Clad is superior for sure . painting and repainting windows with mutins is not fun or cheap. Those 100 year old windows had 100 year old wood and storm windows and alot of ventilation to help preserve them and most should have been rehabbed 50 or more years ago. There performance or lack of is often hidden by the storm and 1/2 the time there painted shut.

on the other hand you want uniformity with your windows, so my opinion may change depending on what your plans are with the original windows and if you plan to use storms on your new windows. From my experience a wood window with a painted wood exterior will last for years with no maintenance bit if you are only using a screen as most modern windows do you will see accellerated wear on the exterior.

No storm windows on the original windows — I’m in temperate CA Bay Area. The original windows could use some repair and better weather stripping (which we intend to do as part of this project), but we aren’t ready to replace them until we have to — I really like the charm. And again, pretty easy temps where we live.

Thanks for the feedback, still mulling this over but leaning clad right now because I’m worried we’ll regret wood.

I do not think you can go wrong either way. Painted with a high quality primer and top coat (or better yet factory finished) or Clad both will serve you well.