Laced window
The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture (third edition) was published in 1980. It was created for Penguin Reference and compiled by John Fleming, Hugh Honour and Nikolaus Pevsner.
It defines laced windows as: ‘Windows pulled visually together vertically by strips, usually in brick of a different colour from that of the wall, which continue vertically the lines of the window surrounds. It was a popular motif c. 1720 in England’.
The different materials and colours were meant to emphasise the contrasting components of the wall and the window. But since it creates a visual connection, it serves to 'join' the windows together.
The term ‘laced’ is believed to be a Latin reference to the word for noose, which is in keeping with the suggestion of the windows hanging together.
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