Americana DeVenco Fabricates High Quality, Hand Crafted Shutters
The Pocket Shutters you buy today will be enjoyed for years to come. Whether you have a home of period significance, a new home designed to replicate period architecture, or you are renovating and desire a timeless window dressing, our shutters are tailored to your requirements.
- Solid wood components. There are no finger-jointed or “glued up parts.” All components are solid wood and custom milled to exacting specifications in our shop. There are no ready-made parts, imported parts or stock fabricated parts…and never faux wood.
- Mortise and dowel construction. Americana DeVenco shutters are not screwed together, stapled, or pinned together. We use old-fashioned cabinetmaker joinery. This assures the shutter will never fall out of square at the joints under its own weight.
- Nylon rotation pins. Louver operation is smooth and effortless, even if it is refinished numerous times.
- Rabbeted stiles. One additional custom feature that provides total privacy and blocks additional light and heat.
- Hanging hinge mortise. Mortising for hanging hinges is standard, allowing a custom fit within the window jamb.
- Proportional design.
Victorian Louvered Leaf
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- Victorian 1″ by 1-5/8″ beaded stiles assure aesthetically pleasing design as well as structural integrity.
- 1-7/8″ louvers spaced at 1-1/2″ inches on center provide excellent closure and actual room darkening in daylight.
- Lockrails are customary at no extra charge based upon the height of the shutter and provide structural support and absolute stability within a panel while allowing upper louvers to function separately from lower louvers.
Raised or Flat Panel Leaf
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- Panel 1″ by 1-3/4″ stiles assure aesthetically pleasing design as well as structural integrity.
- 1-1/2” panel raise on front of shutter and flat panel on back to create 3/4” thick panel.
- Custom lockrails can create either standard styles (see Raised Panel Styles) or bespoke configurations and may incur additional charges.
Americana DeVenco Pocket Shutters Are Constructed of the Finest Material
All wood is milled by us in our shop. There are no prefab or stock-sized parts. All work is done in our shop by skilled craftsmen to the highest standards in the industry today.
Following our state-of-the-art CAD drawings that are reviewed and approved by the customer for accuracy, the components for each shutter are cut by hand, piece by piece, the old-fashioned way. The shutters are then assembled by hand using old-world cabinetmaker construction techniques.
After assembly, each shutter is sanded and buffed by hand and prepared for finishing. All shutters are ready to receive a finish with either being provided raw or primed. Hardware is carefully laid out on each shutter and holes are drilled for installation. Your shutters are then packed like Waterford crystal for shipping.
We Know Pocket Shutters
The window opening – also known as the embrasure – became deeply recessed in the 18th century due to the construction methods of the time using brick. The deep window jamb provided a convenient space to store shutters when they were hinged in the open position and no longer covering the window. The shutters appeared to be part of the window jamb and almost undetectable at first glance. At night the shutters would fold across the window for privacy and insulation from the elements. This shifted the shutter from merely a functional window dressing to a design element that carpenters could use to dress up the window.
Observe how the inner leaf that is louvered in the example above folds over the raised panel and tucks neatly into the jamb.
The pockets built into the window jamb are a clever detail not often seen in today’s architecture. Brick homes of the 18th and 19th centuries necessarily required a wall of exceptional thickness since the walls were comprised of solid brick rather than brick veneer. This wall dimension often exceeded 12 to 14 inches and provided a deep window jamb, which served to conveniently store the shutters when hinged in the open position. The inner leaf of the shutter folds onto the flanking leaf (usually a paneled leaf), which hinges to cover the pocket opening, thus making the window jamb an architectural feature in the room. Many times, the panel configuration is mirrored at the top of the jamb to further disguise the shutters. To see a demonstration of pocket shutters, you can click on this link: LeDuc Historic Estate
The jamb pockets are commonly splayed or angled outwards. This is to accommodate windows whose shutters are wider than the depth of the window jamb. The angled jamb will serve to conceal the greater width shutter of this wider window. This is important if the window is wide so that the pocket will allow for wider individual leafs. In many cases for windows of ordinary widths, the jambs are constructed to be square or perpendicular to the window.
Adopting many monikers, this style of shutter has been known as a Pocket Shutter, Privacy Shutter, or Embrasured Shutter. Paneled leafs were used in earlier times because they provided an elegant feel, were easier to produce, and provided greater protection from intruders and the elements. Through industrialization, louvered panels came into vogue and mass production made them more available. In many instances, pocket shutters are fabricated in the Brownstone style which incorporates Victorian louvers for inner leafs with flanking Raised Panel leafs. When you are producing new construction or remodeling projects, the depth of built-in bookcases or cabinetry on either side of a window can be integrated to create a deep enough jamb in which to employ a Pocket Shutter.