The Revival of the American Front Porch
When you think about summer memories, most of people will think about clear skied, infinite summer days spent with friends and loved ones on the front porch – enjoying a glass of ice cold tea and letting the world go by. We all want to hold tight to our past, and those parts in our lifetime that are near and dear to us; for many Americans, that includes spacious front porch with its hospitable staircase, hand worn railing and battered turned spindles and newel posts.
Various architectural home design types would be less wonderful without the presence of a front porch – Arts and Crafts, Georgian, the traditional wood clad farmhouse and yes, even, the grand Victorian to name a few.
A porch should be big enough for at least a small party to gather on – that is the bare minimum definition. However, in America a front porch is usually big enough for wicker furniture, a porch swing and a variety of plants. A lot of porches are front and center under the front door, others take up the whole front of the house, and still others wrap around 3 or 4 sides of the house.
No matter the design style or when it was built, a front porch has many common design and building elements. Every porch is made of up 4 main components:
1. Newel Posts – Box newels, over the post newels, and ornate newels. There are so many varieties of newel posts available if you are replacing solid wood balusters on your old porch or building a new one. Cherry and oak wood newels are a popular choice because of the wood’s loveliness, natural beauty and durability.
2. Balusters – The balustrade are most often made of quality woods, but in more recent times have been replaced with wrought iron or tempered glass. Solid wood porch balusters still remain popular as they give that warm, familiar feel and can be very cost effective. A cast iron baluster in an ornamental pattern can be attractive and interesting on a contemporary house.
3. Railings – Bottom and top hand rails are frequently made of wood. These are the parts of your porch that generally take the most ‘human’ abuse. You will touch the railings, hang plants from them and paint them. Your family will lean against them and your kids and grandkids will sit on top of them. Therefore, the railings need to be well built and durable to ensure your porch lasts for many years to come.
4. Floor or Base – Basically the component of your porch that gets the most wear and tear, there are many new options for a porch floor. older porches have wood or concrete floors and these flooring materials are still available today. There are also many new products on the market such as non slip outdoor purposed granite that would also be stunning and practical.
Although not listed in the list of 4 above, porch stairs would be a close fifth. Not all porches, especially if they are built on the ground or on a upper floor off an upstairs sitting room, for example, will not have stairs. Otherwise, many traditional porches that lead to the front door of a home do include a small staircase.
Although the front porch did fall out of favor in house building after World War 2, it is making a significant comeback. Maybe this is because the American people want to return to a simpler time when it was acceptable to take time for yourself and your family without having to dart off to our jobs. maybe the front porch signifies a stronger family unit when families did things together – an era before video consoles, computers and PDA’s and iPhones.
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Tags: architecture, home design, home improvement, remodeling