A Rare Surviving Sash Window on Howland
This is from about 1915. It’s simple, but quite lavish in its materials. It’s beautifully designed and very well made, but it had some issues. 110 years is a long time. This one had gaps and a few missing pieces, and was falling out of its frame. But, they both still exist. This is rare, so this one must be saved.
Once removed, they look a bit rough The glass is just fine under all that dirt. The metal is a ruin.
Cleaned up, they look a lot better. This glass was hard to clean, because it had deep layers of old grime, including some kind of slow-term electrical/battery deposit on the bottom margin. These are cause by having two different metals close together in wet conditions. They are rare and very hard to clean.
The effort to put it back together revealed that it was beautifully cut. These windows vary from really well made to really bad. This one was near the top. But, as is common for this time, it was made very tight. These old glaziers just shoved these windows into place. The lower one in this pair had no tacks or putty at all. It was held in place by being shoved in, and nothing else.
The glass match for the yellow was difficult, because glass colours change over time. In this case, I went for a slightly paler but similar gold. On the table, the difference is clear, but in life, in a window, it will vanish.
These objects are so rare now, and this pair is so beautiful. I don’t really want to give them back, but I will.
For more restorations, please have a look here.