Anybody seen this before? Solid wood "window" sash

[Don M]

My parent's 1930's house had all chains on the double hung windows.

[Sara]

Wouldn't that be amazing if those opened up fully? Could we get a photo from the porch looking in at those windows?

[Gothichome]

Well isn't that interesting, never heard of such a thing, three section windows that open up to a door. Not a Canadian thing that's for sure. And have large bowed window sliding into floor or in up into the wall, just got to ask what kind of money would you have needed to have to those built and installed.

[friendlynerd (WavyGlass)]

This is a rather old pic (from the real estate listing when I bought it actually) so there's been a lot of work done since. But it's the best one I have of the windows with me right now.

[Don M]

I've seen windows like that in England when I visited some years ago. They were actually still using them as doors when the weather was nice. It seems I recall Monticello had those type of windows too.

[Casey]

If the opening gets to 6ft high without it, no need for them to go into ceiling.
There's another idea I'm loath to bring up; the coffin door theory. Considered bad luck to move the coffin across the front door threshold, so a window that opened up to floor level was often installed. My house has two, installed in the 1906 remodel; the neighboring house, built at the same time by his brother, has one.
I don't necessarily endorse the coffin door theory, but it's prevalent.
Casey

[friendlynerd (WavyGlass)]

I don't necessarily endorse the coffin door theory, but it's prevalent.
Casey

It's not without merit! I found an obituary referencing my address from 1917:

1917-11-16; Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer
"COOK - Nov. 14, MARY A., widow of John Cook. Friends invited to funeral, Sat., 2 P. M., xxx Queen lane, Falls of Schuylkill. Int. Mt. Pece Cem."

[Mick_VT]

If the opening gets to 6ft high without it, no need for them to go into ceiling.
There's another idea I'm loath to bring up; the coffin door theory. Considered bad luck to move the coffin across the front door threshold, so a window that opened up to floor level was often installed. My house has two, installed in the 1906 remodel; the neighboring house, built at the same time by his brother, has one.
I don't necessarily endorse the coffin door theory, but it's prevalent.
Casey

I think the coffin thing is a myth, most houses had a back door or other door ( or suitable sized windows) anyway, and the expense of fitting something specific like that which might be used once in a decade (or is that a lifetime ) seems to make it beyond a possibility in my opinion.

[Neighmond]

My cousins had them in a house in Florida, and with the lower one lifted about a foot and the top sash dropped by that much, there is a mighty draft introduced to an otherwise blistering hot room! On a breezy day, three of them (two across the front, one in the side) and a door in the dining room bay would move a lot of air. During a party, lots of people could duck in and out one if the lower sashes were all the way up, and it saved a bottle neck at the front door. Plus, it was fun for the kids to run through. When we slept out there in hot days, one was always left open for easy access to the front room, to get to the basement hallway where the toilet was.

As for moving a casket out (or in) one of those, a wooden casket with a body in weighs enough that between four and six are needed to carry it with any dignity and you would play hell getting one through a thirty inch opening without skinning it on the jambs and lots of gymnastics that no pall bearer should be called upon to master. Given the amount of import our ancestors placed on the proper sendoff, I can't see taking a casket through a triple hung window if any other way in or out existed. As a child, when we waked my great aunts, they were taken out through the front door, feet first, but the door was removed (by pulling the pinch pins) before the time came, so no well-meaning pall bearer put an elbow through it or bang into it with the casket. Same with the screen door, only you just took the spring off one end and held it back against the side of the house with an easel full of flowers.
For whatever it's worth.

Chaz

[CS in Low Hud]

Yep... I tend to look a bit askance at the "coffin door" claim too. It's the usual go-to explanation for any unusual door configuration in an old house. Sort of the same as any old root cellar or crawl space makes a house a "stop on the underground railroad." Most of the time that's a bogus claim too. It doesn't mean that they don't exist anywhere... just that there are usually far more likely explanations. In the case of your windows, the ventilation explanation, for example.

Chris