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\n Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Getty\n <\/p>\n
When my friend and her husband first moved into a new-build Brooklyn mid-rise in 2022, the apartment\u2019s floor-to-ceiling windows had been a big selling point. Who doesn\u2019t love natural light? But after living there for a while, it became clear that having big windows was actually kind of a pain. First, it was impossible to find off-the-rack curtains \u2014\u00a0everything that fit was either extremely expensive or custom. Then there was the fact that despite their size, the windows only opened a tiny crack, making a decent breeze nearly impossible. Opening them also presented other issues: \u201cThey have no screens,\u201d she says. \u201cLots of bugs get in.\u201d Now that she\u2019s looking to move, she\u2019s finding that even more apartments have the same window problems \u2014\u00a0giant, unopenable, impossible to find a screen for or curtains that fit.\u00a0She found herself asking, Where have all the normal windows gone?<\/p>\n
The trend among new builds over the last few decades has been a move away from classic double-hung windows \u2014 the kind you might find in a rent-stabilized prewar building or a brownstone \u2014\u00a0and toward larger windows, either casements<\/a> that open fully or tilt-and-turn European-style windows that can both swing inwards and open from the top (although child locks often keep them from opening to their full potential). If you haven\u2019t noticed this yet, take a look at new builds from Fort Greene<\/a> to Long Island City<\/a> to Mott Haven<\/a>. Big windows abound. \u201cFor market-rate rentals or condominium buildings, this is quickly becoming the norm,\u201d says Dave Maundrell, executive vice-president of new development at Corcoran. According to the brokers and window experts I talked to, there are a few reasons this style has become more ubiquitous: They\u2019re more energy efficient; double-hung windows don\u2019t make sense in the ever-ubiquitous glass-fa\u00e7ade new build; and bigger windows can increase the price developers get for apartments. \u201cDouble-hung windows are pretty much out unless it\u2019s required as a Landmark District building,\u201d says Bruce Ehrmann, a broker and new-development specialist at Douglas Elliman.<\/p>\n \n This listing photo shows an example of the type of the common casement or tilt-and-turn windows found in new builds. \n The classic double- or single-hung windows found in older buildings. So how are the people moving into these buildings keeping, say, giant black flies out of their apartment on a spring afternoon? You can\u2019t just buy something at Home Depot and pop it in, so trying to get fresh air means letting everything else inside, too. People have gone mad, at least on Reddit, trying to solve the issue. \u201cMy building is a newer luxury building and it has those windows that open on a hinge inward,\u201d one person wrote<\/a>. \u201cBut I\u2019m in dire need of a screen outside so I stop getting mosquitos. Does anyone have any solutions??\u201d Multiple people respond saying they have the same problem. The issue, in part, is that the energy-efficient seal on these kinds of windows don\u2019t leave much room to throw in a screen insert. One four-year-old thread<\/a> is still active with people trying to figure out a solution, which includes Gorilla Tape\u2013ing screen mesh directly to their window frames. (\u201cThat didn\u2019t work.\u201d)<\/p>\n Ehrmann says the problem isn\u2019t just limited to tilt-and-turns but comes up in all kinds of architectural projects that have irregularly shaped windows. He\u2019s careful to tell me all about the positives to these kinds of windows \u2014 they can be aesthetically beautiful and let in lots of light \u2014 but he agrees the screen problem, even in multimillion-dollar luxury apartments, is real. \u201cMost people don\u2019t realize it until they move into very expensive apartments,\u201d Ehrmann explains, but the \u201csmart ones\u201d get owners to agree to put in custom screens during lease negotiations. Why not plan for this kind of thing in the building phase? \u201cIt rarely happens, but it has come up that sometimes developers just forget,\u201d he says. \u201cIn their excitement over the architecture, they don\u2019t think about screens.\u201d What clients do usually notice is if it would be difficult to put in curtains and blinds. \u201cA lot of the large sheets of glass you\u2019re talking about, they\u2019re fanciful, irregular in shape, and curved,\u201d Ehrmann says.<\/p>\n Maundrell at Corcoran has tilt-and-turns in his own condo. His management company ended up hiring a custom screen-making company for the whole building and let residents choose whether or not they\u2019d pay for screens in their apartments. Maundrell opted in. \u201cI just kind of caved because I had those damn lanternflies flying around two years ago,\u201d he says with a laugh. He estimated that it cost at least a few hundred dollars per screen. That kind of investment makes sense if you own your place, but if you rent? That\u2019s a lot of money to drop just for screens.<\/p>\n And why don\u2019t window manufacturers just include screens in the first place? Ernesto Cappello, the co-owner of Window Fix, one of the few companies in the five boroughs that makes custom screens for tilt-and-turns, says that it\u2019s kind of Europe\u2019s fault. (Isn\u2019t everything?) Cappello started seeing these windows come in two decades ago from overseas, where energy-efficient window technology was leaps ahead of the United States. But historically, screens are not popular<\/a> in Europe. (\u201dIt\u2019s not something that we come across in this country,\u201d a British window engineer told the New York Times in the early 2000s.) \u201cIt\u2019s the weirdest thing,\u201d Cappello says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the climate or if they just don\u2019t care for it.\u201d Which means that New Yorkers have to turn to a custom solution. In the spring, when the weather shifts, screens are the leading reason people search for Cappello\u2019s firm on Google. He says they can figure out how to manufacture and install a screen in 99 percent of windows, and it can cost $225 and up per screen.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re more beautiful, expansive, and visually arresting than smaller punch-out windows,\u201d says Ehrmann. But he also tells me that when he was renovating his house upstate, he declined to replace the home\u2019s original double-hung windows with larger ones that would let in more of the surrounding landscape. \u201cFor all the reasons we\u2019re discussing,\u201d Ehrmann says, \u201cwe decided not to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/50b6aff7e247b98a9033ef451879c4de07-new-windows.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Photo: TF Cornerstone\n <\/p>\n![\"Brick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b07c52703512b12596ada2ba0b4292547f-old-windows.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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