To keep the authentic beauty of any period property you must make absolutely sure that your renovations and replacements are sympathetic to your houses’ architectural historical style. These rules should be tapered with at your peril. Once a houses’ equilibrium has been put out of balance, it’s a devil of a job to get it back into harmony.
Georgian architectural styles include the sash window in their itinerary. Sash windows in the servants quarters were located on the upper floors generally consisting of 6 paned glazing. These small sash windows fitted with the architectural scheme, but didn’t hike up the owners’ window tax, due to the size. It must be born in mind that from the advent of the window tax in 1696, decisions as to the type and quantity of windows would have a bearing on how much tax you had to pay to the central government. From the owners perspective it would make little sense to incur additional tax when designing the servants living quarters. The Window tax legislation was not repealed until 1851, when it was replaced by House duty. The tax could result in many example of reverse snobbism, with potential house owners requesting additional windows to be added to the design. In this way they could show off their wealth and status. It is thought that the term ‘Daylight Robbery’ was coined during the period when Window tax was imposed on the English.
Sash windows’ were laid out in a symmetrically but never paired. A common fenestration of windows would generally be five across. The size of the sash windows would be dictated by the overall balance of the whole. During the Georgian period symmetry was highly regarded. The architectural style underpinning this style is that of Classical Roman and Greek Antiquity.
The sash window design is attributed to the English inventor and scientist, Robert Hooke. The innovation of the sash mechanism made it possible to integrate these classical proportions within domestic European architecture. The architect would be able to incorporate this large glazed surface area without compromising the comfort of the houses occupants. These vast frames of glass could be easily slide one across to the other to allow for cleaning and ventilation. This innovation can not be under played. The sash window allowed for the introduction of light into the domestic interior at a level that had never been possible before.
Sash windows together with classical proportions led to a revolutionized interior design. Now the interior of a domestic dwelling could be light and airy combined with a feeling of space. The grander the house, the higher the ceiling and the sash windows went. The interior walls during the late 1700s would often in poor houses be painted in distemper. This is made from ground chalk mixed with glue made from animal bones. This is then mixed with natural occurring pigments such as yellow ochre, red oxide and even in some cases ox blood. Wealthy home owners would be able to afford oil based paints. These paints would be mixed with red or lead white. Affluent houses would have their walls covered with wooden panels. These would be painted with pastel colours in muted tones. With the addition of areas of highly ornate, subtly coloured wallpaper, the whole effect is of light and elegance. The white or cream coloured wood work of the sash windows would light the whole beautiful scene.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")