Why so many tenement home windows in Glasgow are bricked – and what’s behind them

Why is it that some home windows in Glasgow are bricked? And no, the reply isn’t any ‘window tax’.

Have you ever ever observed all of the closed home windows in Glasgow homes? Have you ever ever puzzled what the matter is? No marvel as Glasgowworld returns to reply your questions from throughout town.

You will see it in tenement buildings throughout city – however you may see it most frequently within the white sandstone buildings of the West Finish. At first look you would possibly suppose nothing of it – a vertical row of home windows fully bricked up.

However on second inspection you might be left questioning why would anybody need much less daylight in Glasgow? That is the place the key lies – and ask any previous punter on the road they usually’ll most likely inform you it was to keep away from an previous council ‘window tax’.

Whereas the window tax was really a factor within the 18th century – it did not make most individuals collectively resolve to brick a single window of their dwelling. In reality the tax solely actually affected the wealthiest of society – who may afford the additional couple, there should have been a whole lot of home windows for it.

It would not be truthful to shut a window to your property to save lots of just a few shillings a 12 months – for the poor residents who reside within the homes. The legislation was repealed in 1851, so lots of Glasgow’s new properties by no means encountered the function of blocked home windows.

In actuality, bricked up ‘pretend home windows’ had been frequent apply for Georgian and Victorian structure – and had been used to take care of the symmetrical elements of buildings. This was additionally not unique to Glasgow – as will be seen in Edinburgh too with many vertical flights of brick home windows.

Many of those pretend vertical home windows even have chimney vents – which permit smoke from residential fires to flee by means of the constructing and out the roof.

Maybe not as attention-grabbing a narrative as avoiding the DIY tax – but the query has been answered: the brick home windows in Glasgow homes had been by no means home windows, however are nothing greater than architectural options to make the constructing seem symmetrical .

HiSurv, a Clarkston-based agency specializing in conventional constructing consulting, posted a submit on Twitter that includes a picture of {a partially} broken ‘blanked off window’ – exhibiting what’s behind the fake-windows on a Glasgow tenement Is.