Nashville – Tennessee
French Château Windows & Doors in Nashville
The true French casement, made in Europe, for the estates of Belle Meade and Middle Tennessee.
Nashville builds on limestone, and the French château was born in it. On a hillside in Forest Hills or behind the hedges of Belle Meade Boulevard, a French house asks for one thing above all: windows drawn with the same discipline as its stone. Chablais brings the authentic piece – the French casement à la française, in solid wood, with a working crémone bolt and true divided lites – conceived like a piece of high jewelry, and built for the four seasons of Tennessee.
The Setting
The Athens of the South Has a French Accent
Nashville has called itself the Athens of the South since it raised a Parthenon in Centennial Park. But walk Belle Meade Boulevard or Lynnwood Boulevard and the accent is French: slate roofs, pale stone, arched casements, a 1920s landmark in the manner of a seventeenth-century château, and the curved rooms and round windows of Edwin Keeble’s French Regency houses.
A century later the same taste is building again. New châteaux and French manors are rising in Forest Hills and Oak Hill, in Brentwood and the horse country of Franklin, and the most expensive house ever sold in Tennessee stands in Belle Meade. These homes are built on limestone, for generations – and they deserve windows that belong to them.
Most American windows were never designed for this architecture. The sightlines are too heavy, the sash sits too deep in the frame, and the hardware has nothing to say. A château asks for something else: slender profiles, a sash flush with the frame, divided lites that are real, and the quiet turn of a crémone. This is the work we do.
The Signature Piece
The True French Casement
In France the window is called la fenêtre à la française: two leaves that open inward and meet at the center without a post between them, so the whole opening becomes a doorway to the air. The sash sits flush with the frame – the Old World profile – and a single crémone bolt, turned by hand, locks the window top and bottom in one gesture.
It is the detail that makes a façade read as French before a visitor can say why, and it is the detail that cannot be imitated with a stock product. We draw it to measure for every opening, from a dormer under a stone pediment to a two-story stair window.
For families who prefer the American habit, we also offer the out-swing casement with the same proportions, the same solid wood and the same finish – so a house can carry in-swing windows in the principal rooms and out-swing where a screen or a porch asks for it. Explore La Française, our French casement collection.
Savoir-Faire
Composed Like a Piece of High Jewelry
In the great houses of the Place Vendôme, a creation is judged by its proportion, its setting and the hand that finishes every edge. We hold our windows to the same standard.
Built for Tennessee
Four Real Seasons, Taken Seriously
A French window in Nashville has to do more than look right. Middle Tennessee has a true summer and a true winter, a spring storm season that brings hail and straight-line winds, ice some years, and humidity most of the year. We specify for all of it.
| Wood | Accoya, oak, teak and mahogany, chosen for the exposure of each elevation, with multi-layer factory finishes. Bronze or aluminum cladding where a façade takes the weather head-on. |
| Storms | Deep rebates, drainage channels, multiple weatherseals and concealed multipoint locking that pulls the sash tight against wind-driven rain. Laminated glass where you want protection from debris, and silence. |
| Glass | High-performance low-E insulated glazing that keeps summer sun out and winter warmth in, NFRC-labeled and specified to Tennessee’s residential energy code. |
| Screens | Discreet retractable screens for in-swing casements and French doors, so a Tennessee evening stays on the porch. |
| Scale | Oversized French doors, two-story casements and wood curtain walls, engineered for the loads of a large opening. |
The Addresses
Where Nashville Builds Its Châteaux
The French house has its neighborhoods in Middle Tennessee, and we know them well. Wherever your land is, we bring the samples to you.
Belle Meade & Forest Hills
Belle Meade Boulevard, Lynnwood Boulevard, Jackson Boulevard and the hills around Radnor Lake – the addresses that set the standard for the city, where Tennessee’s record sales are made.
Oak Hill, Green Hills & Hillwood
Wooded acre lots and quiet lanes minutes from downtown, where mid-century houses are giving way to new French manors and limestone châteaux.
Brentwood & Franklin
Governors Club, Annandale and Westhaven, and the horse country of Leiper’s Fork, where the château and the French farmhouse both feel at home.
College Grove and Across Tennessee
The estates of College Grove and Arrington – and beyond Nashville, Lookout Mountain, Knoxville and Memphis.
The Pieces
The Château Pieces
Every opening of a French house, drawn to measure and made in Europe.
The Commission
From First Conversation to Delivery
By Request Only
The Château Collection
We keep a private portfolio of one French château residence, photographed room by room – the façade, the entrances, the rooms and the details – from the architect’s first sketch to the gilded crémone on the garden door. Every window and door in it was drawn to measure by Chablais.
It is not published. We share it with homeowners, architects and builders who are planning a French house of their own, as a reference for proportions, divided-lite patterns, hardware and finishes.
To receive it, send us a note about your project and mention the Château Collection.
Questions
French Windows in Nashville – Your Questions
What is a true French casement window?
A true French casement opens inward, with two sashes that meet at the center without a fixed post between them. The sash is flush with the frame – the classic Old World profile – and the window is locked by a crémone bolt that drives rods into the head and the sill. It is the window you see on the châteaux and manor houses of France, and it is what we make.
Do you make in-swing and out-swing windows?
Both. The in-swing casement is the authentic French window. The out-swing casement is the American habit, and we make it with the same slender profiles, solid wood and finishes. Many Nashville homes combine the two: in-swing in the principal rooms, out-swing where a screen or a porch calls for it.
Can you match my architect's drawings or a chateau in France?
Yes. Send us your elevations, or photographs of the house that inspired yours, and we work from them: proportions, divided-lite patterns, arches, hardware and finish. Every project goes through detailed shop drawings before anything is made.
How do French wood windows handle the storms and winters of Tennessee?
With the right wood and the right construction. We propose species such as Accoya, oak, teak and mahogany, multi-layer factory finishes, deep rebates and drainage channels, multipoint locking that seals the sash against wind-driven rain, and insulated low-E glazing specified to Tennessee’s energy code. Laminated glass is available where you want extra protection from storm debris. Solid European wood windows have stood in the Alps and on the Atlantic coast for centuries; Middle Tennessee is well within their comfort.
Can an in-swing window have a screen?
Yes. We offer discreet retractable screens that sit outside the frame for in-swing casements and French doors, and classic screens for out-swing windows. The screen disappears when it is not in use, so the proportions of the window are never spoiled.
Do you deliver to Nashville and the rest of Tennessee?
Yes. We deliver crated windows and doors to building sites across Nashville and Williamson County – Belle Meade, Forest Hills, Brentwood, Franklin, College Grove – and across Tennessee, including Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis.
Do you work with architects and builders?
Most of our Nashville projects begin with the homeowner, but we work just as closely with architects and builders: shop drawings, installation details, finish samples and technical support for the full window and door package.
Nashville
Every Château Begins With a Conversation
Tell us about your house, your architect and the light you live with. A few photographs or a set of elevations is enough to begin. We will propose the windows, the wood, the hardware and the finish that belong to your home, and prepare a proposal built around your project.
+1 646 884 1019 – Direct line (WhatsApp)
French château windows and doors across the US: Atlanta, Texas, Greenwich & the Northeast, Napa Valley & San Francisco, and nationwide.