November, 19 21 
59 
THE ANCESTOR OF THE SKYLIGHT 
TRANGE as it may seem, both the sky¬ 
light and the chimney are lineally de- 
* 
scended from the same ancestor. It is 
apparently a far cry from either the skylight 
or the chimney, as we now know them, back to 
a common parent, and yet both had the same 
beginning. Although that single parent stock, 
judging from the present utter diversity be¬ 
tween the two lines of its offshoots, might well 
be supposed to have sunk into the obscurity of 
a remote past, such is not the case. The orig¬ 
inal ancestor is still distinctly in evidence and 
actively functioning architecturally. With the 
lapse of time it has taken on a somewhat more 
flexible character than it formerly possessed 
and assumed a more pronounced decorative em¬ 
phasis without, however, losing its clearly 
utilitarian capacity. This common ancestor of 
skylight and chimney is the louver. 
In order to understand fully the value of the 
louver to us and to grasp the manner in which 
we may advantageously turn it to our own 
ends, we must glance for a moment at the facts 
of its development. Its original historic duty 
was to afford an outlet for smoke, before fire¬ 
places, in the familiar form which we know 
them, were constructed and when the fire was 
kindled upon an open hearth in the middle of 
the great hall. Thence the smoke rose to the 
ceiling and passed out through the opening in 
the roof. The derivation of the word, from 
the Norman French Vouvert, the open place 
(anglicised as louver, and in several other 
forms as well), thus plainly indicates the pri¬ 
mary purpose—ventilation and the exit of 
smoke. 
The lighting function of the louver, by the 
introduction of glass into 
the openings, was a later 
development, after fire¬ 
places with flues were con¬ 
structed against the walls 
and chimneys were built. 
Hence the louver became 
a lantern. First the pro¬ 
genitor of the chimney and 
next, by a transference of 
function, the immediate 
antecedent of the glazed 
cupola and the skylight, 
the conversion was easily 
and quite naturally ef¬ 
fected merely by removing 
the louver boards or slats, 
that kept out the rain but 
allowed the smoke to es¬ 
cape, and replacing them 
with glass. Today the 
(Continued on page 68) 
The bell-topped open 
louver of the Moravian 
Sisters’ House in Beth¬ 
lehem., Pa., is surround¬ 
ed by a balustraded 
platform. In New Eng¬ 
land houses this plat¬ 
form extended along 
the entire ridge form¬ 
ing the “captain’s 
walk” 
An excellent design of 
louver is found in a 
barn in Broadway, 
W orcestershire, Eng¬ 
land. Top and base are 
sheathed in lead. The 
lower portion is open 
for ventilation and the 
top glazed to admit 
light 
The louver is really an architectural crown, and is as becoming 
to small buildings as to large. Thus, it has been used on an 
architect’s studio in Philadelphia. Mellor & Meigs, architects 
