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Historical Glazing
Before float glass was introduced in 1959 by Pilkington’s, various methods and techniques were employed to produce glass for glazing windows. The most common and well know of these historical glasses are the Cylinder and Crown glasses found on properties between 1678 and 1913 where it was predominantly replaced by polished plate glass until the modern float glass was launched within the UK. These glasses have the gentle and characteristic wavy reflections which are not only decorative but also add periodic value to a historic building, original crown and cylinder glasses were manufactured by early glass making processes of the time and in many cases it’s possible to estimate the date of manufacture by looking at imperfections within the glass.
When restoring windows in buildings that predate the introduction of clear float glass it is sometime likely that the imperfections would have contributed in to the original architecture. The architect may have made informed choices on window the design and incorporated the glass available at the time. Therefore the introduction of new float glass to replace sometimes valuable historic glass may have an adverse effect on the buildings aesthetic features.
In cases where the restoration or replacement of historic glazing is required, glass that has been made by the same or similar processes as the original should be preferred. Crown and Cylinder glass can still be sourced through specialist manufactures or alternatively hand-blown or moulded drawn sheet can used to replicate the features found on these styles of glazing. Modern float glass can often be used instead of polished plate, once popular patterned rolled glass can now only be properly replicated by mould and sag-bending of modern float glass. However this is an expensive exercise and if budgetary considerations do not allow for this the best solution would be to reglaze with a sympathetic modern pattern.
Pre 1959 original glass is becoming increasingly rare, and the historical and economic value of the glass is also becoming more significant, therefore the conservation of original glass should be considered when restoring or replacing historic windows. |
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The Steel Window Company is Trading style of Fabco Sanctuary Limited. Registered In England & Wales
No. 6552850. Vat No. 931 9093 17
� Fabco 2008 -- Unit 1, Hobbs New Barn, Climping, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 5RE
--Tel: 01903 718 808 -- Fax: 01903 718 903 -- info@thesteelwindowcompany.com-- |
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