The Origins Of The Sash Window Are Unwritten
The origins of the sash window are murky with the earliest references coming from the late Seventeenth Century. For example, ‘The Milkmaid’, a painting by Vermeer from 1658 shows a sash window in the background. Recent research indicates that, they may have been invented in England by Robert Hooke, and used for the first time in Ham House in the late 1600′s. Other researchers believe that they were first used in France and then travelled via Holland to Britain. The British used it so prolifically that it is seen now as purely British.
A “Yorkshire Light” is a window made of panels which can slide sideways or up and down. Originally the windows would be propped open but later a pulley and weight system was designed. Connected by a rope which ran over a pulley to the window, the weight would hold the window at the level it was moved to.
Sir Christopher Wrens, a excellent architect very popular with the royals, made use of these windows in the Whitehall Palace. Hampton Court and Kensington Palace are other examples of royal architecture employing the sash window that were built around this time. This made the windows the must-have in the 1700′s and for two centuries they were almost the only style of window used for new buildings not only in Britain but also in all the colonies. Wrens found that, unlike casement windows, the facade of a building is not ruined if the windows are open.
In Georgian times, the sash was the rage and a double hung sash window was created allowing both the top and bottom sashes to be moved. In a wet European climate, the window can be opened at the top to let warm air escape while colder air is drawn in through the gap at the bottom, without allowing rain to enter.
During Victorian times, the windows like everything else were an additional site for the excessive decorations that were favoured by the elite of the day. Leaded lights, latticework, intricate carvings and mouldings were added to their buildings. Windows were grouped in a bay framed with pillars carved in stone. The windows at the bottom of the building were intentionally made longer than those of the upper stories to enhance the effect of perspective.
As with many beautiful objects the advent of mass production methods and industrialization after the First World War, signified the end for this product. The labour involved in hand producing a sash was too expensive and casement windows were easier to produce in factories.
Many older European buildings and cities would be characterless without these beautiful windows, which remain popular even though they cause problems.
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