Further to our article “The Doors of the Monarchs “ what specific criteria define a Georgian Front door.
The Georgian door was frequently of solid construction always panelled or carved, often with heavy fielded or carved panels in two vertical rows. Early doors were tall, filling the entire opening, but have often been cut down later to accommodate a fanlight
As “float glass” as we know it today was not yet available , where glass was used it was cut down from discs and often opaque, the term Georgian bar being derived in this era as the means by which multi panelled windows were separated into individual panes.
The Georgians were very fond of painted doors, windows and furniture, only very expensive timbers such as seasoned oak and mahogany would have been left unpainted. Their choice of colours was very different from that which we are used to today, mainly due to pigment technology rather than taste. Iron and red oxides were by far the cheapest pigments in those days, so the colours they used were very often rather dull by today’s standards, with various shades of brown and murky greens being used in the majority of instances.
A feature often overlooked when restoring Georgian doors was that they generally had central door knobs positioned at waist height and no letterboxes, the latter were an invention of the Victorian era. Many manufacturers suggest that brass door furniture was the norm in the Georgian period, but this was not the case, most door furniture produced in the period was cast iron painted black
The normally accepted classical styles of Georgian door are
- the Georgian six panel solid door,
- the Georgian six panel with top two panels glazed
- the Georgian half glaze
- the Georgian sunburst
- the Georgian arch
If you should choose to replace your front door with a new Georgian style door there is now an alternative to the solid timber original and this comes in the shape of a composite door as supplied by Global Door.
The benefit of choosing a composite door over a timber door is that the solid thermally insulated polyurethane foam core slab and similarly the 2mm through coloured GRP cladding can be cut and moulded during the construction process to mimic the design of all of the classic pattern doors.
Georgian Front doors purchased from Global door are manufactured to exacting factory standards and must comply with stringent quality control criteria. manufactured to a thickness of 44mm ensures a strength and durability the equivalent of any timber door and every door comes with appropriate “third party” accreditations to both “Secured by design” and PAS 23&24 – so they will look and perform as well as any original Georgian door.