I ran across the attached 1994 letter to the editor of the NY Times Home
Section, and I wonder if any Pinheads have observations on why canvas awnings
disappeared from apartment houses before the advent of air conditioning.

---- Christopher Gray

To the Editor of the Home Section:

I think more research is necessary before we can say that "air
conditioning killed awnings" as Justin Ferate maintains in
"Islands of Hospitality" (6/30/94).  It is true that current
awning vendors now routinely complain about air conditioning as a
rival.  But interviews with vendors active at the time suggests
that awnings were dropped by building owners without regard to
air conditioning - which in any event they certainly did not
supply.   This is supported by accounts of apartment dwellers who
recall the disappearance of their own awnings.   And summer time
photographs of both rental and co-op buildings in the 1940's and
1950's - when awnings rapidly declined - fail to show air
conditioners in replacement.

Today's forecast is a high of 86 degrees, but from my office
window I count air conditioners in no more than 20% of the south-
facing apartment windows on Broadway in the 80's.

An alternate hypothesis could be that, as awnings reached the end
of their regular 5 to 10 year life cycle after World War II,
post-war housing conditions - the shortage of apartments -
caused owners to consider awning replacement and installation as
a discretionary expense (involving both labor and capital), and
they dropped it.  Another factor may be the development of better
electric fans, a technology that improved markedly after 1940.

Sincerely yours,

Christopher Gray