Part II – The Nature of a Porch –Its Exterior Life

          Porches are making a comeback!  The front porch provides an ‘interface between inside and outside, private and public, viewer and viewed.’  It is this in-between aspect that makes the front porch not only an architectural place but also a social one.

          Here is a little history for you . . . For a full century, until immediately after WWII, the front porch remained a vital ingredient of American architecture.  It was the place people gathered news of the world – an outdoor parlor where gossip and information were treated as one.  But as Americans took to their cars, this arena for casual social interaction became obsolete.  The layout of the suburbs was built to be driven through, not to be walked in. (Geography of Home – Akiko Busch) 


         Another author puts it this way: The porch goes back to antiquity, but Americans since Washington and Jefferson have embraced it with special gusto. The so-called piazza was first popular in the South, where it provided cool shade.  People sat on their steps or benches and in time, the stoop grew larger, acquired a roof, and became a porch. The Victorian period, which venerated both fresh air and pale complexions, was the golden age of porches. . . Until the 1950's, the front porch was America's sitting room on the street. (House Thinking -  Winifred Gallagher)     

          Where once the front porch was a way of life for the American people, in recent years we have begun living more privately in the back of our homes.  Patios and decks became popular and the new styles of homes being built were void of a front porch. Also evident during this time was the disappearance of the front sidewalk.   We drove into our garage to enter the house and the ways of bumping into a neighbor became much more involved.   The gain in privacy often meant a loss in community.

          Sociologists, architects, community developers, and urban planners took note of this trend and its effects.  Intentional neighborhoods began to be designed with front porches on the houses, sidewalks, alleys, and detached garages.  The study discovered that people became much more aware of their neighbors because they knew each other by sight, sound, and story. It continues to be the hope that this ‘design’ will assist us in more natural ways of being ‘neighborly’ - friendlier and interested in the welfare of those around us.

          I can speak to this personally. Our home has three porches – one in the front and two on the side.  We have noticed that no one ‘bothers us’ when we sit on the side porches even though we can be seen.  The positioning of the location of this porch says ‘private- do not disturb’.  But when we sit on the front porch, those who are walking or pass by in their cars will wave, say hi or strike up a conversation. A remarkable difference!

          When I asked others about front porches, many responded with its importance to community.

The porch space opens up the mind and spirit to conversation, thoughtfulness, and friendship.  It lets you sit still and build a community through conversation, song, and prayer.

Big wrap-around porches on old Victorian houses are great places for neighborhood children to put on summer plays.

A place for friendliness . . . A place for neighbors to run into you.

Every Friday in summer a neighbor couple with a gorgeous front porch has ‘open porch night’.  Great conversations, great times together.

As we speak, our front steps (1950’s cement with wrought iron rails) are being torn out and replaced with a larger wooden porch with room for chairs, flowers, and neighbors!

         
        So if you have a porch, lucky you!  And if not, the front stoop might be just as magical.  Wishing you ‘good times’ and Happy Porching!  

Part I - The Nature of a Porch - Its INTERIOR Life

When I say the word PORCH what images, memories, feelings immediately come to mind?   Now - hold those thoughts for just one moment.  When I talk about PORCH, I am talking about that covered platform at an entrance to a home – often with its own roof.  It can be small or large – with a single chair or many - open to the outdoor elements or enclosed.  Are more porches coming to mind?  

In her book Geography of Home, Akiko Busch acknowledges that how one feels about a porch begins this way.  Is a porch to be a seasonal experience - open to the natural elements only when the weather is warm or is a porch to be enclosed - able to be used all year round?  However a porch is used, it seems to invite a transition in how we live.  It slows us down, provides us with a different perspective than we have in the midst of the four walls of our house.  The porch opens us physically to the outside and mentally into dreaming, imagining, and remembering.

Lee Krasner, the wife of abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock and herself a gifted painter, reflected on the ‘nature of a porch’.  With Jackson there was quiet solitude. Just to sit and look at the landscape. An inner quietness. After dinner, to sit on the back porch and look at the light. No need for talking. For any kind of communication.  I was curious how others felt about the ‘nature of a porch’ so I returned to my great and rich resource of Facebook friends by asking them ‘Why do you love porches?’  Here are some of their responses: 

·        It’s a place for transition!

·        Outside yet still sheltered; inside yet partially exposed. Speaks to the needs of the emerging spirit.

·        Porches are like a hand rolling out an invitation to come sit and rest for awhile....the heart is open ...making time and space.

·        It's place to go to rest, relax, and unwind. Solitude. Always looking for new ways to make it even more comfy.

·        There's nothing like a porch that helps people slow down, to be present in the quiet, to sip some lemonade or coffee, and let go of the outside world. The porch space opens up the mind and spirit to conversation, thoughtfulness, and friendship.

Others shared memories. As you read them, you may find yourself relaxing with them - drawn to a time seemingly slower and simpler.

                                                                                              

·        I love my screened in porch. I love the daybed for reading and the porch swing. I grew up with a porch swing and had a lot of relaxing times on a porch! We also have my husband's family's old hutch out there that made its way from Nebraska on a covered wagon.  If it’s just right porch weather it really expands the space of our home!

·        Thinking of sitting on my grandparents' screened in porch. Gentle breezes; a way to listen to one's surroundings without having to be physically connected to them; fun place for lunch or dinner; rocking; thinking; relaxing to the point of almost sleeping; a feeling of protection while watching a storm stir up and the rain fall.

·        A porch changed my life!  Seriously!! It was a porch where I could look out into the hills and write in my journal, sit with my friends and have the most amazing talks, dance in a square to some traditional mountain music, laugh so hard I cried, and almost always feel a sense of peace. It was the right place to be at that time. That porch reminds me of a time when I was trying to figure out how to live my life, how my work could reflect my values, and how I figured out that simplicity was the way I knew I wanted to live. That porch in Jonesville taught me to be myself, to appreciate God's great earth, and to always be mindful and thankful for its simplicity.

          This is the power of a simple appendage to a house - introducing us to that space between two worlds – that of being inside and outside at the same time.  This simple space that brings a sense of calm, rest, and the opportunity to think on life, does amazing good to our natures!! 

Coming Soon:    Part II – The Nature of a Porch – Its Exterior Life