There is an apartment building in Lawrence Kansas that still has these
"Summer doors" - They are permanent features not removed during the
winter.  I have not done any research on the building but my guess is it
was built in the 1920s.  Wonder if there is some article about this
feature in the trade publications.

Dennis J. Enslinger, AICP
Historic Resources Administrator
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(785) 832-3151

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Martin C. Tangora (312) 996-3064 [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, July 29, 1999 4:11 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Interior louvered doors  (was  Re: BP Serious or
> Social?)
>
> This isn't going to help Mary very much, I'm afraid, but I think
> it's very interesting:  An apartment hotel next door to our house
> in a dense neighborhood of Chicago, built in the mid-1920s
> with a distinctive facade, had "summer doors."
>
> These were louvered doors that were placed like screen doors
> on the outside (corridor side) of the normal doors.  You had your
> residential hotel accommodation with private bath, and in the summer
> the management brought these doors out of storage and put them up,
> so that you could leave your regular permanent door open for air,
> and still have privacy and security.
>
> I never saw these.  In the 1980s the building was bought by a cult
> and used as a commune, and the leader of the group told me
> they had found one of these doors, and someone knew what they
> were called.  In the 1990s the building was sold to an NPO
> for conversion to a residence for the formerly homeless, or whatever,
> and their architect was ruthless about discarding or destroying
> everything historic about the building, while claiming and receiving
> the historic tax credits.  But I digress.
>
> The community has dozens of apartment hotels, and possibly others
> had summer doors; I should ask around; but the people who own and
> operate these buildings are not very community-minded and I have
> not got to know many of them.
>
> > Date:    Mon, 26 Jul 1999 12:58:06 EDT
> > From:    Mary Krugman <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: BP Serious or Social?
> >
> > OK, serious question.
> >
> > I am researching a mansion in southern NJ (1826). Existing 6-panel
> doors
> > seem consistent with an early period of construction. There is one
> with
> > fixed louvers, mounted on the door frame between the 1st floor main
> > (central) hall and the adjoining stairhall. It is reported (1957)
> that
> > there were other doors with fixed louvers elsewhere in the house. No
> > evidence of those doors exists today. (It went through a
> "restoration" in
> > the early 70s -- we are trying to trace what's left of original
> fabric.)
> > I have seen other examples where bedrooms had 2 doors-- one solid
> with
> > panels on outside of door frame, the other a fixed-louver door
> mounted on
> > the inside, swinging into the room.
> >
> > Q: Anyone know period of significance for interior doors with
> louvers?
> > More often fixed or moveable? Always (usually?) paired with a solid
> door?
> > Are they primarily southern in origin (the early owners had some
> > connections in Charleston)? How prevalent were they in the Middle
> > Atlantic states?
> >
> > Any helpful push in the right direction would be great.
> >
> > Mary Krugman
> >