August 11, 2005

Obscure Architectural Term of the Day!

PORTE COCHÈRE. A porch large enough for wheeled vehicles to pass through.

From the Penguin Dictionary of Architecture, Third Edition.

Here in America, this became the carport, which Frank Lloyd Wright, in one of his usual bursts of self-promotion, claimed to have invented. I think we can give him credit for naming the feature a carport, using a transliteration of the French term, and for accepting the automobile as an integral part of design. Up until that time, a car was seen much as a horse was, and was kept in a stable (detached garage) away from the main house. Wright realized the inconvenience of having to go out so far to reach your newfangledy mode of transportation. Since motorcars rarely left large piles of poop in the driveway, he recognized that there was no need to keep the car segregated.

Although, I don't think he would have approved of this.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at August 11, 2005 09:55 AM
Comments

What? You've got a problem with the garage doors being the primary feature on the front of the house? Round these parts, most new houses have a double car door and to the end of the house, a tall and wide single car door so that the boat/camper/RV fits in too!

Posted by: Nate at August 11, 2005 10:52 AM

Oh, no--not me--just that old dead Frank guy. I think they're LOVELY!

Actually, that picture is not nearly so heinous as some that were designed by a guy I used to work with. Master's degree from a large A&M school in a state beginning with the letter "T" and endng in "exas," and what he came up with looked like some kind of a brick shoebox/housetrailer thing with the long axis perpendicular to the road and with the garage even MORE prominent, and with the entry doors tucked even further into the shadows. They were horrid little things.

He was quite proud of them.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 11, 2005 11:00 AM

I don't think that houses with particularly prominent garages are very attractive, but then I also think that dead Frank guy's Prarie-style homes are hideous.

Posted by: Jordana at August 11, 2005 02:11 PM

HERESY!! HERESY!! I suppose they might be an acquired taste, but I've always enjoyed looking at them. I will say I like the Greene brothers' work much better, though.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 11, 2005 10:09 PM