1. Fan Chairs
Philadelphia-based musical instrument maker John Cram invented a clever (if clunky) cooling device in the 1780s and won some famous clients in the process. During the hot summer of the constitutional convention, George Washington paid 32 shillings and 6 pence for one and had it shipped to Mount Vernon, where a replica remains on display. People used their feet to operate the fan that moved above their head, much like someone would power an old sewing machine. Benjamin Franklin reportedly owned one as well, but the device seems to have had limited mass-market appeal.
2. Sleeping Porches
Another president interested in keeping cool was William Howard Taft, who had a “sleeping porch” erected on the roof of the White House in 1910. Popular at the turn of the 20th century, these screened-in porches provided both a cool place to slumber in the heat and access to fresh air, which was thought to provide a myriad of health benefits. A 1916 edition of Popular Science even reported on the invention of a child-size sleeping porch that, like today’s window A/C units, could be installed in any urban high-rise, providing fresh air for the child and “allowing their busy young mothers plenty of time to do housework.”
3. Canvas Awnings
One thing you immediately notice when looking at photographs of famous buildings before the invention of A/C is that they frequently sported awnings over nearly every window. Going back to antiquity, awnings provided the shade vital for keeping the sun’s heat at bay. In the latter half of the 19th century, new colors and patterns helped make canvas awnings more than a necessary utility: They became a key decorative feature of a home. “As to colors, quite the richest and most effective combinations are shades of orange and brown,” The Ladies’ World magazine reported in 1896. Tassels were apparently a nice touch, too.
4. DogTrot Homes
Scholars of American vernacular architecture and fans of DIY’s Barnwood Builders already know about the cooling virtues of the dogtrot log cabins popular in 19th-century Appalachia. A wind-swept breezeway separated the often-hot kitchens from the sleeping area of a home, creating a cool space to relax.