Sydney Sash Window Specialist offer expert restoration and repair of traditional sash windows and period casement windows.  This blog contains some examples of our restoration work including weather sealing, glass upgrades, rot repair and replacement joinery.

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Sydney’s Colonial Sash Windows
Sydney’s sash windows started to appear sometime after the arrival of a First Fleet of British ships in 1788. Knowledge and skills learned in Europe were naturally adapted to use the local materials available in the new penal colony. These first sash windows became known as colonial style sash windows, which mimicked the Georgian style of Europe.  Most buildings erected in the first 50 years of Australian settlement were simple and plain, windows were usually small with multi-paned cylinder glass.  With a lack of industry in Sydney at that time the windows often had no counterbalance mechanism and so adopted the older French system of a swivel block.  As the Australian economy developed and settlements became more established more sophisticated buildings emerged in the Old Gothic and Regency style. Colonial sash windows can be found in Sydney suburbs such as The Rocks, Hunters Hill, and Balmain.
Sydney’s Victorian windows
During the reign of Queen Victoria British migration increased and settlers in the colonies were able to utilize the latest and most fashionable advancements in Victorian architecture. Public buildings, across the colonies, were routinely designed in Britain by prominent architects of the time. Local timbers including Australian hardwoods and softwoods including the durable Cedar were used.
Victorian Gothic revival
The Gothic style became widespread in the 19th century, characterized by its ornate stone and brick structures. Victorian Gothic architecture was lavished with ornamentation and decoration. Victorian sash windows incorporated curved horns, arched heads, intricate mouldings, lead-lights and often latticework adorned the sashes.
Late Victorian
The Industrial Revolution brought many technological advancements, including the manufacture of larger panes of glass. Window styles from this period were simpler, typically featuring either single panes or two over two vertical split glazing pattern. The bullnose veranda roof started to appear, timber fretwork became common and sidelights were added beside the front door.
Filigree / Italianate
A prominent feature of Australian architecture is the wrought iron filigree balcony often termed ‘iron-lace’. Many homes constructed during the 1870s and the 1880s were two-storey Victorian Filigree terraces. Filigree also became a popular adornment for gates, verandahs and doorways.

Examples of Victorian windows can be found across Sydney including around Sydney Inner West , Strathfield, Hunters Hill, Mosman and the Eastern Suburbs.
Sydney’s Federation Windows
1890 – 1915 Australia adopted the term ‘Federation Architecture’ when referencing the Edwardian style of architecture in Australia. It was not uncommon to have casement window frames and double-hung windows located in the same house. Fanlights and coloured glasses were common features in sidelights and above doors.
Federation Queen Anne
A style that was a revived form of English Baroque architectural styles and is considered to span 1880–1900, although the popular style persisted for another decade. Double-hung sash windows commonly incorporated a six over two glazing configuration.
By the early 1900s, side hinged casement windows became increasingly popular. A popular style for the casement window was to be grouped into a bow window featuring a decorative Art Nouveau or Neo-Georgian lead lights or zinc lights on the upper section.
Anglo-Dutch
Adopting much from the Queen Ann style, Anglo-Dutch is characterised by the plain red-brown brickwork of their façades and the stepped or scalloped dutch gables in their roofs.  Windows are typically of the Queen Ann style; double-hung and painted white.

Federation sash windows and casement windows can be seen all over Sydney including Beecroft, Randwick, Strathfield, Vaucluse and more.
Bungalows
First introduced to Sydney in 1906 the American California Bungalow style was usually a single-storey house with the roof covering a prominent verandah. Timber casement windows were most frequently used on the frontage with double-hung windows up the side.  The Federation Bungalow style was the Australian response to the American Bungalow styles. It can be regarded as a transition between Federation Queen Ann and the American Bungalow.  Tuck pointed brickwork, ornamental verandahs and multi-paned timber casement windows with leadlights featuring Australian fauna and flora.
Post War
After the second world war, mass-produced sash windows increasingly incorporated the cheaper spiral balance or tape balance systems.