Q. I have old windows and want to replace them with something more energy efficient, but someone told me that keeping my old ones is actually a better idea.
A. At my company we're advocates of reusing anything existing as there is always a carbon cost to newly manufactured items. Windows however present some different issues. No matter how much carbon you save by keeping that old window unit, if it leaks something awful and heat is lost or gained through the single pane glass as if there were nothing more than tissue paper there, then you are neither doing your heating/cooling budget any favors, nor the world in general.
Upgrading your window system to a new unit that fits the character of your structure and is more energy efficient is certainly a good idea during a remodel. However in an existing home you need to remember, unless you are using a cheap retrofit unit, that the exterior cladding will need to be peeled back to properly install the new unit. This means the added cost of patching and painting. Luckily there are a couple of smart solutions short of replacing the whole window unit if you don’t have the budget or the inclination and the window itself is salvageable.
The first is to make sure the window fits tightly against the jamb, adding weather-stripping as needed so that there are no drafts. The next option is to replace the glass itself with more energy efficient glass of which there are a few options. Typically with older historic windows we use a laminated glass with a low e coating to create an improved thermal barrier without the thickness of the dual pane solution.
As always your approach needs to fit your budget and complement the existing design of the house. The bottom line is new windows may be necessary but there are also excellent options short of that.
As in all matters of architectural style there is the layman's definition and then the academic's. There are really very few pure examples of any architectural style, Craftsman, Spanish Revival, Prairie etc…
For the most part, structures are eclectic mixes of styles and client preferences that get lumped into larger stylistic categories for convenience. The layman calls a house Craftsman, but an academic would say it is really Dutch Farmhouse Revival or Elizabethan/Tudor Revival.
Yet when the layman says Craftsman, he's not so far off, as these structures fall into the period between 1900 and 1917 when large roofs, heavy eaves and the hearth as a central unifying theme for interior design were important stylistic elements the Craftsman aesthetic introduced to the local vernacular.
Spanish to the layman is pretty much anything with stucco walls and a clay tile roof. It could be anything from the local Taco Bell to Union Station. For the academic however there is Spanish Colonial Revival, distinct from Mediterranean Revival or Mission Revival.
Spanish Colonial Revival grew out of a regional interest in establishing, or preserving, a historic identity for the new cities of Southern California. Historians say that the novel "Ramona" was instrumental in the establishment of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in Southern California. "Ramona" was a romantic novel from the late 1800's, set in Ventura County of just after the Mexican-American war c.1850, whose sentimental view of Mexican Colonial life is said to have established the stylistic movement. It was a hugely popular novel, and the film was released in 1936, starring Loretta Young and Don Ameche.
California was still new to the union and the indigenous culture still "foreign". Tourists and economic emigrants who came to the area wanted to learn about the place they were going to and often did so through novels.
There's not much architecture in the novel, more like a veranda and thick walls and roof tile (more adobe than Spanish Colonial Revival or Mission Revival stylistically) but the scene is certainly Spanish Colonial. After the novel was published movements to save the historic Missions of Southern California, our regional "heritage", which had fallen into disrepair from neglect, gained interest. Probably the establishment of the railroads and tourists coming to the area also lead to this need to establish a "true regional" identity. Maybe it was some collective insecurity that any "real" city like European cities, had history where Los Angeles had no historic buildings whatsoever. But it was also out of interest in regional identity.
Basically what happened for architecture is the efforts to preserve the Missions created some forms of spin-off architecture in pavilions for Fairs and large public buildings and things like railroad stations (think Union Station etc). This then lead to the larger interest in Spanish Colonial Revival in residential architecture and its spinoffs.
All that is to say...that for the layman, This Old House's Los Angeles Project house is Spanish Style. For the academic it is Spanish Colonial Revival. The "Moorish" influences, like the arches, are a part of the Spanish palate but something you see in Craftsman architecture as well, so is interestingly, not really unique to the Spanish Colonial Revival package but more a part of the emerging entrepreneurial classes of Los Angeles's search for legitimacy.
Basically- it’s a really cute house, with lots of curb appeal as they say in the real estate business.
Home Front Build will participate in the next season of This Old House! For the first time, This Old House has chosen a project house in Los Angeles. Our work with the homeowners began on the property in September, and the show will begin airing in January 2011.
Featuring a 1500 square foot Spanish Revival in Silver Lake, the show will follow the progress of a two-story, 750 square foot renovation and addition designed by Home Front to accomodate the owner's growing family. A larger kitchen, family room, additional baths and bedrooms will be included in the project, as well as integration of period details like Art Deco light fixtures and arched doorways.
Steve Pallrand will be posting updates on the project from the frontlines right here on our site, so please check back to find out more about the latest news on this very first and special season of This Old House in Los Angeles. Updates will be posted simultaneously on our Facebook page, and we've also started a newsletter, so if you'd like to stay up to date that way, please subscribe here.
Here are a few "before" pictures to get a sense of the project.
Silver Lake was completely under development in the 1930s, when the project home was first under construction. It's a hilly neighborhood, tucked in northwest of downtown and east of Hollywood. Disney built his first major studio in Silver Lake in the 30s at about the same time this home was built. Modernist Architect Richard Neutra built his own home here, and in the area you'll find some of the best examples of Modernist homes in the world. The project house is Spanish Revival, a style at its heyday in California in the 30s and the most prevalent in the area.
The couple who owns the home have lived in it for a number of years, but with a growing family, it was time to expand. Lots of delicious period details- check out the fireplace and handmade ceramic tiles...these elements will stay and be integrated into the design of the home in its new incarnation. Arched doorway appears here and elsewhere in the house.
As in all matters of architectural style there is the layman's definition and then the academic's. There are really very few pure examples of any architectural style, Craftsman, Spanish Revival, Prairie etc…
