bow window

{{Short description|Curved bay window}}

File:Groothaert Boulevard De Smet de Nayer bow-window.JPG style bow window on the Boulevard De Smet de Nayer in Brussels]]

A bow window or compass windowSturgis, Russell. "Bow window, Compass window" Sturgis' illustrated dictionary of architecture and building: an unabridged reprint of the 1901-2 edition. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1989. Print. is a curved bay window.[http://www.buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/b/bow.html "Bow window" at The Illustrated Architecture Dictionary] Bow windows are designed to create space by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building, and to provide a wider view of the garden or street outside and typically combine four or more windows, which join to form an arch, differentiating them from the more common and often three-sided bay window. Casement windows are often used.

Bow windows first appeared in the eighteenth century in the United Kingdom (and in the Federal period in the United States).

White's Club, in St. James's Street, London, features a famous bow window.[http://www.nitaabrams.com/page/page/3396860.htm Photos]