Venetian blinds are being more frequently used 
in place of shutters 
Casements really can be made tight against rain 
and wind 
A curious old Georgian window in “Homewood” 
(1803), near Baltimore 
What Kind of Windows? 
SETTLING THE MATTER NOT ONLY ON THE BASIS OF PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND 
COMFORT BUT WITH SOME THOUGHT FOR BEAUTY BOTH FROM WITHIN AND WITHOUT 
by Carleton Monroe Winslow 
Photographs by Julian Buddy, Henry Troth and others 
T HE problem of proper windows for the house is certainly 
a practical one, but as the practicability of any household 
problem involves quite as much a satisfactory solution of har¬ 
monious appearance and the possibility of good decorative adorn¬ 
ing as it does its utility, we must weigh these different elements 
and harmonize them all. 
Windows are the natural openings into a house for letting in 
light and ventilation; besides this they are placed to get the 
advantage of views and vistas from inside the house. Sometimes 
they combine these purposes with that of egress and ingress from 
rooms to verandas and terraces. 
The first consideration, that of position and size, seems to be 
a practical one. Housekeepers often say, “ You cannot get too 
much light into a room.” Such a housekeeper is, of course, a 
sunlight enthusiast and speaks strongly, but it is better to have 
too much than too little light, providing the area of fenestration 
does not ruin the architectural character of the house. The fault 
with most of our American houses to-day is that the windows 
are too large in proportion to the size of house. If the size of the 
windows could be reduced and their number increased, the path 
of the conscientious house designer would be made much easier. 
Generally the house can be designed so that the windows can be 
grouped and separated only by mullions. Outside blinds inter¬ 
fere with this grouping, but the use of exterior blinds seems to be 
waning. Awnings or Venetian blinds may be used in the summer 
time to temper the brilliant sunshine and yet allow adequate 
ventilation. In the winter one wants all the sunshine he can get. 
Shutters should always be provided for such houses as have 
to be closed for any length of time during the year. These 
shutters should be made with solid wood panels and fastened from 
within. If the house is to be occupied during the winter and 
storm-windows are needed—and they generally are needed upon 
the more exposed sides of our houses in the northern states, rebates 
for the shutters should be made sufficiently deep to accommodate 
the storm-windows in place of the shutters, and a metal ventilator 
or sliding panel provided for at least one of the panes of glass. 
Now comes the much discussed question of whether the win¬ 
dows should be in large single sheets of glass or divided into smaller 
ones by the use of wood, lead or other metal muntins. It is 
quite true that in the early days of window glass manufacture, the 
sash had to be divided into small panes in order to glaze it at all. 
Glass was expensive and the muntins and bars were frequently 
scribed and gouged away to accommodate the irregularities of the 
glass. The mere fact that we can if we wish get a sheet of glass 
10 x 20 ft. in size does not warrant the inartistic practice of design¬ 
ing large windows glazed with single sheets of staring glass. These 
large sheets tend to reduce the apparent size of a house from 
the outside and destroy the “scale,” that fugitive quality all 
good designers strive so earnestly to achieve. 
Then there is the appearance inside the house to consider. 
It is well known that windows divided into smaller panes of 
glass tend to increase the apparent size of a room. They 
certainly add to the home character of a house—why, it is difficult 
to explain, possibly because of association of ideas and traditional 
custom. Notice the beautiful home character of the casemented 
and muntined windows in one of the accompanying photographs— 
what windows could be imagined having more charm! Does the 
conventional usage obtaining in Wall Street office buildings give 
more? Furthermore the appearance inside the rooms is just as 
charming. 
The practical housekeeper is apt to say, “But these windows 
are more difficult to wash and keep clean. The servants will not 
stay with us if they have to wash all these little panes of glass.” 
Is that quite true? The writer has never heard any particular 
case of such domestic difficulty; in fact, has never heard the 
objection made by any housekeeper who has had experience with 
them. After all, would it not be worth the trouble? We have 
many things about the house which are quite unnecessary to our 
comfort, but we dust them and we wash them without complaint, 
and would not think of doing without them, and these are some¬ 
times things which do not add in the least to the artistic appear¬ 
ance of the home. Throw out the unnecessary bric-a-brac and 
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