subject: History of Window Shutters [print this page] Window shutter is a solid and stable shutter, with a frame having vertical slits and horizontal rails. The material usually set within this frame is fabric, solid wood, glass or any other item that can be set up in the frame. There are various uses of the shutter once applied. They can be used to control the amount of light that enters the room, to provide privacy, protection against the weathers, to enhance the looks of the building and to make it beautiful. Moreover, there are two types of shutters internal shutters and external shutters. Here is a small history of these window shutters.
It is widely believed that these shutters were first introduced by the ancient Greece. They served the purpose of controlling the amount of light coming in the room, protection against the tropical weather and for ventilation. It is also assumed that those first shutters were constructed with fixed louvers made out of marble. Slowly, the use of the shutters spread throughout the Mediterranean and the marble was replaced by the wood. With the passage of time the need for allowing varying light in to the room grew, thus shutters with moveable louver were introduced with solid frames. The solid frame provided more insulation so they were used along with new invention.
In medieval time the windows of the houses were larges and rectangular with solid shutters and iron bars to lock them for protection and safety. Then glass was introduced in the shutters ,but those shutters were way expensive so, only used for the upper half of the window, as it was not possible for all to pay such high prices for the entire shutter made of glass. Hinged glazed sashes started replacing the solid shutters in the 15 the century. After that the interior shutters were introduced and they were widely used for the purpose to improve the looks of the rooms rather than for their functional purpose. As a result in the early 18th century, these windows shutters became the decorative element in the smaller houses. When the Spanish started to colonize in the America, they introduced the shutters to the outer world. Decadent mansions in the South used shutters, and the term, plantation shutters" is derived from this area.
Plantation shutters were wider than the shutters used before and they were almost always painted white. Now -a -days the new and improved and stylish shutters are available, the old traditional shutters are rarely seen. However, a large amount of traditional shutters can be seen in New England, which states their trace to the England where the narrower louver was used. Moreover, as the wood was used in the construction, in the Victorian houses, so the exterior shutters were also introduced. However, they could be used in the newly made home, because there just wasn't any space to place one in the windows of the old homes.
