subject: Window Gates - A Glance At New York's Windows And Gates [print this page] Window Gates - A Glance At New York's Windows And Gates
As a young man I lived all over Brooklyn and Manhattan. I stayed three years in a brownstone in Cobble Hill, four years on the Upper West Side, and 15 in a SoHo loft. Even after moving away I came back to work in the city for six summers, sharing apartments in midtown, the West Village, and Tribeca. In each neighborhood, I spent a lot of time walking and cycling the streets and enjoying the city's folks, stores and restaurants, and most of all, its incredible buildings.
Now that I invest most of my time in the country, I miss one feature of New York buildings that just doesn't show up in most other places - window gates. They decorate brownstones, surround air conditioners, maintain kids from falling out of highrises and, softened by bright red geraniums and draping green ivy, protect tens of thousands of New Yorkers from break-ins and burglaries. They even add a particular elegance to the glazed-white-brick apartment houses that everybody loves to hate in east midtown.
They didn't constantly strike me that way. When I 1st moved to the city I perceived them as bars, not gates. The only barred windows I'd ever seen were in prisons, and those had been clearly designed to keep individuals in, not out. I pitied the folks who lived behind them.
But like several attributes of the Huge Apple, window gates grew on me as I began to understand why they were so well-liked, and so needed. NYC wasn't a really safe place in 1970 (though it was never as dangerous as most individuals seemed to believe), and those half-inch square wrought iron bars made a point. In no uncertain terms they told would-be burglars, "Don't even believe about it."
The point was driven home further by a few horror stories from the Times, the News and the Post about kids falling out of 10th-story apartments (so did one cat, surviving a fall from the 11th floor, as I recall).
I still wasn't crazy about the cheap safety gates of aluminum or steel alloys that had been deemed necessary for highrise-dwelling families with youngsters, specially the accordion-fold ones with (illegal) padlocks that blocked access to fire escapes. They're ugly, not especially secure, quickly manipulated by a determined kid, and not at all difficult to pry out by a determined burglar.
But wrought iron. What beauty, what high quality, what style! Graceful curves accommodate planters bursting with flowers or serve as an elegant encasement for a mundane air conditioner. A delicate fleur-de-lis softens the straight lines of a vertical gate, and crosshatched iron alloys create a diamond-shaped pattern like antique leaded glass. Horizontal white gates recall Venetian blinds rather than prison bars. Even high- with both horizontal and vertical bars painted white can make a plain window look like 1 with 12-over-12 panes. To me, they're all gorgeous.
They're genuinely a city phenomenon, I suppose mainly because city residents really feel far more vulnerable to crime than most suburban and little-town residents. Their principal purpose is to offer security, and the particular value of top quality gates like those at Mr. Locks- , is that they do it affordably and unobtrusively. In short, they're among the most sensible inventions ever created to protect individuals and property. They're a phenomenon worth celebrating.
And, like elegant doors with secure locks, well-created window gates can also make a statement about the taste and values of the men and women who live behind them, while providing an unending feast for the eyes of passersby.
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Although prowling the Net I found pictures of a fantastic old home in Cuernavaca, Mexico, of a set of gated Moorish arched windows in an outside wall. And of course I familiarized myself with the full range of obtainable at Mr. Locks, Inc., which has 1 of the most fantastic selections I've ever seen, most of them custom-built to your specifications. If you want to install gates on your windows, as you ought to, pay Mr. Locks a go to.
I also had what I feel is a terrific thought. Everyone has seen the best-selling poster, "The Doors of Dublin," or 1 of the quite a few knock-offs that followed (The Doors of . . . Brooklyn, Chicago, London, and who knows where else). Imagine a beautifully photographed, handsomely designed and printed poster, "The Windows of New York," showing the five boroughs' incomparable window gates in all their variety and beauty. I bet it would be a greatest-seller, too.
Window Gates - A Glance At New York's Windows And Gates
