Tag: front porch

The Sunday porch: Washington, D.C.

Cindy at enclos*ure4 Comments

Wash. D.C., rowhouses, via Library of CongressSeven Washington, D.C., rowhouses in 1939, by David Myers, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The neighborhood is not given, although it looks like Capitol Hill to me.

In his book, The American Porch, Michael Dolan attempts to trace the European, African, and Asian origins of our many kinds of porches.  The front stoop — several steps and a small landing — came from the Dutch.

Down the coast [from New England], in Nieuw Amsterdam, a different entry was proliferating.  Made of stone or brick, the stoep — Dutch for “step” — was a roofless link between doorway and street.  Though municipal tradition required a building’s occupants to maintain the stoep, the Dutch deemed it public territory.  However, in Nieuw Amsterdam, the stoop acquired a private connotation:  “. . . before each door there was an elevation, to which you could ascend by some steps from the street,” an observer wrote.  “It resembled a small balcony, and had some benches on both sides on which the people sat in the evening, in order to enjoy the fresh air, and have the pleasure of viewing those who passed it.”

The stoops above lack benches, but the owner of the first one has brought down a chair, and two doors down there is a park bench in the tiny garden.  You can see a similar arrangement here.

I’m taking a break from blogging for a couple more weeks (except for “The Sunday porch”), but I’ll be back for GB Bloom Day in October.

The Sunday porch: Wiseman, Alaska

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Igloo No. 8 by Jet Lowe, Library of CongressFront porch near the Koyukuk River at Wiseman Creek, Wiseman, Alaska, July 1984. Photo by Jet Lowe for an Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

For over six decades, this little porch sheltered many hours of masculine leisure and conviviality. In 1913, it fronted the Siverly and Bowker Saloon.  The following year, the building was sold to the Pioneers of Alaska and used as one of its local chapters — an ‘Igloo;’ it was Igloo No. 8.   The Pioneers, a fraternal organization, was formed in 1907 “for social purposes to keep alive the memories of the early trailblazers.”

By 1972, the building had been sold again.  At the time of these photos, it was the home of the owner’s son.

Igloo No. 8, HABS, Library of CongressAbove is the back porch and entrance to the kitchen.

Igloo #8, HABS, Library of CongressAbove is the side view. The flowers and birch trees are so pretty; it’s a pity we don’t have a picture of the view from the front porch. All photos by Jet Lowe.