You do not have to go far back in history to see that the awning was a popular adornment for the outside of shops, offices and houses. Have we lost a little street ambience with the disappearance of these apendages?
The awning is not just some makeshift contraption your granddad puts up outside his caravan, the awning has made its mark on landscapes up and down the country from shop fronts to business premises to private houses.
Indeed, a drive through the suburbs of New Zealand, the US or Australia will show you that the awning for the home is well and truly alive for practical purposes and now adding an extra dimension of outside interest to the property.
Awnings have been in use since early Egyptian times when they were used to shield the sun from market stalls and homes and in ancient Rome they were used to shelter the seating areas of stadiums from the searing heat.
A look back on some early Victorian street photographs will show you that by relatively modern times, awnings were used in abundance. They grew in popularity over the years initially for the practical purpose of climate control. Even in dreary Britain, the midday sun can be unbearable and shop fronts needed to protect their displays as much as home owners wanted to protect their soft furnishings.
A practical construction of iron pipes and canvas coverings were constructed above shops and offices to shield occupants and furnishings from the sun long before air conditioning was even an idea. However, it was soon seen that these could be used as a form of decoration and indeed a form of advertising.
Awning suppliers began to provide their wares in an array of colours and stripes were a hot favourite during the Victorian era. Avenues of candy coloured striped awnings adorned many a Victorian street and provided excellent shelter from not just sun but also was a way of getting shoppers out of the rain and encouraging them into the shops.
Sign-writing began to appear on the shop awnings as a form of advertising and identification when the awning covered the store name. This added to the ambience of the typical street scene and continued for many, many years. I remember myself when you could walk down the High Street ducking under shop awnings for shelter.
By the 1920s (and I do not remember this bit) awnings had become a popular addition to the domestic setting. It became quite fashionable to buy awnings for home and protect your soft furnishings from fading and also cool the home from the heat of summer. It also gave a new and distinguished look to the exterior of a house or apartment when the awnings were fully open.
Over time, the trend, particularly in the UK, began to die out with the introduction of a more mechanised form of air conditioning but you just cannot help but think that the look of a street full of awnings was more attractive than the plain, drab, square boxes we have today.
Author Resource:-
Anna Stenning is an historian with an interest in architecture and interior fashions and here takes a look at awnings for home. For more information please visit http://www.hillarys.co.uk/awnings/
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