Fort Myers Plantation Shutters | Sales & Service

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Our Fort Myers plantation shutters go back to the Greeks, where they were put onto windows in the absence of glass. They were mainly on the outside, but there is evidence that there were wooden shutters on the inside too, which is a direct descendant of our plantation shutters. These would originally have been solid wood, as louvers didn’t come until later.

Shutters were used around the world from antiquity until the modern day. They had something of a renaissance in the medieval period when European homes used both internal and external shutters for privacy and to keep out the cold. Uses our modern plantation shutters still have today.

The use of the direct descendant of plantation shutters incorporating louvers is alleged to come from the time of Louis XIV of France. He reigned from 1643 until 1715 and is renowned throughout the world for his influence on furniture and interior design. At the time of his reign, the King lived in the Louvre, Paris, which is now an art gallery and museum. He then moved from the Louvre to Versailles, and as part of that move had some window shutters made by one Philip Louvrier. One of the myths is that the louvers, or louvres in its correct spelling, is named after the Louvre or Philip Louvrier, the man who first designed them.

Another myth goes that the original instruction was to create a window covering that would allow Louis to watch the ladies of the court bathing in the pools of the royal garden without being seen. It apparently irked him that his royal guards did the same thing so he had Louvrier design adjustable louvers so they would concentrate on their work. How much of this is true is debatable but makes a kind of sense.

This louvered design made its way over here with the settlers and were found to be ideal for the conditions of the south. They kept out the fierce summer heat while allowing the cool breeze from the Gulf to enter the plantation homes to cool everyone down. Since then they have been adopted across the country although mainly as a decorative statement rather than for practical purpose.

Whatever the true origins of plantation shutters, they are still as useful and as decorative today as they were back then. They still play a big part in the architecture of Fort Myers, with Naples and many other areas in Florida being especially fond of plantation shutters both inside and out. They are still popular across the country and play a part in even the many modern home designs. The different finishes and materials lend themselves to different designs very well, which has helped them endure.