n
this instance. The same is true of another much more elaborate stair
rail at Seventh and Locust streets with its attractive diaper pattern
between an upper and lower Grecian band, the whole grille being
supported by a graceful three-point bracket.

CHAPTER VIII

WINDOWS AND SHUTTERS

Philadelphia windows and window frames during the Colonial period were
not so much a development as a perpetuation of the initial types,
although of course some minor changes and improvements were made with
passing years. From the very beginning sliding Georgian sashes were the
rule. Penn's house has them and so have all the other historic homes and
buildings of this vicinity now remaining. There are none of the diamond
paned casement sashes, such as were employed in the first New England
homes half a century earlier, for builders in both the mother country
and the colonies had ceased to work in the Elizabethan and Jacobean
manner and were completely under the influence of the Renaissance. In
the earlier houses the upper sash was let into the frame permanently,
only the lower sash being movable and sliding upward, but in later years
double-hung sashes with weights began to be adopted. Stiles, rails and
sash bars were all put together with mortise and tenon joints and even
the sash bars were pegged together with wood. The glass was set in
rabbeted edges and held in place by putty according to the method still
in use.

[Illustration: PLATE LX.--Detail of Stair Ends, Carpenter House, Third
and Spruce Streets; Detail of Stair Ends, Independence Hall (horizontal
section).]

[Illustration: PLATE LXI.--Chimney Piece in the Hall, Stenton; Chimney
Piece and Paneled Wall, Great Chamber, Mount Pleasant.]

At first the panes were very small, and many were required in large
windows, but as glass making advanced, the prevailing size was
successively enlarged from about five by seven inches to six by eight,
seven by nine, eight by ten, and nine by twelve. As the size of
individual panes of glass was increased, their number in each sash was
in some instances correspondingly decreased, although oftener larger
sashes with the same number of panes resulted. Philadelphia architects
always manifested a keen appreciation of the value of scale imparted by
the sash bar divisions of their windows, and for that reason small-paned
sashes never ceased to be popular.

Although numerous variations exist, the custom of having an equal number
of panes