Rosehill was almost completely built up by 1905, mostly with terraces and semis. The Norwich Road area, north-west of the centre, is a 19th-century suburb of red brick terraces, and California on the east side was begun by the Freehold Land Society — founded in 1849 to do something about poor housing — which is why red brick terraces and detached villas sit on the same streets there.
Casements are what most of it carries now, and that is the job: not choosing a window style so much as deciding what the replacement should be measured against.
What are you matching?
Plenty of these houses did not start with casements. An earlier replacement took out vertical sliding sashes and put casements in, so “like for like” quietly means matching the 1980s rather than the house. It is worth knowing which of the two you are doing before any configurations are drawn, because the answer changes the proportions of every opening on the elevation.
The brick head above the opening often settles it. A cambered or arched head was built for a window that followed its curve, and a square-topped modern frame underneath leaves a band of infill that is hard to make look intended.
Bays, and what is holding them up
A two-up two-down with a bay to the front room needs two different windows, and the bay is the part that takes the thought. How the corners are formed, whether the existing bay carries any load from above, and what sits under the cill all have to be established before it is ordered rather than discovered on the day it comes out.
On a solid-walled terrace the window is also the one part of the envelope that can realistically be upgraded, which is why the glazing specification is worth more attention here than on a cavity-walled house. Our piece on energy efficiency and double glazing covers which parts of the specification actually make a difference.
Nearby, and getting to you
At Crowning glory in Ipswich we fitted Origin aluminium windows to a RIBA Suffolk Award-winning new build. Ipswich is about 25 to 30 minutes from our Colchester showroom along the A12.
There is more on our casement windows page, and an estimate commits you to nothing.
