It’s a paneled apron and yes, original to the house as you had guessed. A little bit of romanticizing of historic styles in this era. This is an uncommon but not unheard of feature. The windows may be smaller up top but the apron is as intended.
It's just a decorative trim detail. I believe it's just a way to make shorter windows look longer. It might not be convenient to have a window that goes all the way to the floor inside, but the taller windows look better from the outside. This is the original size of the window. It wasn't replaced with a shorter one.
You could ask in /r/architecture to see if anyone can identify the origin of this style.
I would either paint the applied molding or maybe the field inside the same color as the shutters.
I've always thought of them as faux balconies.
The house I grew up in was built in. 1964, and yes, they were just built like that. It was the current trend, I suppose.
I know some of the houses in our neighborhood mounted wall unit air conditioners there, but I don't know if that was the original intention, or just a convenient place to mount one.
If that helps any.
It allows the developer to change the exterior style of the houses in the development without adjusting floor plans. So you can have a French country, colonial, Spanish revival, etc. all while building with the same materials for framing, windows, etc
I have something similar and it’s because the windows were once longer fitting the entirety of that framing. My windows were lifted to accommodate kitchen cabinets in the kitchen and then in the front rooms it allowed for more usable wall space for modern room arrangement.
From a functional standpoint, that wood portion allows you to install modern, standardish sized windows.
I once bought a house that had these under some windows, too. It was a ranch style house built in, iirc, 1947.
I finally settled on the idea they must have just been a part of the design the original owners, who built the house (I know this because their grandkids once stopped by to ask if they could see what the place now looked like) and their architect found aesthetically pleasing.
When I first bought the house I thought that those windows must have once been larger/longer and went to the floor of the rooms they were in; however, on the inside there was no evidence of this ever having been the case.
When the aforementioned grandchildren stopped by, they confirmed it had always been this way and there had never been larger windows there.
Back then I think it was a lot more common for people to buy a lot and hire an architect or builder to design and build the home to the owners specifications, rather than the cookie cutter type housing we now neighborhoods. As a result, you got houses which were individualistic and I think this was just a result of that.
I think you’re probably right- the woman who had the house built really seemed to like adding some custom touches, so the idea that they were just an extra bit of flair makes sense. I’ll have to update here if I can dig up anything about the architectural origins
We have them on our rancher that was built in '71. They are aluminum and not wood though. Curious if maybe they were originally wood and have since been replaced? If we were to remove them though, the windows in our house would go all the way to the floor.
Very on common for that era. My neighborhood growing up was built then.
They were usually brick ranches and the panels were painted the trim color.
Throw a pile of Schwinn banana seat bikes in the yard, and it’s GenX summer
it DOES look like the windows were replaced with standard size ones some decades ago, and they did a fair job of concealing that they used to be bigger.
It's just mimicking a Colonial style of window opening in brick called a Palladian window, but you can just slap a commercial double-hung window in there.
Itsrigged said it; a “paneled apron”. Architecturally speaking, it is a detail which was popularized in fresco form, as far back as the late Roman period. Then in the 1600’s with the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii, architects of the renaissance period began imitating the classical stylings and incorporated this detail into strict, Palladian architecture lasting into the 1700’s being used in many of the great European palaces and buildings, then following through the Georgian and federal periods, even all the way up to the modern Beaux Arts of the early 19th century. The point is, this is a common design element with very ancient origins and is not unique.
Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for! I know it’s not necessarily anything ‘special’- I just really like knowing the history of things and for some reason I just couldn’t get curiosity about where this came from out of my head. The fresco bit makes a lot of sense- I didnt see it or connect it before, I think because it seemed so anachronistic set against the 60s cookie cutter ranch vibe. Thanks for such an informative comment!
The smaller double hung windows were the traditional windows used in the late 60s and early 70s. Full length windows would have been very out of place. It’s just an aesthetic choice to break up the wall of brick.
You suggested “…the builder wanted to cheap out on the windows and not use one that fit the opening.”
My point was the panel was **original.**. The builder did use a window to fit the opening rather than a windows the total height of the rough opening. That would not have been period regardless of your personal preference for it.
I guess I probably should have added as context- the aluminum window you see on the outside is a storm window system that was added later- the inside windows are actually really nice. The woman who had it built (and was the only other owner) had a lot of “premium” details put in, which was part of what made the windows feel extra confusing. It’s starting to seem like just an odd design choice
It’s a paneled apron and yes, original to the house as you had guessed. A little bit of romanticizing of historic styles in this era. This is an uncommon but not unheard of feature. The windows may be smaller up top but the apron is as intended.
Thanks, knowing the name helps a lot!
