Windows Without Visual Integrity - Loudoun County High School

Introducing the new 2017 Loudoun County High School look.
(Also note missing snowbirds)

As of August 24, school is back in session at Loudoun County High School. The windows renovation has been completed, and the front of the school is back open. It's time to look at how all the new windows look together on the front facade.

By making the windows similar to the Georgian section's, you can now pick out a lot more detail and differences between the windows.

New 2017 (left), and Old (2005/2006 replication of 1954
windows). 

The width difference was always apparent between the two style windows. With these similar-looking Georgian windows, you can also see there was also a height difference. The Georgian section's windows were longer than the 1950's section. Having two differently-styled windows masked that.

There's also a difference of width of brick space between each window. In the Georgian Section, there's a brick width of almost 3 bricks. In the 1950's section, the brick width is two bricks.

Even the window sill is a different height in each section (Georgian: 2 bricks high; 1950's: 1 1/2 bricks high). If the Georgian and 1950's sections were originally supposed to have the same windows, shouldn't their dimensions have matched?

Dimensions aside, the new window muntins (the white grid) are of a different scale and rate from the Georgian section's. The Georgian section's are rectangular, tall and thin, while the new windows are perfectly square. If one more vertical muntin could have been added to the new windows, it might fit in better with the Georgian section's windows.

Picture from early August 2017

What really bothers me is how blocky these new windows look. You know when you stack four Lego windows together to make a mega-window in the house you're creating? That is exactly what these windows are doing. They are four separate windows grouped together. Because they are each separate window entities, they have their own frames, which creates the thick white "plus" symbol in each mega-window. It gives each window this light cartoony look.

1950's section c. 2010. The vents along the bottom row are
on the windows third from the left and second from the right. 

A feature I did not notice before in the 1950's section windows were the periodic vent openings. These vents were not original to the building (the original vent openings are in-between and below the window lines). These vent openings had been placed on the covered-over window section, so they did not stand out on the former windows.

Is it winking, or does it have a lazy eye?

With the 2017 windows, the vent openings were left exactly where they were. Because the windows are now full height, these vents take out some of the window and stick out like a sore thumb. It ruins the line of the windows. You look down the line, and then you stop and wonder why the pattern was briefly disrupted. Why can't those vent openings be routed somewhere else?? The vent opening was put in those locations because, I theorize, there was no window there at the time and it would have been cheaper than going through brick. Now that the windows are at full height, this feature should have been reconsidered. If you are trying to architecturally unify a facade, you don't want to disrupt your main pattern. These vent openings should have been moved.

The windows can open!

One design feature I do like is that these windows can still be opened. That caught me by surprise. These windows didn't have a screen on them, so they didn't look like they were made to be opened. But this also points out yet another difference in window designs. These windows angle outwards to open, while the Georgian section windows move up and down.


As my first post said, there was so much work and effort that went into replicating the look of the original Georgian windows when they were replaced in 2005/2006. It is baffling to me that the same energy did not go into trying to match these new windows with the older ones. It doesn't look cohesive. It achieves its goal the same way that red delicious and granny smith apples are similar -- they're still apples.

What this all boils down to is that these new windows did not succeed in architecturally unifying the facade. They only seem to help highlight all the differences. There are still two different window designs on the front of this building.


LCHS Windows Saga:
Windows Without Historic Integrity - Loudoun County High School
Windows Without Narrative Integrity - Loudoun County High School
Windows Without Business Integrity - Loudoun County High School

Enjoy other LCHS Articles from the same author:

Loudoun County High School: A History

Loudoun County High School: Flag Controversy

Loudoun County High School: Decorative Wooden Urns
Obama at LCHS Recap
LCHS: Columns
LCHS: Murals