Knightsbridge Living

Window Furniture

Shutters inside

Georgian and Regency windows were generally fitted with interior wooden shutters. They were made of wooden boards. The boards either slid horizontally or vertically or, more usually, were made in hinged sections which folded back to the side of the window. When not in use, they were usually housed in specially constructed shutter boxes which made up part of the window frame. Often the shutters were like stable doors, with upper and lower parts which could be closed separately. This allowed the top section to be open, and let some daylight in, while protecting furniture and fabrics from direct sunlight by closing the bottom section.

Shutters outside

Many houses had external shutters. External roller blinds were very popular in Regency times. They were made of brightly striped canvas and rolled up into wooden boxes above the windows. In Victorian times it was fashionable for the roller blinds to match the curtains.

'Snob screens'

These were removable shutters which could be placed in the lower part of a window to stop people looking in. Snobe screens were always painted green.

Venetian blinds

These were also widely used in Georgian homes. The name has nothing to do with Venice, but came from the fact that they were most often used to cover the three-part Palladian windows, called Venetian windows, popular in early Georgian houses.

Latches

The original way of fastening sash windows shut was to have a latch on the top of the lower sash which went into a clasp on the bottom of the upper sash. Burglars could open them by inserting a knife blade between the windows, so some later versions were designed to prevent that. A cam fastener had an attachment on the front rail which inserted a spike into a receptor on the back rail. A fitch fastener used a semi-circular disc which turned into the receptor. A screw fastener had a screw attached to the back rail which could be slotted into a receptor on the front rail and screwed tight. 

 

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