My Offer to Parag

"If you buy this house Parag", I promised, "I'll help you take down the awnings."

Parag made the purchase, but instead he opted for my help with carpet removal, and his painters removed the ridiculous awnings. Even more ridiculously, they masked a beautiful leaded glass transom. Of course, we wouldn't want all that light in the house making things, errr--look good.

I found this ad for awnings at the National Building Museum.
In ancient civilizations and even in the early 20th century, awnings were meant to be seasonal, mostly made of canvas, rolled up or stored, away from the summer months. Of course some were designed to be retractable. But when aluminum came in, these cheap, fixed, colorful shed shapes, spread like wildfire.

Awnings suit nicely sidewalk cafes, but I don't much care for them in residential architecture*, particularly not on late Queen Anne Transitionals.

*Nor do contemporary home builders it seems, particularly not in our air-conditioned world.