Please help me figure out what this type of window is called and when it was popular

December 24, 2011 8:51 PM

What is this kind of glass called and when was it popular?

The house it was found in was built in 1956, but I can't find any reference to this particular color/style in searches for 1950's decor. Also, searching "bottle glass" (which is what I thought it was called) doesn't really bring results either. I've seen this glass here and there, usually in older homes/businesses, so it must have been popular at some point. I just don't know when that point was or what this style of window is called.

posted by dogmom to Home & Garden (15 answers total)

I've always heard it called "bottle glass" or "bottle glass window". Googling the latter give me several images that are similar to your example.

As to when it was most popular...I really can't say.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:20 PM on December 24, 2011

Response by poster: Hmmm.. I guess I thought that it would have a different name than the stuff that has the lead lines outlining the circles. Maybe the stuff in my picture is a "representation" of the actual stained-glass looking stuff?
posted by dogmom at 9:23 PM on December 24, 2011

I've always heard that called "bullseye glass".
posted by belladonna at 9:55 PM on December 24, 2011

Best answer: My grandfather had a bunch of that stuff in his happenin' basement barroom, and I think he built it in the 70's.
posted by gjc at 10:48 PM on December 24, 2011

I also know this as "bullseye (bulls-eye) glass" and believe it's from the 60s.
posted by deborah at 11:33 PM on December 24, 2011

Best answer: Here in Australia this was incredibly trendy effect to have in new houses built in the early 70s. I don't know what it's called, though.
posted by andraste at 12:40 AM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

A bit of googling shows that here in Oz it's called "bottle bottom glass".
posted by andraste at 12:43 AM on December 25, 2011

The official term is "crown glass", though it's often called bullseye or bottle glass because of the punty mark left from the glassblowing process. It was one of the first types of glass used in windows, but (usually manufactured with fake punty marks, not handblown!) resurfaces from time to time as a fashion statement.
posted by likeso at 4:12 AM on December 25, 2011

Best answer: The term is Rondels. Crown glass is a bit different, similar buy much larger and thicker.
posted by princelyfox at 4:22 AM on December 25, 2011

Huh, had forgotten about "rondel"! Though searching quick and dirty I can't find anything re differences in thickness, I did find this glass(blower) company's page with more info.
posted by likeso at 4:31 AM on December 25, 2011

Best answer: Found something! Rondels are basically the same as crown glass though on a smaller scale and with no intention of cutting the piece apart. Cool site, includes a video of making crown glass as well as reproductions of old woodcuts. And the Encyclopedia Britannica (mobile version, sorry, I'm on the iPad) has more background - ancient process, possibly Syrian in origin. You know what? This topic would make an interesting FPP... :)
posted by likeso at 4:55 AM on December 25, 2011

Depends on the company you buy from. Some call them glass bricks (regardless of shape) an others call them glass pavers. Sometimes they are called glass lenses, that's a little vague unless you are familiar with the item, though.
posted by Yellow at 6:35 AM on December 25, 2011

Best answer: Oh! I forgot! They are popular in different places at different times. In NYC, glass lenses were popular in usage from the 1850s. There was a resurgence of popularity in the 1960s and 1970s.
posted by Yellow at 6:38 AM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Searching 1960's Rondell glass led me to this which tells me:

While the handmade product is what is regaining popularity there are machine made "pressed rondels". You can often find this type of glass in homes from the 40's, 50's and 60's and old English tavern style restaurants. Since there isn't much intrinsic beauty or excitement about this glass we stick to the real mouth-blown glass.

As far as era, whenever I saw it in a home (usually and older relative), it was always in the playroom/basement/rumpus room, along with shag carpeting, so I think 60's-early 70's must be when it was most popular in the US.

Thank you all!

likeso, I would love to see an FPP on glass!
posted by dogmom at 7:33 AM on December 25, 2011

I think you're dead on about the modern pressed stuff being representational of the historic stuff. Historically, they would often cut up the rondels to get smooth panes (or sections of pane) that you could see through and leave the pieces with obvious crowning in windows that were more about letting light in. So, historically, you'll see them used artistically in stained glass windows or arranged in tasteful patterns in very old windows, or, by time window glass was nearly everywhere, relegated to windows that were just about letting light in.

Another example of this kind of thing - I've seen a cast iron fence with a row of rounded lozenges set between two bars all along the top. What they were obviously going for (well, obvious to me) was the look of the center of this hand forged cross but, because they were casting and not forging, they weren't get the little half twists is the edges of the lozenges.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:03 AM on December 25, 2011