WITCH WINDOW

And you thought that skewed and twisted building parts were only for silly deconstructivists and 'Harry Potter' set designers? Well, you were wrong!

The witch window is an otherwise normal (usually sash, sometimes casement) window, including millwork and the whole shebang, but tilted to follow the pitch of the roof of a gabled house. It originates in Vermont, USA, and is installed in houses where there is a gap between the main volume, and a smaller addition with the same roof pitch.

This allows for the use of full-size windows, letting in a lot of light, and also means that you don't have to order custom windows for getting light and air (and a view and a means communication and all the other things a window does) into your attic room, in a climate where dormer windows are hard to maintain, lead to heat loss and are susceptible to leakages.

Sometimes, the weatherboarding on the wall around the window will follow the same direction, making it look even more absurd and ignorant of the direction of gravity.

The name allegedly comes from the belief that witches can't fly their brooms through these windows, but could also come from the fact a window like this is a real b*tch/witch to open.

From an online comment discussion on an article about witch windows:

"3. Fran
      Aug 26th, 2010, at 8.51 am

Now how in the world would you hang a curtain over those things?


4. Matt
   Aug 26th, 2010 at 10.35 am

"Now how in the world would you hang a curtain over those things?"

With witchcraft of course.


5. ernest
    Aug 26th, 2010 at 4.46 pm

Witch windows, really piss me off."