Are Porches and Front Doors the Equivalent of the Appendix?
I was stuck in traffic coming back from lunch today on a main road that has houses along it. All of them were of an era, Seventies Ranch, with a “built-in” carport without a garage door and a long but narrow inset front porch. Say twenty feet by three.
The genesis for this post came when I saw one of them that had a planter squarely in front of the front door.
All of them had some type of porch furniture on them, ranging from the ubiquitous white pvc chairs and side table to a swing to a wrought iron bench. I got a dollar that says no one has ever sat on any of the furniture I saw.
Doing a definitions search on Google gave me variations on the meaning of porch that can be summarized as a covered entry to a building that can be within the boundary of the main wall or extending beyond it.
A show of hands – who of you sits on your front porch? Who enters or leaves your abode by the front door, if there’s an attached garage or carport or side door next to the driveway?
I think for most of us the front door and its porch have gone the way of the appendix some of us have had removed, with no adverse result.
If you had a twenty by three or foor foot concrete covered porch, would you trade it right now for the same space in your living room? I would.
There’s something of a movement in city design to return us to the sidewalk and the street. All apartments and condos just have to have a three by six foot protuberance from their wall, or taking away from living space, that’s bounded by wrought iron or wood and holds dead plants, a satellite dish and the aforesaid pvc furniture. I’d trade it for space that would be used.
Now don’t get me wrong. If I lived on a nice piece of land with a house set back from the road, I’d have a wrap around porch, say ten or twelve feet deep with columns and ceiling fans and real live furniture on it and a front door right in the middle facing the road. Maybe some screens, maybe not. The driveway would lead to that door. Or even better, the porch shown above. That set up would be used as opposed to what most of us have and don’t use. Come sit awhile, care for some tea?
The genesis for this post came when I saw one of them that had a planter squarely in front of the front door.
All of them had some type of porch furniture on them, ranging from the ubiquitous white pvc chairs and side table to a swing to a wrought iron bench. I got a dollar that says no one has ever sat on any of the furniture I saw.
Doing a definitions search on Google gave me variations on the meaning of porch that can be summarized as a covered entry to a building that can be within the boundary of the main wall or extending beyond it.
A show of hands – who of you sits on your front porch? Who enters or leaves your abode by the front door, if there’s an attached garage or carport or side door next to the driveway?
I think for most of us the front door and its porch have gone the way of the appendix some of us have had removed, with no adverse result.
If you had a twenty by three or foor foot concrete covered porch, would you trade it right now for the same space in your living room? I would.
There’s something of a movement in city design to return us to the sidewalk and the street. All apartments and condos just have to have a three by six foot protuberance from their wall, or taking away from living space, that’s bounded by wrought iron or wood and holds dead plants, a satellite dish and the aforesaid pvc furniture. I’d trade it for space that would be used.
Now don’t get me wrong. If I lived on a nice piece of land with a house set back from the road, I’d have a wrap around porch, say ten or twelve feet deep with columns and ceiling fans and real live furniture on it and a front door right in the middle facing the road. Maybe some screens, maybe not. The driveway would lead to that door. Or even better, the porch shown above. That set up would be used as opposed to what most of us have and don’t use. Come sit awhile, care for some tea?
10 comments:
I think air conditioning killed the front porch. It's a shame.
I remember living in a small town in Ohio when I was little. Nobody had central air conditioning, and the people who had room air conditioners only had it in their bedrooms.
In the evenings, everybody was out on their front porch, and if there was a ballgame, everyone was listening to it on the radio. People walked up and down the block visiting with each other, and when a run was scored the cheering was all up and down the street. It was great.
Aw, man. Now I'm all nostalgic.
We Americans have traded the front porch for the back deck. A lot of Atlanta neighborhoods still have great front porches for hanging out. But more homes have the Big Deck out back for a more private outdoor hangout. We are planning to screen in our back patio and build an attached deck. The back yard is more private and beautiful.
But I'd love to have a veranda like the one in your photo.
We have always had a front porch, no garage. We've sat on that porch for years, doing our hair, clandestine phone calls, covertly watching the neighbourhood boys play ball, watering the kids and the grass, watching the sunset and looking at planes come and go and wonder about their wanderings.
If I ever have to move, I'll make sure the new house has a porch.
Debo
One of the reasons we chose the house we are in is because of the front porch. We use it, especially in the spring, but into summer. We walk down the street to get water ice and eat it on the porch. We just read on the porch. And our front door is the main access to the house for guests and for me -- I park on the street.
Mrs. P likes it more than I do, but I like my cave.
And we don't run the AC nearly as much as our neighbors do.
Dave what is going on?? We all want the porch in the picture above!
Reading your description made me wish I had a cottage by the lake, with a beautiful porch so I can watch the water.
Do I have a porch? No. Do I miss not having one? Honestly, I think all neighbours are far too nosy, and in a subdivision, a porch is an invitation to invade the privacy of the one trying to relax.
However, if we had our ideal world, where all of us would have land, you better believe that my ideal place would include a porch.
That and a great big dog to run down the driveway and scare anyone that got too close to my oasis.
I would love the house/porch you pictured. We actually use the front door because the cars don't go in the garage, it's husband's gym.
I actually want to replace the ugly planter in the front of my house with a porch.
As a kid growing up in the fifties and early sixties, I had the enviable experience of having many shared quiet and lazy summer evenings with my family on our front porch. The conversations were far ranging and nonstop. I think I learned more about life and family from those times sitting at my parents feet, they in their rocking chairs and me and my sisters sitting on the porch steps. It is impossible to duplicate that feeling and experience today in our much more fast paced world. A shame......
Last summer Jim said we should use our front porch more. The only problem: No chairs. We spend most of our time in the backyard or in the screened porch on the side of the house. But at Mom's house, where I grew up, we still spend most of our time on the front porch. Neighbors visit, people wave when they walk or drive by and the breeze is usually perfect. Goal for the spring: Get some comfy rocking chairs. Interesting post, Dave. Thanks.
My house, as my grandparents built it, had a porch across the front - about 18 ft by about 10-11 foot depth. They closed it up, made it a "sunporch" with windows all around it (single pane of course was all that was available in the late 30's) but as a kid, we used it a lot. My grandfather spent the majority of his "indoor" time on that porch -talking with his brother or neighbors who stopped by, listening to baseball games or sleeping. My cousins and I loved to sleep out there in the summer with the windows open and air galore -scented with the roses Grandpa had growing on a trellis by the middle window that opened. I closed it in somewhat as those windows were a major fuel drain in the winter and now, it's been changed again and is my very chilly bedroom as the radiator in it doesn't function very well. Most all the houses along the street where I live have the large, old-fashioned porches that are semi-enclosed from the floor to about 3-4 foot up with a sturdy area there where you can sit on the "rail" and the majority of folks here still use their front porches (front doors too for the most part) in nice weather. But man, that house in the picture -if you had a place like that and suggested tea, I'd be there on the double! Beautiful house isn't it though?
I am from the west where we don't use front porches because we usually don't have them... but a few summers ago I visited Natchez... I would love one of those old houses with a beautiful porch and a view... and you better believe I would use it!
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