Tag: porch

The Sunday porch: French Riviera

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1 full view, Poincare Residence, Eze, France, ca. 1914, University Caen Basse…“The property of M. [Raymond] Poincaré in Èze.  The gardens and the main entrance of the house,” ca. 1914 – ca. 1918, photographer unknown, via the Université de Caen Basse-Normandie Commons on flickr.

Èze is located on the southeastern coast of France, not far from Nice. The Mediterranean was just beyond the railings above.

Detail, Poincare Residence, Eze, France, ca. 1914, University of Caen Basse-Normandie

(To scroll through a number of larger versions of the photo, click on ‘Continue reading’ below and then on any thumbnail in the gallery.)

Raymond Poincaré was President of France from 1913 to 1920.  He had been both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (simultaneously) during all of 1912.

. . . I  decided this time not to go to Sampigny but to stay somewhere on the Mediterranean. After brief research, I rented, in the Alpes-Maritimes, at the foot of the small town of Saracen Eze-sur-Mer, a quiet villa, hidden in the pine trees. . . . [I]t has an incomparable view of the sea. By winning this early retirement, I am not unhappy to escape a little to the embrace of my job, but at least I have the impression that the state of Europe, while still unstable, allows me to breathe more freely. Peace seems restored in the Balkans. Our relations with all Powers are normal. Whatever the new influences acting on William II, France was determined not provide any pretext for war. It’s almost a feeling of rest and security I feel, when I’ll salute the French Riviera the spring of 1914.

— Raymond Poincaré, from his memoirs.

You can see an image of the long terrace of the house in April 1914 here.

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The Sunday porch: Houston, Texas

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Originally posted in October 2013:

Old house in 1940s Houston, by John Vachon, Library of Congress Another photo by John Vachon — an old house with a double porch in Houston, Texas, May 1943.*  I love the tower room.

You really need to click on the photo and enlarge it to enjoy all the details of this one.

Sharp-eyed commenters on the Library of Congress’s Flickr Commons project noticed that the address on the curb is 1900 Franklin Street. The location is currently a parking lot next to the US Route 59 overpass, close to Minute Maid Park.

*via Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs Collection, Library of Congress.

The Sunday porch: Mechanicsville, Md.

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Mechanicsville MD 2, Library of CongressMr. and Mrs. Herbert on their porch in Mechanicsville, Maryland, June or July 1942, by Marjory Collins, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (all three photos).

Mechanicsville MD, Library of Congress

All the elements of a good screened porch are here: a slipcovered glider and a wicker chair, a rocker with a cushion (because the caned seat is nearly gone), a Boston fern and an angel-wing begonia, a newspaper and a copy of Good Housekeeping.  Both Herberts are wearing summertime white shoes.

Only a little iced tea could make it any nicer. Judging from the way they are dressed, I would guess this is a Sunday afternoon.

Mechanicsville MD house, Library of Congress

The couple — Charles P. and Bessie D. — built their Queen Anne house in 1909, although, curiously, it appears that they only bought the land beneath it in 1914, according to a Maryland Historic Sites Inventory Form filled out in the 1990s or later.

Charles had moved to the the area to be an express agent for the railroad.  Bessie was the town dressmaker. They lived in the house until their deaths during the 1960s.

A photo attached to the Inventory Form shows that the screening on the east side of the porch was later removed and some lacy trim was added along the entire front.  I could not find the house in a current Google Maps satellite view, however.

As usual, I wish we could see more of the garden.

Marjory Collins took these pictures about six months after moving to Washington, D.C., to join the documentary photographers of the U.S. Office of War Information.  Her “upbeat, harmonious images” of that time “reflected the OWI editorial requests for visual stories about the ideal American way of life,” according to a biographical essay about her by the Library of Congress.

The Sunday porch: Sagamore Hill

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T. Roosevelt porch, Library of CongressThe porch of President Theodore Roosevelt’s country home, Sagamore Hill, ca. 1905, photographer unknown, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (both photos here).

The rug was a mountain lion.

Roosevelt purchased the land in Oyster Bay, New York, in the early 1880s and began planning the Queen Anne house with his first wife, Alice. But she died in 1884, and it was second wife Edith who moved into the newly completed home two years later.

Sagamore Hill, ca. 1905, Library of Congress

Sagamore Hill was their family’s primary residence, except from 1901 to 1909, when it was known as the “Summer White House.”

Theodore died there in 1919, as did Edith in 1948.  The family continued to own it until the 1950s, when it was passed to the Theodore Roosevelt Association and later to the National Park Service.

The house reopens to the public today, after being closed for three and a half years for renovation.

The Sunday porch: shadows

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Lattice on 1935 Ala. porch, Library of CongressFirst floor porch of the Kenneworth-Moffatt House, Montgomery, Alabama, October 1935, by W. N. Manning for an Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Lattice Ala. porch, upstairs, Library of CongressSecond-floor porch of the Kenneworth-Moffatt House, Montgomery, Alabama, October 1935, by W. N. Manning.

Lattice on Ala. porch, full view, Library of CongressFront view of the Kenneworth-Moffatt House, Montgomery, Alabama, April 1934, by W. N. Manning.

The building — constructed in 1855 — is now called the Gerald-Dowdell House and houses a law office. A recent view on Google Maps is here.