Kelsey
& Associates,
Inc. "Preserving Architectural Heritage" |
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Some
people will go to extreme lengths to research the original colors
of their Queen Anne or re-create lost bungalow woodwork. Yet
many of these same old-house devotees flunk the historical accuracy
test when it comes to exterior shutters, installing the wrong
shape and even mounting them backwards. To
avoid such blunders, it helps to review exactly what these devices
were originally meant to do and how they're supposed to function
and to revisit an often overlooked rule contained in the word
itself-shutters should shut! Then you'll be ready for an analysis
of your existing window openings for clues as to whether your
house once had shutters and what you should look for in replacing
them. Shutters
101 These
panels and slats have been called shutters or blinds pretty
much interchangeably since the founding of the country. Even
Thomas Jefferson, in a 1796 letter, couldn't decide among shutters,
blinds, Venetian shutters, and Venetian blinds. However, only
"shutters" seems to have been used in describing a
solid panel, and "Venetian" eventually attached itself
to the popular interior treatment. Styles
and Hardware On
upper floors you'd be likely to encounter louvered blinds, which
let in nighttime breezes. Solid shutters gave additional security
to the first floor. Moveable louvers could be closed at night
with a tilt rod, providing ventilation and privacy simultaneously.
In some installations, known as Dutch shutters, the shutters
were split so the lower half could be closed while the top half
was left open; the room would have fresh air and infants were
less likely to fall out or intruders to break in. Although
hardware varied in style and placement, all shutters required
some type of hinge to allow them to move and a hook or "shutter
dog" to keep them closed. (Often decorative, shutter dogs
rotate to hold the shutter fast). A common hinge style was a
strap-and-pintle, in which the metal strap pivots on an upright
pin. Sometimes seen, although more common on interior shutters,
were H and HL hinges, named for their shapes. Mortise hinges
sometimes have a catch-and-release feature that locks the shutter
open or closed and allows easy removal when it comes time to
paint. The
shutter was hinged to the outside edge of the window opening
in such a way that it closed into the window recess. Although
shutters were most commonly paired on either side of the window,
some were the size of the window opening itself and mounted
only to one side. This might have been the case where a projecting
architectural feature, such as a chimney, would interfere with
a shutter on one side. Awning-style
shutters, mounted at the top of the window, were held open with
a wooden dowel, protecting the interior from the sun even when
the shutter was completely open. This makes them a popular style
for subtropical areas, and they're sometimes sold under names
like Bermuda or Bahama shutters. The
Missing Shutter If
you're not lucky enough to locate vintage photographs of your
own old house, you may still find evidence of old shutters,
and what type they were, in and around your windows. If the
top center of your window sill has one or two metal brackets
or a recessed niche, chances are this was where shutters with
hooks could be latched closed from inside the house. Similarly,
look for holes or even hooks or catches on your exterior walls
not far from your window sills. These would have been used to
hold your shutters open. The most telltale sign would be hinge
brackets or plates remaining on your window frame. You can also
look for screw holes or a mortise where the hinge may have been
removed long ago. Irregular
lines in the paint on your siding are additional evidence of
shutters past. Once they installed permanent storm windows,
homeowners grew less likely to close their shutters and the
more lackadaisical didn't even bother to paint behind them.
Dirt and leaves caught behind shutters for years may have also
left their mark on your siding, and sun can fade siding color
if your house hasn't been painted in a long time. It's
also important to match the original material of the shutters
you're attempting to replicate. Plastic shutters won't fool
even the most nearsighted observer; some with fixed molded louvers
are one sided and can't be fastened to a hinge. Although most
shutters were wood, metal was sometimes used in regions of extreme
weather. Louvered shutters, whether of the movable or fixed
variety, should be hinged to the window so the louvers angle
down and away from the building when the shutters are closed,
directing away rain and snow. This means that when your shutters
are open, the louvers are angled toward the house. The bottom
of shutters were usually beveled so that they matched the pitch
of the window sill, closing tightly and keeping out water. The
shutters of your Queen Anne may have taken on painted-lady rainbow
hues during the Victorian era. Some acceptable options in the
19th century included using a darker or lighter version of the
house's body color or, a bit more daring, painting the rails
in the house's trim color and the panels or louvers in its body
color. If you want to be on solid, conservative ground go with
green, which whether verdigris, forest, or hunter was pretty
much a cliché throughout the 1800s. In fact, we could say that
the case for painting old shutters green is pretty much open
and shut.
All
that opening and closing had skewed their alignment, and in
addition, recent research had shown that their styles were inappropriate
to Washington's lifetime. Around 1796, the former president
had apparently started changing all the shutters from panels
to the louver-style then becoming more popular. He failed to
complete the task, however, so that when he died, those on the
east front were still panels, rather than the louvers put up
in the late 19th century. According to paintings of that time,
he never had shutters on the second storey. The
hardware was all wrong as well. Examination of the window frames
and stripping of the six surviving original shutter pairs showed
that the louvered shutters were hung on strap-and-pintle hinges
(see below) and the panel shutters on HL hinges (named for their
shape) rather than the butt hinges then being used. New
paint was also in order. "Green" and even "verdigris"
cover a wide spectrum, and simultaneous research at Thomas Jefferson's
Monticello showed that since the verdigris paints of the 18th
century tended to fade, the original green on both mansions'
shutters was a much brighter hue. Although
the six original pairs had been stripped and stained many times,
there was just enough original paint surviving in minute cracks
to lend itself to color analysis by consultant Susan Buck. It took about four months and cost about $65,000 to replace 24 pairs of
handmade, heart pine shutters in the time-appropriate style
with the correct hand-forged hardware. "People just assume
that a place like Mount Vernon is static," says Pogue.
"But as time goes on, we're often given opportunities to
apply new research to make things even more authentic." Suppliers REM
Industries Timberlane
Woodcrafters Vixen
Hill Gazebos and Shutters Withers
industries
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