A Brief History of Shutters: Should We Keep Ours?

A couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of an unseasonably warm day and pulled out the pressure washer to clean some mildew off the siding shingles. We had our house painted over three summers, with the almost-finale taking place in 2017–four years ago already. Time flies when you’re addressing deferred maintenance. Isn’t that how the saying goes? Anyway, after I removed the shutters underneath the porch to scrub off the bat guano (Ewww!), I realized that I kind of like the way BHH looks without them. Then, I started thinking about the history of shutters and wondering how important are they really? Should we keep ours because they are original, or has their current uselessness made them obsolete?

I talked briefly about my shutter saga on this week’s podcast: Episode #52: What Style is That? Identifying Old American Architecture. The full episode is also available at the bottom of this post.

Note: Homeowners should never use a pressure washer to remove paint in lieu of careful scraping. The force of the water can damage the wood, and it introduces moisture behind the siding, which creates a perfect environment for rot. Also, a paint job over damp wood will fail sooner than later. More importantly, the contaminated run-off introduces lead into the soil and waterways. I used a pressure washer with a gentle soap tip to clean the siding. If you do the same, be sure to point the nozzle down so it doesn’t force water underneath and behind the boards or shingles.

A Brief History of Shutters Elsewhere

On this blog and Instagram, my M.O. has always been to provide enough information to teach a little something, but I don’t often get too technical. On occasion, I take some heat from the super technical folks, but my goal is to distill the information down to the most helpful and interesting parts. When people ask me questions, I often reply, “Do you want the short answer or the long answer?” Almost everyone seems to want the Cliff notes. So, that’s what I offer to you today. Keep in mind that there were window and building pioneers, but for the most part, they were the exception, not the rule.

Shutters have been around for a very long time. (15th Century Greece) They pre-date glass. When the walls of structures were made from brick or stone, shutters were on the interior because the window openings were very thick. Shutters served as the only way to “shut” a window and keep out the bad weather and wildlife. I don’t suppose they were particularly good at either, but they were better than nothing.

During the Tudor and Elizabethan times (1485-1603), glass became more readily available, but it was costly. People used it sparingly and mostly on the upper portion of the window. Solid wood shutters covered up the bottom.

Once the Industrial Revolution rolled around (1760-1870), the Victorian woodworking mills introduced machinery that could make more uniform slats of wood for louvered shutters, also called blinds. These slats opened and closed, and they worked much better at keeping out insects and weather. They also allowed different levels of light and air to filter into each room.

During that time, builders in England started making houses out of wood instead of stone or brick, and the walls were much thinner. Someone inside could actually reach exterior shutters to pull them closed. So exterior shutters became more commonplace.

The popular option was solid shutters on the lower level for privacy and louvered blinds upstairs to maximize sunlight and airflow.

A Brief History of Shutters in America

Things were fine and dandy in Europe, but what about shutters here in the US? Early in the colonization of America, the Spanish, French, Portuguese, and British built fancy mansions and added shutters as a style accessory. However, they still used them for ventilation, privacy, and protection. Form follows function.

One interesting tidbit I learned was that the solid shutters on the lower level were sometimes painted white to make the candlelight appeared brighter at night. Upper-level shutters were sometimes painted a dark color to improve the conditions for daytime napping. Sign me up!

After wood storm windows became widely available in the late 19th century, people left their shutters in the open position and fastened them with holders called shutter dogs, ties, or holdbacks. In the summer, they removed the storm windows and closed the shutters to prevent the sun from fading their furniture and rugs. Also, since they didn’t have screens yet, the shutters helped keep insects and other flying animals out, I presume.

Surely in response to getting bitten repeatedly by mosquitos, metal screens were fast-tracked into houses around the turn of the 20th century. After that, homeowners began to swap out storm windows for screens seasonally. By the 1920s, shutters were relegated primarily to decorative status, and some homeowners removed their shutters altogether. Today, we live in a country where anything from giant flip-flops to barn doors serves as decorative shutters, and thus Shudder Sunday was born. More on that below.

To Shutter or Not to Shutter?

Considering the history of shutters, let’s use BHH as a case study.

I still haven’t put the shutters back on underneath the porch.

Maybe I prefer the simplicity since there is so much going on with all of the different window styles, and then there’s the critter issue. Although I am a protector of bats, I don’t particularly appreciate that they use the backs of our shutters as roosts. Every morning there’s a yucky mess waiting on the porch. I’d rather build them some bat boxes away from the house.

There’s a fancy group of windows above the entry that might also look better simplified. The bi-fold center shutter is already missing.

On the front of BHH, there’s a whole lot of everything on the lower level. The upper shutters do distract the eye from the smallest off-center window. What’s up with that anyway? Those tiny shutters are supposed to be bi-fold, but the second section is long-gone from each.

There are no shutters left on the sides of the house mostly obscured from the road.

I know there used to be shutters on all of the windows because I can see the paint-covered latch hardware in the sills.

Shudder Sunday

I can’t end this post without coming back to Shudder Sunday. Shudder Sunday is the brainchild of my friend, Scott Sidler of The Craftsman Blog. Every Sunday, he shares a photo of shutters that are horribly and hilariously misplaced. Bad shutters make him shudder. #ShudderSunday. His mission is to educate homeowners about the proper placement and size of shutters.

Consider this the “warts and all” tour of the exterior of BHH. I’m not holding anything back. You’ve seen my ugly downspouts, and now I humbly offer my submission to Shudder Sunday.

A week ago, I was bound and determined to fix that catastrophe, and then the squatter bird moved in. Now you know my shame. This situation was actually partially my fault. We had the gutters installed a few years ago, and they did a very nice job working around the windows on the back of the house.

I complimented them and assumed we were on the same page about keeping things as low-profile as possible. Nope. I meant to fix it right away. Other tasks took precedence, and now we live with a bird.

After learning about the history of shutters and taking a tour around the exterior of BHH, what would you do? If you lived here, would you take some or all of the shutters off or leave them as-is. No matter what we decide, the shutters will stay with the house. I will label them and store them in the basement. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you!

Listen to the full episode below:

Summary:

In addition to talking about shutters, I chatted with Karyn Norwood, an architectural historian, and teacher. Karyn founded the popular Instagram account, What Style is That? an educational and fun side-project where she photographs, identifies, and labels the defining features of old American architecture.

Also, Me and Ashley, from The Gold Hive discussed when and if it’s ever ok to “fake” historic features using modern replacements.

Sources

Admin. “A Brief History of Exterior Shutters.” Wasatch Shutter, 20 Jan. 2020, wasatchshutter.com/a-brief-history-of-exterior-shutters.

Hanson, Scott T. Restoring Your Historic House: The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners, Tilbury House Publishers, 2019, p 92.

Roginski, Ken. “Introduction & History of Shutters.” OldHouseGuy Blog, 26 Oct. 2020, www.oldhouseguy.com/shutters-introduction-history/.

Roginski, Ken. “Does Your House Have an Eastern Style Window Casing?” The Old House Guy, 30 Oct. 2019, www.oldhouseguy.com.