Victorian House Attic Window Frame

My 1895 house has one window opening in the attic, and that window was covered up with a plastic grate and screen several years ago. Previous owners of the house can't tell me anything about what kind of window was there originally, and old photos are not of any help. The attic was originally only accessible through a small opening in the ceiling of a storage room, barely enough for a skinny person to squeeze through. Now it has a set of pull down stairs.

There looks to be room for an outer storm window in the outer section of the casing, based upon other windows in the house. But on the inside, where the main window was, there is a slot in the top of the casing and room above it that makes me think the window/frame was meant to be pulled up and taken our for repair and cleaning. This is shown in the picture with the screwdriver pointing to the frame. The frame, painted white, is still there but nailed in place. There does not appear to be any center support bar, and the dimensions of the original glass pane look to be 15.5" high by 24.5" wide. It's hard to tell if there was ever any glass in the frame, and there may have just been a screen in the front and the window was only a vent.

I've attached some pictures, and questions comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Vince
60 miles west of Chicago, IL

If it ever had glass you would be able to tell, I would bet that is has always been a vent and when that needed repairs some one made this up, That would have been a very big piece of glass back then just to put it in the attic.

Hi Neal, thanks for the quick reply and for confirming what I was thinking. While some parts of the house were completely finished, some other parts were conspicuously never finished. The attic was never finished and was only recently partially floored in some areas. Because of that, I was also thinking that the window was only used as a vent and never really finished. And yeah, that would have been a big piece of glass for a window in an unfinished attic.

What do you want to do with it?

I would like to make a window out of it, and that doesn't look to be too difficult once I get that white frame out and put some glass in it. It would be nice to have some daylight in the attic!

1victorianfarmhouse said:

I would like to make a window out of it, and that doesn't look to be too difficult once I get that white frame out and put some glass in it. It would be nice to have some daylight in the attic!

Click to expand...

This is what you need for nails
https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-141K19-200/Cat's_Paw_(Japanese_Nail_Puller)

You want to be careful when changing the venting, have you got other venting in the attic.

Vince

I have the same thing in my 1880 home and when it was sided they covered the area with some perforated stuff to let some air thru. My inside windows up there are made to tip in and held at a angle with a cord. i think the idea was to open them in the summer close them in the winter. i have one on each end of the attic.

Why do you need light in an attic that most likely was never intended as storage or living space?
Far more important that there's proper air venting.
Sure would help if there was a location in your profile and more info what that attic space was used for.

Neal, thanks for the Cat's Paw info! I do have vents in the ceiling that were added later, and some of the eaves are not airtight, so the attic is plenty well ventilated.

Bud, thanks for the comment. It is possible that the window might have been made to tip in, as the casing is angled on the lower back side, but there is nothing to indicate any wires were attached there.

Joe,
I am currently using the attic as storage, and would like to eventually finish it and make it into additional livable space as it's about 800 Sq Ft. It already has lighting in it added by the previous owner.

Not sure why my location isn't listed in the header. I am in the far west Chicago suburbs.

Vince

Be sure to come and talk about venting more before you start finishing up there.
The bottom of the window frame or vent frame is always built on a 5* at least on the outside. This set up looks just like we had in the basement, our house was built in the 50s. I can't remember exactly how it was built but there was a wedge we could pull out and the window would tilt back about 3" at the top.