Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Porch & garage door - serious reply

[Mmariner (Mmariner]

S-E-R-I-O-U-S, yes really.


Barry Savage asked:

" When did all the front porches disappear from houses, to be replaced by
garage doors?"

Front Porches must have faded away before the 50's or early 60's.  My family
had a big ol' brick house in central Denver with a great front porch in high
school.  It was built in the 20's I believe.  All the houses on the street,
even the small ones and newer ones had a front porch.  People sat on 'em.
 Kids played on em -- ours was home base for neighborhood wide games of hide
'n' go seek.  Definitely fostered community.  In Denver I think a lot of the
40's houses had small porches -- at least those I delivered papers to.

My first year in college (1964) my family moved to a suburb split-level where
the front porch was a slab exactly the width of the front door.  Nobody hung
out in front of the houses at all except to mow the lawn or to walk from the
car to the house.

I'd guess a whole host of things contributed:

-  The commuting lifestyle extended people's work days to where they just
wanted to drive in the garage, pull down the door and hide from people.

-  The more modular architectural style, the aesthetic (or lack of) dictated
simplicity -- no porches

-  The developers  saving money -- perceiving that nobody wanted 'em anyway.

-  An evolution of the individualistic ethic -- home as a castle to hide away
in, so the porch moved around to the back yard and became a deck or patio.

-  No fun sitting watching car traffic - so nobody cared if they had a front
porch.


All I can think of tonight, of the serious kind....

Mike