Aporch (from Old French porche; from Latin porticus 'colonnade', from porta 'passage') is a room orgallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of thefaçade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be avestibule (a small room leading into a larger space) or a projecting building that houses the entrance door of a building.[1]
Porches exist in bothreligious and secular architecture. There are various styles of porches, many of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location. Porches allow for sufficient space for a person to comfortably pause before entering or after exiting a building, or to relax on. Many porches are open on the outward side withbalustrade supported by balusters that usually encircles the entire porch except where stairs are found.
The wordporch is almost exclusively used for a structure that is outside the main walls of a building or house. Porches can exist under the same roof line as the rest of the building, or as towers and turrets that are supported by simple porch posts or ornatecolonnades and arches. Examples of porches include those found inQueen Anne style architecture,Victorian-stylehouses,[2]Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, or any of theAmerican Colonial-style buildings and homes.[3]
Some porches are very small and cover only the entrance area of a building. Other porches are larger, sometimes extending beyond an entrance by wrapping around the sides of a building, or even wrapping around completely to surround an entire building. A porch can be part of the ground floor or an upper floor, a design used in theMrs. Lydia Johnson House (built in 1895).
TheApadana palace of the city ofPersepolis was built in the first half of the 6th century BCE. The palace has open columned verandas on three sides which is a unique feature among all palace buildings at Persepolis.Porches are an invention of the Persians who made their way to Rome and the Islamic world.[citation needed] InAncient Greek architecture, theperistyle was a continuous porch with a row of columns around the outside of building or a courtyard.
An Arizona room is a type of screened porch commonly found inArizona.
Ascreened porch, also called a screened-in-porch, is a porch that was built or altered to be enclosed with screens that effectively creates an outdoor type room.[4][5]
Asleeping porch is a porch that was built or modified to be a type of semi-outdoor sleeping area. A sleeping porch can be an ordinary open porch, screened or with screened windows that can be opened.
Arain porch is a type of porch with the roof and columns extended past the deck and reaching the ground. The roof may extend several feet past the porch creating a covered patio. A rain porch, also referred to as aCarolina porch, is usually found in theSoutheastern United States.[6]
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Aportico (Italian) is a porch style that utilizes columns or colonnades, and even arches, such as used inItalian modern and contemporary architecture.
Aloggia is a covered exterior corridor or porch that is part of the ground floor or can be elevated on another level. The roof is supported by columns or arches and the outer side is open to the elements.[7]
Averanda (also spelled 'verandah') style porch[8] is usually large and may encompass the entirefaçade as well as the sides of a structure. An extreme example is theGrand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan, which has the longest porch in the world at 660 feet (200 m) in length.[citation needed]
Alanai is a roofed, open-sided veranda, patio, or porch originating in Hawaii.
A sun porch, or sun room, also referred to as aFlorida room, can be any room or separate structure, usually enclosed with glass, but can be an enclosed porch.[9]
A stoop is a landing, usually small, at the top of steps and when covered by a roof is a small porch.[10]
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In northeastern North America, a porch is a small area, usually unenclosed, at the main-floor height and used as a sitting area or for the removal of working clothes so as not to get the home's interior dirty, when the entrance door is accessed via the porch. In theSouthwestern United States, ranch-style homes often use a porch to provide shade for the entrance and southern wall of the residence.
In theSouthern United States andSouthern Ontario,Canada, a porch is often at least as broad as it is deep, and it may provide sufficient space for residents to entertain guests or gather on special occasions. Adobe-style homes inSanta Fe, New Mexico, often include large porches for entertainment called "portals", which are not usually seen in the more traditionaladobe homes.
Older American homes, particularly those built during the era ofVictorian architecture, or built in theQueen Anne style, often include a porch in both the front and the back of the home. The back porch is used as another sitting space. However, many American homes built with a porch since the 1940s have only a token one, usually too small for comfortable social use and adding only to the visual impression of the building.
TheNew Urbanism movement in architecture urges a reversal in this trend, recommending a large front porch, to help build community ties.[11]
When spacious enough, a covered porch not only provides protection from sun or rain but comprises, in effect, extra living space for the home during pleasant weather—accommodating chairs or benches, tables, plants, and traditional porch furnishings such as aporch swing,rocking chairs, orceiling fans.
Porches may be screened to exclude flying insects. Normally, the porch is architecturally unified with the rest of the house, using similar design elements. It may be integrated into the roof line.
Many porch railings are designed with importance to the design of the building as well ascurb appeal but local, state, or federal zoning laws usually mandate the height of the railing and spacing of balusters. There are exemptions for houses inhistoric districts or that are on theNational Register of Historic Places. TheNational Park Service produced a pamphlet or brief concerningPreserving Historic Wood Porches.[12]
InGreat Britain, the projecting porch had come into common use in churches by early medieval times. They were usually built of stone but occasionally were of timber. Normally they were placed on the south side of the church, but also on the west and north sides, sometimes in multiple. The porches served to give cover to worshipers, but they also had aliturgical use. At a baptism, the priest would receive the sponsors, with the infant, in the porch and the service began there. A common and similar function could be served at weddings, where the marriage was officiated in the porch, and then blessed inside the church.
In later medieval times, the porch sometimes had two storeys, with a room above the entrance which was used as a local school, meeting room, storeroom, or evenarmoury. If the village or town possessed a collection of books, it would be housed there.
Sometimes the church custodian lived in the upper storey and a window into the church would allow supervision of the main church interior. Some British churches have highly ornamented porches, both externally and internally. The south porch atNorthleach,Gloucestershire, in theCotswolds, built in 1480, is a well-known example, and there are several others inEast Anglia and elsewhere in theUK.[13]
InIndia, porches and verandahs are popular elements of secular and religious architecture. InHindu temples, themandapa is a porch-like structure that connects thegopuram (ornate gateway) to the temple. It is used for religious dancing and music, and is a part of the basic temple compound.[14]Examples of Indian buildings with porches include:
The termsit-out is used to describe the porch of a residential building.[15][16][17]
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