The rise and fall of the uniquely American front porch

[Magical Realist]

I grew up in a typical 1960's surburban brick house. The so-called "front porch" was a 8 ft by 5 ft elevated slab of concrete providing little to no room for sitting in chairs. All the other houses in the neighborhood had the same token platforms. When we visited with our grandparents, they had a big wooden house with a large inviting front porch. I remember many times sitting out there in their porch swing enjoying their company. I miss porches to this very day. Bring'em back I say!

Here's a brief history of the American front porch and its rise and eventual disappearance in modern home architecture:

"Italians enjoy piazzas, the French spend time in sidewalk cafes, and around the Mediterranean many homes surround courtyards providing spaces for outdoor activities in good weather. The front porch is almost unique to America — spanning the front of countless homes in every city and village. Porches can be wide or narrow, one story or two, cover half the front façade or wrap around three — or even four — sides.

Porches emerged beginning in the middle of the 19th century, as cities grew larger and families began living in individual homes. People viewed their yard and garden from inside the house and planned for the vistas viewed through windows. Gradually the point of view shifted from inside to how the house looked from the street, and the front porch emerged as a place to see and be seen — to be outside but still sheltered by the home.

While a back porch may have allowed the family more privacy, around the beginning of the 20th century the backyard included things that the family wanted to get away from when they spent time outdoors — the vegetable garden, trash heap, and especially the outhouse. Indeed, the growth of municipal sanitary sewers lead to a decline of both outhouses and front porches.

The heyday of the front porch lasted from the early 1880s to the middle 1920s. Families added front porches to their homes or built new houses with elaborate porches. The porch became the comfortable spot for a summer evening where the whole family could relax after dinner. Neighbors taking an evening stroll could engage in conversation or be invited up...."

Continued here:

The history of the uniquely American front porch

The front porch is almost unique to America, spanning the front of countless homes in every city and village.

www.mlive.com

 

[exchemist]

I grew up in a typical 1960's surburban brick house. The so-called "front porch" was a 8 ft by 5 ft elevated slab of concrete providing little to no room for sitting in chairs. All the other houses in the neighborhood had the same token platforms. When we visited with our grandparents, they had a big wooden house with a large inviting front porch. I remember many times sitting out there in their porch swing enjoying their company. I miss porches to this very day. Bring'em back I say!

Here's a brief history of the American front porch and its rise and eventual disappearance in modern home architecture:

"Italians enjoy piazzas, the French spend time in sidewalk cafes, and around the Mediterranean many homes surround courtyards providing spaces for outdoor activities in good weather. The front porch is almost unique to America — spanning the front of countless homes in every city and village. Porches can be wide or narrow, one story or two, cover half the front façade or wrap around three — or even four — sides.

Porches emerged beginning in the middle of the 19th century, as cities grew larger and families began living in individual homes. People viewed their yard and garden from inside the house and planned for the vistas viewed through windows. Gradually the point of view shifted from inside to how the house looked from the street, and the front porch emerged as a place to see and be seen — to be outside but still sheltered by the home.

While a back porch may have allowed the family more privacy, around the beginning of the 20th century the backyard included things that the family wanted to get away from when they spent time outdoors — the vegetable garden, trash heap, and especially the outhouse. Indeed, the growth of municipal sanitary sewers lead to a decline of both outhouses and front porches.

The heyday of the front porch lasted from the early 1880s to the middle 1920s. Families added front porches to their homes or built new houses with elaborate porches. The porch became the comfortable spot for a summer evening where the whole family could relax after dinner. Neighbors taking an evening stroll could engage in conversation or be invited up...."

Continued here:

The history of the uniquely American front porch

The front porch is almost unique to America, spanning the front of countless homes in every city and village.

www.mlive.com

This feature seems to be basically the same as the verandah that was common on houses in warm countries of the British Empire, taken originally from India and still
popular in e.g. Australia, I believe. My grandparents, who had been in British India, had a long verandah overlooking their large garden, which was extensively used in summer, for meals and generally sitting out. When my wife and I did a spell as expats in Houston TX, we rented a 1910 wooden house with a front porch, complete with porch swing. It was very nice.

I’m pleased to see they may be coming back, since anything that encourages social interaction between neighbours is to be welcomed. We tend to live isolated lives today, in front of a screen or in a tin box on wheels, neither of which is good for us, whether individually or in terms of social cohesion.

 

[DaveC426913]

I have a porch up here in the Great White North as do most of the peeps on my cul-de-sac and surrounding neighbourhood. Our is seven feet deep and 16 feet wide. We figure it was built in the late (19)80s.

