Hanging Curtains & Drapery 1900-1939

From the turn of the 20th century until the World War II, window treatments moved from Victorian excess through Arts & Crafts simplicity and then settled into classic historical styles.

- Brian D. Coleman

Window dressings changed along with everything else as the Victorian era drew to a close, and Arts & Crafts became influential, at the turn of the 20th century. Lower ceilings meant a change in window proportions. Everything was more informal: curtains often ended at the sill rather than puddling on the floor; dressings included just one or two layers (maybe with a valance or pelmet). Drapery panels attached to simple rings, hung from fabric tabs, or were shirred on rods, doing away with the fancy cording and tiebacks of the 19th century.

Utility areas might have just a roller shade, which was also used in bedrooms or as a first layer. Venetian blinds and Roman shades were also seen in bedrooms. A typical treatment was a sheer or lace “glass curtain” mounted inside the trim, overlaid by unfussy drapery panels on rings (to open and close), and, for a more tailored look, a stenciled or embroidered top treatment.

Samuel R. Scrottron had invented the manufactured curtain rod in 1892, then Charles Kirsch took it a step further with the first telescoping adjustable length) rod in 1907. Now curtains could be hung on an inexpensive, 3/8" brass rod stock held by brackets attached inside the frame (inside mount) or on the header trim (outside mount).

The informality of Arts & Crafts design gave way, during the 1920s, to the picturesque Historical Revival styles, Tudor and Spanish Colonial Revivals being the most familiar. European Medievalism returned; wrought-iron rods, often twisted and with spear finials, were in vogue.