The Window Source The Architectural Past of Window Design New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine
When It comes to choosing what architectural style works best for you, there are many options to choose from. Each style reflects a distinct time within architectural design that will lend a particular feel to your home. Knowing more about each style is key to ensuring you choose what suits you and your family’s taste and needs best.
Dating back to the founding of the country itself is the Georgian or Federal style. As the name implies, it was a popular style during the years of the Revolutionary War. With everything in proportion, the large rectangular windows are covered in wooden grilles, forming rows of boxes within the larger window frame itself.
Also inspired by the east coast, the Cape Cod, grew in popularity during the early years of the Republic. This style, whose windows feature more narrow openings and large shutters on either side, evolved in response to the harsh winters faced by those living in New England. Following the war, the style spread as a uniquely American one, helped along by the affordability of the materials.
Following the eighteenth century, the Queen Anne style, the epitome of Victorian architecture with gables, towers, turrets, bay windows, and parapets soon became the go to architectural design of choice. Only as the nineteenth century unfolded into the twentieth did other styles gain a real foothold. Styles such as the Mission Revival with its large bay windows and fixed panel arches or the straightforward simplicity of the large rectangular windows of the American Farmhouse started to become more commonplace.
Whichever style inspires you, be rest assured that there are no hard and fast rules. The mixing of one style into that of another is what gives rise to what comes next. Be inspired and seek to incorporate those elements you like into your new home or remodel.