 

[Jeeves]

In the late fifties, we lived in a brick house in the East side (not way out at the end) of Toronto. We had what was standard to that style of turn-of-the-century architecture, a wooden front porch, four step up (to allow for the fairly large basement windows) with three pillars, a railing and a roof over it.
All the porches on our street were painted with brown, grey or green, in heavy, cheap oil-based paint, so thickly that it caused welts everywhere a previous owner had dripped. There was room enough for a couple of chairs without obstructing the wide front door (it had big chunks of coloured glass in the transom window - fascinating!), but we never sat out there. We had come from a 4th floor apartment and were not used to close neighbours. We children played in the smallish back yard or rode our bikes around the residential streets. My mother did follow the local fashion to the extent of putting some potted geraniums at the ends of each step. (That was a good neighbourhood.)

 

[DaveC426913]

... in the East side (not way out at the end) of Toronto....

Ah. You're east of Yonge. To this West-ender, you might as well have three heads.

 

[Jeeves]

Ah. You're east of Yonge. To this West-ender, you might as well have three heads.

Yeah, Kensington Market was four blocks over that way and the Exhibition grounds were practically in our front yard. Well, the other side of the QEW construction - which was also fun, once the workmen went home. That's where my little brother learned to ride a bike. When the Ex or the Winter Fair was on, we could just wander in any time behind the cattle sheds. We didn't have any money for rides, but we could pat the animals and look at the ice sculptures and all neat stuff our parents couldn't afford. The garden show was best.
So, nyah!

 

[DaveC426913]

Yeah, Kensington Market was four blocks over that way and the Exhibition grounds were practically in our front yard.

? That doesn't put you in the East end; that puts you smack downtown.

In fact, those are both a half mile west of Yonge.

 

[Jeeves]

Shit! You're right. I may have three heads, but none of them can tell east from west. They probably can't agree on whether to kill you, either.
It may be smack downtown now, but in the fifties, anything the other side of Spadina felt pretty marginal.
Loved the Victory theater, though. I saw War of the Worlds there.... most of it; I closed my eyes a lot.

 

[DaveC426913]

Shit! You're right. I may have three heads, but none of them can tell east from west.

I feel ya. After six decades, I've moved to the south side of the lake. But for me, North will always be uphill, and South will always be towards the water.

 

[TheVat]

A front porch, spanning at least 20 feet of house front and at least six feet in depth, has been the architectural feature my partner and I both most strenuously insisted on, so the OP is preaching to the choir AFAIC. The other feature from pre-AC times which I'd like to see return is the sleeping porch. Basically just a securable, screened porch that cools sleepers in mid-latitudes (might no longer be much good in Houston or Phoenix) without using AC. In fresh air locations, it's wonderful. On a diesel choked arterial, or some place with regular wildfire smoke, less so.

 

[Jeeves]

I like the sleeping rooftops of adobe houses in the Middle east. Not only cooler even than a screened porch, but you fall asleep gazing at the stars.

 

[parmalee]

Ah. You're east of Yonge. To this West-ender, you might as well have three heads.

Not intending to dox you, but whereabouts are you in the West--say, proximity to U of T? When I was there in the mid-90s, I lived in a house a couple doors down from the house in which Geddy Lee grew up.


Edit: Were you, rather. Apologies for my inadequate skimming.

 

[DaveC426913]

Not intending to dox you, but whereabouts are you in the West--say, proximity to U of T? When I was there in the mid-90s, I lived in a house a couple doors down from the house in which Geddy Lee grew up.


Edit: Were you, rather. Apologies for my inadequate skimming.

South Etobicoke.

I know, I know. All news media consider that "the West End" goes over as far as Ossington or somewhere thereabouts.

I have a cartoon I drew up a few years ago. It goes like this:


"Hey! You're wearing a Canada flag pin. What part you from?"
"Toronto."
"Torontoooooo! I know it well! Where? Junction? Annex? Greektown? Chinatown?"
"Etobicoke."
"..."
"..."
"..."
" *siiiiigh* Mississaug-"
"Mississaugaaaaaaa! I know it well!!!"

 

[parmalee]

In the late fifties, we lived in a brick house in the East side (not way out at the end) of Toronto.

Yeah, Kensington Market was four blocks over that way and the Exhibition grounds were practically in our front yard.

Wait, what are you considering the "end" of Toronto? I always thought Kensington Market was considered solidly west. Has there been some radical geographical shift that I'm unaware of?

Edit: Already been addressed. Again, I'm somehow overlooking like half the posts in this thread. Not sure what's going on--too many tabs and windows open.

