Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Witch window


In American vernacular architecture, a witch window (also known as a Vermont window, a coffin window,[1] or a sideways window[2]) is a window (usually a double-hung sash window, occasionally a single-sided casement window) placed in the gable-end wall of a house[1] and rotated approximately 1/8 of a turn (45 degrees) from the vertical, leaving it diagonal, with its long edge parallel to the roof slope.[1][2] This technique allows a builder to fit a full-sized window into the long, narrow wall space between two adjacent roof lines (see photograph). These windows are found almost exclusively in or near the U.S. state of Vermont, principally in farmhouses from the 19th century.

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