Annie's room

Might be a stupid question, but was Annie unable to close the window in her room. It seemed like there were some sort of bars.
What on earth is the point of having a window that does not close. It was in New York, right, and in New York it gets cold in the winter, right. I know it was summer, but Annie was not hired for just the summer, was she?

Was that room not meant to be a bedroom, and there was a reason for an open window.

I know, in the old days many servants probably stayed in cold rooms, but that was because they did not have central heating and did not have the money to heat every room. Still, they were able to close the window.