 

[Jeeves]

Wait, what are you considering the "end" of Toronto? I always thought Kensington Market was considered solidly west. Has there been some radical geographical shift that I'm unaware of?

The ends are Scarborough and Mississauga. I've lived in both.
Yes, my directional mistake has already been brought to my attention. Right now, I live on the east side of a highway, and I still sometimes forget which way is south: there is a big lake downhill at each end. When we lived near there, I regularly got lost in Barrie, because they have diagonal streets. Orienteering is not one of my talents.

 

[parmalee]

Yes, that's already been brought to my attention. Right now, I live on the east side of a highway, and I still sometimes forget which way is south: there is a big lake at both ends.

I have an uncanny sense of direction--I just feel it--and I'm not going to attempt to rationalize that here. I'll just say that it is virtually impossible for me to get lost, especially in undeveloped parts of which we have huge swathes in both the US and Canada. Developed parts too, but it's slightly less efficient--I think electromagnetic fields sometimes throw me off (again, not gonna even try to explain). And keep in mind, I have a lot of seizures and frequently come to without knowing where I am or how I got there, but I figure it out.

Toronto, on the other had, is one of the few cities where this doesn't seem to work. I have to rely upon geographical knowledge to get my bearings. Maybe there's something in that lake.

 

[Jeeves]

I have an uncanny sense of direction--I just feel it--and I'm not going to attempt to rationalize that here. I'll just say that it is virtually impossible for me to get lost, especially in undeveloped parts of which we have huge swathes in both the US and Canada.

Maybe your ancestors were migratory or nomadic folk...
Some people got it, some don't. I can navigate fairly well by memory and landmarks, but if I approach the same intersection from another direction, nothing looks familiar; I've driven past my own house.

 

[Seattle]

I grew up in a small brick house in the South (NC) that had a full porch across 3/4 of the front of the house. It had 3 chairs out there. My mother and some of her neighborhood friends used it sometimes.

I remember using it mainly as a child, during the summer during a rain/thunderstorm. I had a cousin who lived in the country in an old 2 story farmhouse with a wrap around porch going across the entire front of the house to a door on the side of the house.

It also had a full porch across the back of the house. I love houses like that. My current house just has a "covered stoop", just enough to get out of the rain while unlocking the door. I have a raised (4 ft) deck extending from the back of the house, which is very useful but it would be much better if it had a roof. I'd prefer to have a house with a full porch in the front and back.

Regarding having a good sense of direction, I've found that once you have one reference point it's easy to compare it to a mental map in your head but generally where you have no reference at all, it's easy to draw a total blank. It's just hard to find yourself in a situation where you have no reference point.

Drive to some location for the first time just as it's getting dark and then try to drive back to your house in the dark, away from the city, where there are no large roads with signs pointing to a common interstate and it's quite easy to get lost.

If you have just one clue, you'll get oriented quickly. A telescope with a "goto" function requires 3 points to triangulate. Scuba diving, with some knowledge of the area and navigating isn't hard. Diving in limited visibility and when you are just out of sight of a rock ledge (for instance) and you can swim around forever were it not for your compass and some mental map of the area.

Flying a airplane at night over your local city and navigating is as easy as just following a road that you are familiar with. Move away from the city where it's just you and the stars and you can get vertigo pretty quickly. Get just one point of reference and all is fine again.

Where I grew up it wasn't uncommon for houses to have a screened in back porch, so people could sit outside in the summer evenings and not be bitten by mosquitos. I looked on Zillow the other day and I see that the front porch on the house that I grew up in, now has the front porch screened in.

I think front porches are less popular now because few people would use them much due to street noise, preferring to be in the back of the house rather than the front. It's also just more expense and developers have chosen large interiors at the expense of yard size and amenities like large porches.

It's a shame since a mild climate like Seattle makes a porch (front or back) useful for much of the year.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Traveling between Mom's house and Purdue took me past a little house on the side of the two lane asphalt road. The front of the house was fully enclosed and I swear Martha Stewart spent $25,000 on gimcrack and gee-gaws for that small space. I almost stopped to take pictures.

 

[Seattle]

Traveling between Mom's house and Purdue took me past a little house on the side of the two lane asphalt road. The front of the house was fully enclosed and I swear Martha Stewart spent $25,000 on gimcrack and gee-gaws for that small space. I almost stopped to take pictures.

Bobble heads, decorative plates and wooden spoons for the wall must
have been hit by inflation to add up to $25k. I think you found yourself some collectables my friend!

Maybe it's time to cash in the stamp collection,baseball cards and all the silver dollars given out to kids back in the day. Is it time to finally let go of the "good" china, the silverware and the "crystal"?