Fake Shutters: The Last Remnant of the Better Home
Posted 05-17-2015 at 07:58 AM by James1202
Fake (non-functional, single-sided) shutters can be installed correctly (overlapping the side trim of a window; of the correct height and width to cover the window when hypothetically closed). To attach fake shutters in the wrong place, and of the incorrect size, looks silly. But more revealing is why fake shutters are most often attached to a Modern house in the first place.
Modern homes (those built after 1930) increasingly followed the Modernist movement's idea that homes should be simple, plain and quickly built; therefore, without decoration or craftsmanship that would raise the cost or slow down the construction process. At the end of World War II suburban homes, like those in Levittown, NY and Levittown, PA, were little more than "detached apartments" because so many were needed to keep up with demand for returning veterans benefitting from the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 (the G.I. Bill) which, among tuition assistance, provided low interest home loans and one year unemployment payments.
So many spec homes (homes built on the speculation a buyer would be found) that people came to believe these homes were more than just "starter" homes (homes okay to start out in but intended for young people with low incomes). Spec homes became the new norm in expectations. The skills to design and build better homes became increasingly rare until, now, most people don't know what a better designed and built home looks like. But, somewhere in their collective consciousness, they imagine remembering the traditional home of white picket fences and shutters.
Here, on Long Island, very few homes are meant to ever have shutters. Here's how to tell if shutters, even fake ones, are appropriate for your windows:
- if closed, the shutters should cover the entire window without overlapping the frame
- shutters should never be placed alongside bay windows (it would have to unfold like an accordion, which would require a "deck" of shutters along one side)
- the height of a double-hung window should be, at least, 2.25 times its width
- shutters should never be put alongside casement or fixed windows (one couldn't "close" such a shutter)
- there should be two shutters per window (if there isn't room on both sides of the window, don't attach any)
Among people who know the proper use of shutters the wrong way looks as silly as attaching shutters on a wall without windows.
Modern homes (those built after 1930) increasingly followed the Modernist movement's idea that homes should be simple, plain and quickly built; therefore, without decoration or craftsmanship that would raise the cost or slow down the construction process. At the end of World War II suburban homes, like those in Levittown, NY and Levittown, PA, were little more than "detached apartments" because so many were needed to keep up with demand for returning veterans benefitting from the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 (the G.I. Bill) which, among tuition assistance, provided low interest home loans and one year unemployment payments.
So many spec homes (homes built on the speculation a buyer would be found) that people came to believe these homes were more than just "starter" homes (homes okay to start out in but intended for young people with low incomes). Spec homes became the new norm in expectations. The skills to design and build better homes became increasingly rare until, now, most people don't know what a better designed and built home looks like. But, somewhere in their collective consciousness, they imagine remembering the traditional home of white picket fences and shutters.
Here, on Long Island, very few homes are meant to ever have shutters. Here's how to tell if shutters, even fake ones, are appropriate for your windows:
- if closed, the shutters should cover the entire window without overlapping the frame
- shutters should never be placed alongside bay windows (it would have to unfold like an accordion, which would require a "deck" of shutters along one side)
- the height of a double-hung window should be, at least, 2.25 times its width
- shutters should never be put alongside casement or fixed windows (one couldn't "close" such a shutter)
- there should be two shutters per window (if there isn't room on both sides of the window, don't attach any)
Among people who know the proper use of shutters the wrong way looks as silly as attaching shutters on a wall without windows.
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