Panel frame construction and the moldings that decorate them Doors, windows, shutters, paneling

Doors and windows These are sub-assemblies of the building that are then inserted into openings larger than the door or window. Doors may be constructed of solid, battens, or panels made of wood, glass, or in the modern context other materials. Windows are also sub-assemblies fit into voids in the massing of a building. Windows may have panels of glass or louvered slats, or may be of a solid construction, termed a blind window.

Panels vs battens Panels are the materials that are surrounded and held in place by stiles and rails. Panel doors and windows are made of stiles and rails. a. The stile are the vertical boards that surround the panel. b. Rails are the horizontal boards on a door or window. The lock rail is the center rail that often contains the latch or mortise lock c. Panels are any surface enclosed by stiles and rails. Panels may be raised, sunk, or flush with the surface of the surrounds. Batten doors are vertical board doors stiffened with horizontal battens clinched to their back side.

Inserting the sub-assembly into a wall The casing is the surrounding framework of a door or window. This includes the jambs, lintel, and threshold (sill) of a door. When the door is set to back edge of the wall opening the paneled side of the opening is called the reveal. A flared reveal was called a splay in the 18th century. The casing also refers to the covering between the wall surface and the sub-assembly. Jambs are the vertical components of the frame. Lintel is the beam or arch that carries the weight of the wall above. Sill, or threshold is the lower component of the window or door frame.

Doors and windows are moveable subassemblies Door hardware consists of pivots upon which the door swings, called hinges and hasps or locks that secure the free end of the door to the jamb. Hinges in the 18th and 19th century are described by their form and placement. Cross Garnet hinges are T shaped hinges with a vertical flange surface mounted to the door casing and a moveable horizontal flange surface mounted on the door. This hinges were most frequent in the 17th and early 18th century. H Hinges are hinges with vertical flanges that attach to both the jamb and the stile of the door. A decorated subtype is the foliated H hinge. The flange on the jamb may also be hidden behind the casing as at the Peyton Randloph House in Williamsburg, Virginia. HL Hinges are hinges with a vertical flange that attaches to the jamb [H] and a flange with both vertical and horizontal extensions [L] on the door stile and rail. The flange on the jamb may also be hidden behind the casing as at the Indian King Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland and Shirley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia. Strap Hinges are horizontal flanges attached to the door with an eye on the end that fits over a pintle driven through the jamb. Dovetail hinges are butt hinges whose leaves flare in dovetails. They are mortised into the narrow edge, or "butt" of the door and the rabbet in the jamb so that when the door is closed they are not visible. Butt hinges are mortised into the butt end of the door and rabbet of the jamb. This is the modern form of door hinge. Dovetail hinge

Cross-Garnet HingeFoliated hingePeyton-Randolph H-L Hinge Indian King Tavern Strap hinge

Windows may be casement, sash windows, or stanchion Windows sashes are subdivided by muntin into lights. A muntin is a sash bar for holding the edge of glass in a sash. Unglazed windows are true windows, but have no glass. muntin widths change over time. A mullion is a fixed vertical window bar that divides a window into two openings. CasementWindow sashUnglazed, louvered window

Sash stuff In the eighteenth century sash windows were described by the total number of lights. So an eighteen light window would be described as a nine-over-nine light window today. Window frame has two different meanings as described by Lounsbury in the Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape. The structure of the window opening. The exposed molded casing for window sash. When molded this casing could also be described as an architrave. When the window is placed at the outside edge of the wall, the wall reveal could be paneled to create a window seat. The seat could also extend out into the room as a plinth

Shutters Shutters are paneled or battened wood screens hinged to a window frame to control security or light. Louvered shutters, called Venetian blinds, with moveable slats became increasingly common in the early 19th century. Shutters may be interior or exterior. On the exterior they often hang on iron pintles (called hooks in the eighteenth century) driven into the frame. Later pintles were screwed to the frame, or wedged in the masonry. Shutter dogs are holdbacks to keep the shutters open.

Mouldings are the basis of decoration Moldings are the simplest forms of decorative detailing. They are plane or cylindrical surfaces. They may be convex, concave, or of double curvature. A small plane surface is called a band, face or fascia and if very small is called a fillet. Plane surfaces may be either raised or sunk Cylindrical moldings divide a circle in arc quadrants and may be either concave or convex in projection. 1. Convex moldings are ovolo, torus, or 3/4 round(amount of curvature in the profile). 2. Concave moldings are cavetto, scotia, or 3/4 hollow.

A double curvature molding is called a cyma or wave molding

Quirky molding A molding characterized by a sudden and sharp return from its extreme projection or set-off and made prominent by a quirk running parallel to it

What do moldings do? Moldings are used in a variety of building tasks. They may embellish and emphasize structural elements of buildings. Chamfers or beadings at the edges of beams. The architraves of door and window surrounds. A single architrave has a bead at the opening and a raised molding with a fillet on the outside. A double architrave has two bands in different planes separated by an ovolo or a cyma. Moldings may also cover or obscure joints in the building fabric. Bollection moldings project beyond the face of the frame or panel. Used to cover the joints between stiles and rails and panels, or wainscotting and the wall surface when they are on different planes. Bed molding is the molding or group of molding under the corona of a cornice, or by extension any projection. Crown molding is the molding or group of moldings at the top of the cornice, above the corona. Moldings may be purely decorative motifs that enrich a surface. Over-mantels and ceiling rosettes. Moldings can be distinguished as either Roman, Greek or Gothic. Roman moldings have simple curves built with one center point. Greek moldings have complex curves requiring two center points to construct. The effect is an elliptical curve. Gothic moldings use the simple curves of Roman styles but are often cut into the surface of the plane, rather than being applied. Gothic style has several specific forms not found in classical detailing, for example the scroll, or special terms, like boltel.