The exceptional location of windows, like the eventful exception in columns, usually produces an altered symmetry. For example, the windows at Mount Vernon (71) do not follow an exact symmetrical pattern. Instead, the window pattern is the result of earlier renovations, and it breaks the dominant order of the central pediment and symmetrical wings. In McKim, Mead and White's Low House (72) the blatantly exceptional window positions in the north facade contradicted the consistent symmetrical order of the outside shape to admit the circumstantial complexities of its domestic program. The very subtly distorted
relationships of the windows in H. H. Richardson's house for Henry Adams in Washington (73) reflected the particular circumstances of the private functions inside, yet they maintained the regularity and symmetry demanded by the public function of a monumental building on Lafayette Square. Here the subtle compromise between order and circumstance, outside and inside, and private and public
functions, produced ambiguous rhythms and vibrant tensions in the fagade.