I drove by a house today which is undergoing an unfortunate and all-too-common procedure: it is losing its architectural integrity and will be gaining lots of vinyl and other synthetic products. I caught the house mid-way though the process… replacement windows have been installed and no doubt vinyl will be next to conceal the scars. A new metal roof has already been installed. Following are three pairs of photos – each pair showing a “before” from 2012 and a current “in-tranisition” image for comparison:
Although the front porch had been enclosed decades ago, the rest of the house – a gambrel-roofed Colonial Revival built around 1900 – still maintained its original character. The tall and narrow double hung windows look good in the decoratively shingled gable end. Image courtesy Google Street View.
The original pair of windows has been replaced by an under-scaled vinyl unit. It appears that the porch will become more fully a part of the living space, though windows have been lost here, too. A new vinyl window is crammed into a corner at right where there was none previously.
A vine-covered trellis screens a window on the side of the house. A cottage window with leaded glass transom is to its left. Image courtesy Google Street View.
Gone and gone.
The back porch appears to be original, or at least a very early addition. Image courtesy Google Street View.
The back porch, too, has lost its windows and appears to be merging with the main living space. The historic character of yet another old house has succumbed to commonplace mediocrity.
obviously this house has been bought by a family of moles that prefer living in the dark and it’s a good thing because it’s going to be pretty darn dark in there.
Who needs sunlight when CFLs, big-screen TVs and smart phones are available?
I still don’t understand why people so often shrink and remove windows. It’s such an important part of the appearance of a building. This is one of the worse examples.
I don’t really understand, either, but I think it might be because of three factors at play:
1) Advertising has told people for decades that old wood windows are leaky and bad – many people therefore believe they are gaining some highly desirable, massive, thermal benefit by removing windows.
2) Many people are visually illiterate and just don’t see or understand what they are losing aesthetically. Many people can no longer distinguish between quality and crap.
3) Many people believe in the myth of “maintenance-free” products.
That’s all I can think of, but those are bad enough.
Oh no. What a mess. These owners have eyes, right? Or maybe they didn’t picture what it was going to look like until the work was done.
That’s an excellent point… I think that a surprisingly large number of people lack the ability to truly visualize something in advance; they can only see what is in front of them at the moment. That’s why architects frequently prepare perspective renderings for their clients – to help them see the finished product. That’s rarely an option for people who do their own design work. Although there is software out there to help people do exactly that, it is not likely to be used by people who need it the most!
another reason why i have submitted a bill to my Congress person –
“An act to establish a commission governing good sense in Architecture” – a Tariff will be applied to all “designers” of McMansions and the money will be given to people with well designed older houses to keep them that way when remodeling. Another arm of this commission will be a staff of architects and preservationists who will help homeowners make good decisions about restoring their old houses for free. Certain products like vinyl windows and siding will be banned outright and funding will come from homeowners who defy the ban.