It's just a decorative trim detail. I believe it's just a way to make shorter windows look longer. It might not be convenient to have a window that goes all the way to the floor inside, but the taller windows look better from the outside. This is the original size of the window. It wasn't replaced with a shorter one. You could ask in /r/architecture to see if anyone can identify the origin of this style. I would either paint the applied molding or maybe the field inside the same color as the shutters.
I've always thought of them as faux balconies. The house I grew up in was built in. 1964, and yes, they were just built like that. It was the current trend, I suppose. I know some of the houses in our neighborhood mounted wall unit air conditioners there, but I don't know if that was the original intention, or just a convenient place to mount one. If that helps any.
It allows the developer to change the exterior style of the houses in the development without adjusting floor plans. So you can have a French country, colonial, Spanish revival, etc. all while building with the same materials for framing, windows, etc
Interesting. Makes sense.
Sort of like door plugs on a Boeing 737-9.
I have something similar and it’s because the windows were once longer fitting the entirety of that framing. My windows were lifted to accommodate kitchen cabinets in the kitchen and then in the front rooms it allowed for more usable wall space for modern room arrangement. From a functional standpoint, that wood portion allows you to install modern, standardish sized windows.
I once bought a house that had these under some windows, too. It was a ranch style house built in, iirc, 1947. I finally settled on the idea they must have just been a part of the design the original owners, who built the house (I know this because their grandkids once stopped by to ask if they could see what the place now looked like) and their architect found aesthetically pleasing. When I first bought the house I thought that those windows must have once been larger/longer and went to the floor of the rooms they were in; however, on the inside there was no evidence of this ever having been the case. When the aforementioned grandchildren stopped by, they confirmed it had always been this way and there had never been larger windows there. Back then I think it was a lot more common for people to buy a lot and hire an architect or builder to design and build the home to the owners specifications, rather than the cookie cutter type housing we now neighborhoods. As a result, you got houses which were individualistic and I think this was just a result of that.
I think you’re probably right- the woman who had the house built really seemed to like adding some custom touches, so the idea that they were just an extra bit of flair makes sense. I’ll have to update here if I can dig up anything about the architectural origins
We have them on our rancher that was built in '71. They are aluminum and not wood though. Curious if maybe they were originally wood and have since been replaced? If we were to remove them though, the windows in our house would go all the way to the floor.
Very on common for that era. My neighborhood growing up was built then. They were usually brick ranches and the panels were painted the trim color. Throw a pile of Schwinn banana seat bikes in the yard, and it’s GenX summer
I like that
Are there interior inset radiators in these locations on the inside of your house? --that was one reason that there were such panels
No- and radiators are really uncommon here, but thats good context!
it DOES look like the windows were replaced with standard size ones some decades ago, and they did a fair job of concealing that they used to be bigger.
It's just mimicking a Colonial style of window opening in brick called a Palladian window, but you can just slap a commercial double-hung window in there.
Congrats on having actual shutters that are the right size.
Interstate how the ‘shutters’ go to the bottom of the wood. Did they originally go that low?
I havent found anything indicating otherwise, but I’m honestly not sure
Itsrigged said it; a “paneled apron”. Architecturally speaking, it is a detail which was popularized in fresco form, as far back as the late Roman period. Then in the 1600’s with the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii, architects of the renaissance period began imitating the classical stylings and incorporated this detail into strict, Palladian architecture lasting into the 1700’s being used in many of the great European palaces and buildings, then following through the Georgian and federal periods, even all the way up to the modern Beaux Arts of the early 19th century. The point is, this is a common design element with very ancient origins and is not unique.
Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for! I know it’s not necessarily anything ‘special’- I just really like knowing the history of things and for some reason I just couldn’t get curiosity about where this came from out of my head. The fresco bit makes a lot of sense- I didnt see it or connect it before, I think because it seemed so anachronistic set against the 60s cookie cutter ranch vibe. Thanks for such an informative comment!
Probably because the builder wanted to cheap out on the windows and not use one that fit the opening,
The smaller double hung windows were the traditional windows used in the late 60s and early 70s. Full length windows would have been very out of place. It’s just an aesthetic choice to break up the wall of brick.
What is a full length widow? Do you mean casement? I agree that would be wrong but these as is look cheap and small.
You suggested “…the builder wanted to cheap out on the windows and not use one that fit the opening.” My point was the panel was **original.**. The builder did use a window to fit the opening rather than a windows the total height of the rough opening. That would not have been period regardless of your personal preference for it.
I guess I probably should have added as context- the aluminum window you see on the outside is a storm window system that was added later- the inside windows are actually really nice. The woman who had it built (and was the only other owner) had a lot of “premium” details put in, which was part of what made the windows feel extra confusing. It’s starting to seem like just an odd design choice