Crittall windows are huge right now… and won’t be going anywhere any time soon. This lovely industrial steel framed style of window can actually look great in an older house too.

Crittall is actually the name of the original manufacturer - a company set up in the UK in 1849 by Francis Berrington Crittall when he bought the Bank Street ironmongery in Braintree, Essex.

A couple of decades later, the company started manufacturing steel-framed windows and the Crittall window was born.

In 1907, Crittall bought the so-called Fenestra joint patent from the German company Fenestra in Düsseldorfand also began to operate the Detroit Steel Product Co, the first steel window factory in the United States – taking the USA by storm. In the very early years of the 20th century they were hugely de rigueur with both the fashionable Americans and the English and were a feature of the Titanic! They are particularly associated with the Art Deco and Modernist movements in early 20th-century architecture, which is when they really went mainstream. Much like Hoover and Kleenex, the brand name has now become synonymous with this type of window.

What’s so great about Crittall?

• They look awesome and give a real sense of style.

• Their multiple panels almost create their own artwork.

• Great for internal windows as well as external.

• They used to be single glazed and being metal, very cold. These days they’re double glazed and well insulated.

• The steel can be powder-coated for almost any colour.

Downsides

• Multiple panels – use for interest not for a picture window, where the exterior view is all-important.

• Quite high maintenance for cleaning!

• Expensive