# @nancygouldstone on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DPY8IqEiLVu
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/59846039-nancygouldstone-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/bbfc226cc5.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-10-04T13:52:51.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NANCY GOULDSTONE ARCHITECTS (@nancygouldstone) — https://gondola.cc/nancygouldstone

## Caption

Taxes & Design quirks in period buildings:
We kept noticing the same funny quirks appearing across historic homes; blocked-up windows, oddly flat façades, rooms that seemed to crave more light.
When we looked closer, the reason turned out to be surprisingly modern: taxes.

In Georgian and Victorian Britain, windows, glass and even bricks were all taxed, shaping how houses looked for over a century. These old fiscal rules explain so many of the features we work with today, from blind windows to bay fronts and tall French doors.

Our latest journal post explores how these taxes changed architecture and what traces remain in the homes we design and restore. Thanks to philip.downer who told me about bay windows and the window tax and set us off on a quest to find out more.

Link in bio

Image 1: Bay windows were once again able to be built in the 1850s when the hated window tax was abolished. Nice example at our Kensington Townhouse

Image 2: Albert Street, 1840s NW1
Built while the window and glass taxes were still in force. Many houses here still show bricked-up openings where owners literally chose darkness over higher tax bills.

Image 3: Georgian sash windows, Dartmouth Park, 1805
The familiar six-over-six sash isn’t just a style choice. It came from a time when glass was taxed by weight, so large panes were a luxury few could afford.

Image 4: Gower Street, 1780s, WC1
This long Georgian terrace was criticised at the time for its monotony, a side effect of the brick tax, which made decorative features too expensive to build.

Image 5: Our Primrose Hill Grade II listed townhouse in NW1 was built in the 1850s just after the glass tax was repealed - note the two over two sash windows.

Image 6: Victorian conservatory (artistic impression - 1860s)
Once the glass tax was gone, entire rooms could be made of glass. Conservatories and winter gardens flourished, the forerunners of today’s light-filled extensions.

Image 7: St Pancras Station & Hotel, 1860s
When the brick tax was finally repealed, architects made up for lost time, experimenting with colour and pattern in bold, polychromatic brickwork.

#NancyGouldstoneArchitects #conservationarchitecture

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 91
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 4

## Tags

conservationarchitecture, nancygouldstonearchitects

---
Copyright (c) Gondola