Pucker Street or New North Marion: What Do Your Windows Need?

Older Marion homes on Pucker Street and in Terrace Park often have tall, narrow windows and trim worth showing. Slim shades, wood blinds or drapery suit them well. Newer homes on Marion's north side tend to have wider windows and open great rooms. There, one family of cellular or roller shades keeps things simple. In either house, start with how each room gets used.

Below are the two kinds of homes side by side. There's a short checklist for both at the end.

What sets Marion's historic districts apart?

Marion has three districts on the National Register of Historic Places. Two of them are mostly homes.

Pucker Street. The district starts at 13th Street and runs east along 8th Avenue. It has 84 structures. Of those, 46 are main buildings. The rest are carriage houses, barns and garages. As the story goes, the name came from the "decidedly superior attitude" of some early residents. The houses here span decades:

• The Samuel M. Lane House at 1776 8th Avenue was built in 1868 in the Italianate style.
• The James and Ida Bowman House at 1372 8th Avenue dates to 1909. Dieman and Fisk, a Cedar Rapids firm, designed it.
• The Glen and Lucy Pyle House at 1540 8th Avenue is a 1924 bungalow with a stucco exterior.

Terrace Park. This district has 16 houses on two north-south streets. It's bounded by 11th and 12th Streets and by 9th and 10th Avenues. It sits on a knoll a little above the blocks around it. Early business owners and community leaders built it up.

In houses like these, the windows do a lot of the work. They're a big part of how the house looks from the street.

What do windows in a Pucker Street or Terrace Park home usually need?

Coverings that respect the trim and the shape of the window. Homes from the 1860s to the 1920s often have tall windows. The trim tends to be wide and painted or stained. Rooms are split up by doorways instead of one open space.

What usually works:

• Wood blinds mounted inside the frame. They suit the period and let the trim show.
• Roman shades in a simple flat fold. They add softness without hiding the window.
• Drapery panels on a plain rod. Good for living and dining rooms that want a warmer, more formal look.
• Room-darkening cellular shades in bedrooms. They look clean and keep the room dark.

Tall windows need a covering that lifts high and stacks small. That keeps the top of the glass clear. Don't trust one measurement for a pair. After a century of settling, two windows side by side can be off by a fraction of an inch. A custom size hides that.

Winter matters here too. The normal December high at the Cedar Rapids airport is about 33 degrees. Older windows can feel cool even on those days. A cellular shade or lined drapery adds a layer between the room and the glass.

What do newer north Marion homes usually need?

Simple, matching coverings that handle more light. Marion keeps growing. The 2020 census counted 41,535 people. The Census Bureau's 2025 estimate is 42,732. New streets keep going in, and that includes the north side.

Here's one example. In 2023, the city council approved the first reading of a rezoning for about 28 acres on the city's near north side. The land sits northwest of East Robins Road and Alburnett Road. The plan was for 57 single-family homes, the Corridor Business Journal reported. The planned path of the Tower Terrace Road extension runs right through the land.

Newer homes like these tend to share a few traits:

• Wider windows and more of them, often in an open great room.
• Close neighbors on the sides and back.
• Young trees that won't shade the yard for years.
• Builder blinds or bare windows on move-in day.

What usually works:

• Cellular shades across the main floor in one color, for a calm look.
• Light-filtering roller shades on big windows. They soften glare without darkening the room.
• Top-down, bottom-up shades on windows that face a neighbor.
• Room-darkening fabric in bedrooms.

How do the two compare side by side?

Here's a quick look. These are general patterns. Your home may differ.

The big difference is the goal. In an older home, you're often trying to show off the window. In a newer one, you're trying to manage it.

Some homes sit in between. A mid-century house in an established part of Marion may have plain trim like a new home. It may also have smaller rooms like an old one. Use the table as a starting point, not a rule. Look at the trim, the window size and how much light each room gets. Then borrow from whichever column fits.

Which rooms should you plan first in either home?

Start with the rooms you use most. Then the rooms where privacy matters.

In a historic home:

1. The front room. It faces the street and sets the look from outside.
2. Bedrooms. For privacy and sleep.
3. The dining room. It often has the best trim.

In a new home:

1. The great room. Biggest windows, most glare.
2. Bedrooms. For darkness and privacy from close neighbors.
3. The kitchen. Glare on counters can bug you every day.

In both, plan the street side as one color family. From the sidewalk, people see every front window together.

Winter is a good time to plan. The trees are bare and the sun is low. You can see how much light reaches each room. You can also see how much of the inside shows from the street at dusk. Take a walk around the block about 5 p.m. on a December evening. It tells you a lot about which windows need privacy first.

What should you check before you choose?

Walk through your home with these questions:

1. Is the trim worth showing? If yes, use inside mounts and simple shapes.
2. How deep is each frame? That decides inside or outside mount.
3. Which windows get the most light or glare?
4. Which rooms face the street or a close neighbor?
5. Which rooms need darkness for sleep?

Swapping out old windows in either kind of house? Start with measuring for coverings once replacement windows are in. For help with color, see our steps for judging color swatches at home. You can see slat sizes and finishes on the wood blind finishes page. The City of Marion has more on the history of its national historic districts.

No matter what year your house was built, the Marion and Cedar Rapids crew at our local office is glad to help. Book your free consultation.

Kevin Sill is CFO and co-owner of the family-owned Budget Blinds franchises serving the Cedar Rapids and Marion area.