Windows. You don’t have to be an architectural historian to know the term “windows.” But unless you make your living describing historic buildings you may not have considered all the many types of windows there are or how they help establish the style of a building. There are two window types on this Dutch Colonial style house in the 5000 block of New Jersey Street in Indianapolis. On the left is a pair of double-hung sash windows. Double-hung sash windows have two sashes that slide up and down independently of each other. The top sash in each of these windows has six “lights” (or glass panes) and the bottom sash has one light.
The window on the right in this picture is an eight-light casement. Casements are hinged windows that open outward from the hinges. Casements can be hinged on the side, the top or the bottom.
Both the double-hung sash and the casement windows in this house have “true-divided lights,” meaning that each light or pane is an individual piece of glass framed by wooden muntins within the larger outside frame. Most modern windows do not have true-divided lights, but may fake the look with a grid placed on top of a single piece of glass.
Historic architecture lovers understand that original windows are key components in a historic building. The windows in this house with their multiple true-divided lights and thin wooden muntins are original and typical of many Colonial Revival style houses, including Dutch Colonial Revivals.
