Window mantels and sill. Front entry door.

Interior view of window - baseboard and window casing.

It is common that windows on each floor level share a common head height. In many cases, the standard for 8' ceilings is 6'-8" but can be anything, given ceilings higher than 8'. With special header framing, windows in 8' ceilings can go up to approximately 7'-8", leaving 4" for interior trim.

As far as lowering the head height, of course anything can be technically done. I don't think I would lower the window heads below 6'-8". And I don't think that I would interrupt the standard interior base trim (whatever it is) for a window sill. I'd only do so for a door.

The pleasing and effective use of transome lights generally requires highter ceiling heights; usually 9' or higher, using a standard window head of 6'-8".

If I was considering dropping the window head heights, I'd do a series of large-scale elevation and perspective studies to see how the revised windows might look and ensure the proportions were pleasing before proceeding.

My intuition about the windows is that you may have preconceived that the addtion of crowns (I believe the elements you are referring to are called window crowns, not mantels), plus adding transome lights will be a unique and appealing treatment, but I sense that all it will do is make the windows look oddly proportioned and placed for no apparent reason. The crowns in your example photo are for windows closely spaced and used in a 2-story configuration, giving a pleasing overall vertical proportion. The house you are apparently building, shown in the first photo, has none of the these characteristics--it has a completely different aesthetic.

All of this is a long way of saying I wouldn't lower the windows and play fenestration games with the house shown. The scale and proportions of that house are what they are and won't easily tolerate many significant changes without negatively impacting the house's appearance.

Good luck on your project.

You don't have room to make any of the changes that you are thinking of look proportionate without going with much smaller windows. That would look extremly odd. And the front door that you are thinking of doesn't go with the house either. If you want to use all of those elements, then you need a different house plan entirely. One with taller first floors and less Colonial-esque in facade.

I don't think the ornamental lintel is really appropriate for your style of house. They are also actually too short-narrow on the example house you've shown because they are supposed to have the appearance of supporting the wall above the window, and on your example they sit completely on top of the window frame, which would Not support the wall above. They need to extend beyond the sides of the windows.

Actually I think the house your are building has a much better facade as shown than the house whose windows you would like to copy. Yours has better proportions, and the facade looks more genuine.

I found a book called "What Not to Build" very helpful when it came to determine why certain details work and others ring false when building an eclectic house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon-What not to build.

Ok, I think the overwhelming response is not to add the mantels aka window crowns. Here's the inspiration for that detail but after thinking about them again, maybe I do have too many details competing. Our porch will have round columns the same diameter as these in the picture and the same detail around the top of the porch. We will also have the same wide edge on steps.

I might eliminate the transoms though from the original plan and make the window larger to bring it to either 6'8 or 8' depending on ceiling height. They look squatty to me too.

I'm not sure if the houses in the two photos have the same first floor height or not (it appears different to my eye, but I have to scroll up and down to compare and so it's really hard to tell), but one obvious difference between the two is that the first photo has transome lights and no window crowns, while the second photo has window crowns and no transomes (where crowns are used). One or the other detail seems reasonable, but both together on residential-scaled walls seems overkill to me. Just my opinion.

The pesudo-Palladian window over the door, in the second example, is a truly awful example of a beautiful window. I hope no one ever does this again. There should be a severe penalty for this example.

pesudo-Palladian window over the door, in the second example, is a truly awful example of a beautiful window.

Please explain. (It appears to me to simply be a raised half-round transom.)

Looks to me like a springline arch center and two segmented springline arches ad does look pretty hideous in my opinion as well

I admit beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But the historical Palladian windows are a clear historical style and are well known. There are clear rules about how to do them properly.

The doorway sketch at the top of the thread contrasts significantly with the fractured arched window above the door in the photo diretly above. Whoever did the fractured arch should be forced to attend at least a year's worth of architectural history classes and write reports on the purposes/uses of arches and on Mr. Palladio's work.

