I know that the Romans invented glass windows, but it's hard to find out how common they were then. And they disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire. When did they become common again?
Bill Bryson explains this in a section of his book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life.
Sheet glass method of manufacturing was invented in 1838. This method allowed for large, cheap, less labor intensive, and faster glass production.
Compounded with fact that the British (UK?) government abolished the 1696 Window Tax and the 1746 Glass Tax in 1845, windows became popular around the middle of the 19th century. Look to Joseph Paxton's design of the cheaply and quickly constructed "Crystal Palace" as part of the 1851 Great Exhibition in London as an example of how fast this transformation took place.
I should add my source: Bryson, Bill. At Home: A Short History of Private Life. New York: Anchor Books (2010). Pages 15-16.
A similar question was previously asked, with an answer that might cover your question too: When were glass windows first used and what measures were used before they came along?
I'll just point out that panes of mica were sometimes used for windows, at least historically in the Southwest U.S. (and probably during Spanish/Mexican rule of the Southwest also). For instance. I've seen examples of Mica windows as late as the end of the 19th century in very rural parts of New Mexico, so even at that point in time it took quite a while for proper window glass to be adopted completely in certain parts of the U.S.
