September, 1 9 2 2 
69 
Wallace 
shape, irrespective of the way in which the 
glazing is divided or the decorative motifs 
employed. The origin of the name it is 
easy enough to understand. The shape of 
the window is the shape of a fan when it 
is opened out all the way; the divisions 
of the window, in the majority of cases, 
radiate fanwise from the centre of the base 
like the ribs of a fan. The resemblance to 
an opened fan is very striking when, as 
sometimes happens, the space above the 
door is filled with radiating wooden slats 
instead of being glazed. This device be¬ 
longed particularly to the beginning of the 
19th Century and the very end of the 18th. 
It was graceful and diverting but open to 
(Continued on page 100) 
Sometimes the fan¬ 
light of the door is 
repeated in windows 
on the same facade. 
This early 19 th 
Century example 
from Beacon Hill, 
Boston, has iron 
radiating lines with 
molded lead rosettes 
at intersections 
The fanlight is one of those items en¬ 
dowed with a double capacity of decora¬ 
tion and utility. Its physical function is 
to admit light over the door to halhvays 
oftentimes otherwise devoid of windows. 
As a factor of ornament, its close and in¬ 
separable association with the doonvay 
renders it a fitting vehicle of more or less 
elaborate decorative treatment whose de¬ 
tail is largely governed by the general 
character of the building. It also per¬ 
mits considerable latitude for the play of 
individual fancy. 
The term “fanlight” is rather broad and 
elastic in its application so that in ordi¬ 
nary parlance it includes any overdoor 
light of semi-circular or semi-elliptical 
An early 19 th Century 
doorway in the Greco- 
Roman mode, found in 
Philadelphia, has radiating 
scrolls approximating the 
fan motif 
(Left) The side door of an 
inn in Bedfordshire, Eng¬ 
land, shows a simple inter¬ 
secting arch motif. It 
dates from the mid-l&th 
Century 
(Right) The heavy divi¬ 
sions and semi-circular 
heads of this fanlight in a 
Gloucestershire i n n are 
characteristic of early 18 th 
Century work 
m 
■ 
n 