There is no more eclectic architectural style than the Colonial Revival and these houses follow that tradition. This is not a style for Colonial purists. The feature I find unusual is the use of transoms instead of triple-hung windows to add height to the first floor windows. The Classical trim details seem better suited for wood clad houses.

I see no reason to compare a segmented arch lite above an entrance door with a Palladian window. Palladian entrances are another thing altogether.

What is the building with this arched opening? It is an unusual arch, don't you think? The circular openings are suprising and somewhat crude.

But at least it acts like an arch and springs, uninterrupted, from its base, acting like an arch--a means of structural support from one point to another point.

The OP posted an early sketch of a beautifully proportioned Paladian window above a door. While the door, sidelights and arched glazing above may not be classically accurate, the proportions and overall harmony of the elements are very appealing, IMO. Not the same at all as the photo illustration later in the thread.

I see no reason to compare a segmented arch lite above an entrance door with a Palladian window. Palladian entrances are another thing altogether.

Exactly.

The arched entranceway I posted is from the Villa Poiana designed in 1546 by Andrea Di Pietro della Gondola better known by the name his mentor, Trissino, gave him: Palladio.

The traditional purpose of tall windows is to allow light to penetrate more deeply into interior spaces, a pleasant feature today that was a practical one before gas and electric lighting. Trying to apply this goal to windows under a porch roof creates a design conflict. There seems to be no practical reason to use transom lights whether above windows or doors and they make the openings below appear short and compressed.

The term "transom" refers to the horizontal element that separates an opening from another opening above it. That opening or light can be rectangular or a round, elliptical or segmented arch (fanlight). There are endless ways to divided the glass in a fanlight with mullions. Whether or not the spring line of the arch occurs at the transom is a matter of design taste since the arch is braced by the wall not the transom.

A good resource for this kind of detailing is "Get Your House Right".

Here is a link that might be useful: Get Your House Right

Here is the Villa Poiana Maggiore.

There seems to be no practical reason to use transom lights whether above windows or doors and they make the openings below appear short and compressed.

Try telling that to the guy who designed the home below.

Arch.: Robert A.M.Stern

Seems like I've started quite a discussion. :) Without changing window manufactures, I can't eliminate the transom and still get a similar height to the window. I've seen a very similar house without the transom and every time I pass it I think the windows are too short. I do agree that one taller unit would be better but I'm not sure the cost is worth it. I have decided to eliminate the window crown as it does seem like too much for this house, esp with the transoms. I really love the door in the sketch with the gothic grill but after getting the quote ($6,000), I may have to forgo the 3/4 lite door and have a solid door instead. The problem with the 3/4 lite is that it has to be custom in order for the grill or mullion pattern to match up with that of the transom. The lites in the door are not evenly divided as are standard in production doors.

If I didn't make this clear before I'll try again, the design difficulty is caused by the full width porch and perhaps by the interior ceiling height but I don't know what that is.

The house by Palladio is well proportioned as we might expect, but I find the repeating circular motif in the arch to be surprisingly crude and unharmonious with any of the other visible detailing. Perhaps the circles or spheres are repeated elsewhere, in order to justify their use? Have you been to the house (assuming it still exists)?

Robert Stern is a talented and well-know architect. Unfortunately, the house in the photo above is certainly not one of his better designs. It looks like a very large mass-market house, perhaps designed for Architectural Digest, with a few interesting windows, here and there. That said, there's something very odd about the two window head heights on the right.

Note Mr. Stern did not see a need to fracture the arched glazing above the entry door.

As to entries, lexmomof3, if you install a solid, paneled door in the entry sketch at the top of this thread it will work just fine. The sidelights will let light in and allow you to see visitors before opening the door. If the sidelights persent a security problem, use good hardware and an alarm system.

The back of Villa Poiana is essentially the same as the front.

To better understand Palladio read "Palladio" by my favorite professor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Palladio

I wonder if Stern designed the projecting wing of the house as a piano nobile-type arrangement. The upper story seems taller on that wing.

Love the exterior of the house from the image posted with the questions about the windows. Any way to provide info for plans or designer?