on your dining-room wall be a genuine "Old Master" or a chromo. 

 Hangings will do much, but it is not well that they should become an absolute 

 necessity. Another thing, and an all-important one, is the relation of the window 

 to the furniture. Piano backs do not look well from without, to say nothing of 

 their effect from the inside. Chairs, sofas, sideboards, beds and the like should 

 be provided for. If they are not considered, they have an awkward habit of 

 getting under foot and of destroying 

 what might have been otherwise a well- 

 calculated lay-out. Some people have 

 an idea that to pepper the windows in 

 with arcade-like regularity means good 

 lighting. Perhaps it does, but a home 

 is not a public school. There is such 

 a thing as too much light, all supposition 

 to the contrary, and there is also danger 

 in too little, which is, perhaps, after all, 

 the greater evil. 



There is much diverse opinion as 

 to whether windows should be dis- 



tributed or brought together in one 

 motive. One argument in favour of the 

 latter plan is that the light is more 

 concentrated and that a more generous 

 view is afforded if the windows of one 

 side of the room at least be grouped. 

 With this grouping, the wall space also 

 becomes more massed and affords a 

 better chance for the distribution of fur- 

 niture. Of course there are places where 

 the ordinary width of a single window 

 can and should be used. The style of 

 the edifice and the size of the rooms 



should govern this largely, but on general principles it seems better that the 

 s-ame amount of lighting surface were better in its concentration than distributed 

 among several small windows. 



French window motive in the influence of the Classic revival at 

 Flushing, Long Island, N. Y. The stairs are of later date 



