History of the Box Sash Window
Early Use
The earliest-known use of sash windows in this country was in the later part of the 17th Century, at Chatsworth (c1676-1680), Ham House, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace. Royal patronage, and its adoption by Wren, made sash windows very fasionable in both old and new buildings, and it immediately became something of a status symbol. Sash windows were ideally suited to Palladio's "perfect canons of proportion", that were practised in England by Inigo Jones.
The development of sash windows was timely, because it
had enormous aesthetic and practical superiority over the older casement windows.
The wrought-iron hinged metal casement, with its mullions and
lead cames, was not only dark and draughty, but the leaded casement restricted the use of larger sheets of glass, owing to the relative weakness of the lead. Casement windows, when open, detracted from the facade rather than enhancing it, whilst the new sash windows were enhancing with their white frameworks and larger sheets of glass. The crown glass in these early sash windows created beautiful reflections that could not be matched by the small panes of
earlier windows.
People who could afford the new sash windows ruthlessly cut
out their leaded-light windows, which explains why so many larger 16th and 17th Century houses have early 18th Century windows.
This fashionable modernisation was often lavished only on the principal facades, and early casement windows often survived on the less prominent facades. The earliest sash windows had thick glazing bars to the sashes, which were usually constructed of oak, the weight box being set almost flush with the outer wall.
