Life in the Slow Lane: The Front Porch Revived

Porches are a portal to the neighborly, leisurely pace of yesterday.

Photo by Omar Salinas

The breezy tranquility of the front porch and the neighborly way of life it engendered have slowly begun to fade into memory. With the advent of cars, such as the 1908 Model-T Ford, and the fumes and noises they brought with them, front porches suddenly became much less pleasurable. Later, upon the arrival of air conditioning, a steady decline in the use of the front porch seemed certain.

Once an all-American convention, the front porch gave the house a welcoming countenance and a gracious but practical transition between inside and out. It also helped foster community in neighborhoods where people stopped to chat with “porch setters,” residents lingering in the open-air rooms.

Valuable extra living space, the front porch became popular before the Civil War and remained fashionable for several decades afterward.

Front porches are “as American as apple pie,” says Renee Kahn, architectural historian and co-author of Preserving Porches (Henry Holt, 1990).

“The automobile noise and the fumes made porches much less pleasant,” Kahn said in a recent telephone interview. “And people were driving instead of walking. To get away from the noise, exhaust and fumes, people went to back and side porches.”

Like many others, the front porch on Kahn’s Connecticut house was torn down years ago, and a quieter, more private back porch took its place. “Progress brought us the porch, and progress took it away,” Kahn says regretfully.

Now front porches are making a welcome comeback, bringing with them extra space, renewed chances to build community and a serene place to slow down. “As a big porch person, I’m happy to hear it,” Kahn says.

“Porches sound mundane, but they’re fascinating. It’s like you have a capsule of history. There were no porches in the Colonial Era, when everybody worked all the time. Then the Industrial Revolution brought more leisure time to sit on the porch,” Kahn says.

The advent of air conditioning made new styles of architecture possible and pushed porches out of vogue. To seal houses off from heat and humidity, enclosed entrances distanced residents from neighbors and passersby. Lost was the friendly, porch-decked face of the house.

Lost, too, was the relaxing national pastime of “porch settin’,” when people gathered on front porches to watch their neighborhood come to life: couples walking hand-in-hand on starry evenings, families strolling past with new babies or puppies in tow, and children playing street games like “kick the can.”

Porches helped create communities where people knew, frequently saw and interacted with their neighbors. They learned one another’s names and life stories. “It is part of community, but when nobody’s walking, there’s no community,” Kahn says.

Now, porches are warming up family homes for their neighborhoods and revving up curb appeal once again. Manyóif not mostónew houses are being built with porches. In increasing numbers of remodels and in most remodeled splits, front porches are de rigueur. Today’s porches are constructed with modern, rugged materials that keep maintenance time and costs to a minimum but evoke the homey, comfortable looks of yesteryear.

Porches are a particular pleasure during the Washington area’s long months of warm weather. From April to November, they become great semi-private, all-purpose outdoor rooms for reading, gossiping, visiting, having cocktails, sharing meals, studying, playing—name it. Those who regularly use a front porch wouldn’t be without one.

Capturing a Memory

Those who, like Jerry Cave, publisher of Washington Home & Garden Magazine, enjoyed a front porch in a former home, remember it fondly for its contribution to a more leisurely way of life.

“When I was in college in New Orleans, I adopted the regional passion for loungingÖon the front porch, slowly waving to the world that passed by with eloquent utterances like ‘Hey, where were you last night?’ and ‘Why are you going to class on a great day like this?’” Cave jokes.

So fond are his front porch memories that Cave found a way to reproduce them at his home in Bethesda.

“When I built my addition, I insisted it have a replica of the KA (Kappa Alpha) fraternity house [front porch] at Tulane to remind me of the slower pace of yesterday and to occasionally enjoy the space,” Cave says, his eyes smiling. “But, most importantly, to train my sons in this time-honored way to stop and smell the roses.”

Degrees of Maintenance

Today’s porches may evoke yesterday’s pace, but they are unlikely to be composed of yesterday’s materials. With clients in mind, builders opt for materials that minimize upkeep.

“I will hardly ever use wood on a porch. You have to maintain it almost every year. The normal homeowner doesn’t want to have to take care of it,” says Bryan Whittington, CEO of Whittington Design and Build (WD&B).

The porches WD&B constructs fall into three categories, says Whittington: low maintenance; some maintenance; and all wood, which is very high maintenance. “For floors, the lowest maintenance material is flagstone on concrete, but it’s very expensive,” he says, adding that Azek, a PVC material, is cheaper.

“The next level up would be ipe, a tropical hardwood,” Whittington continues. Extremely dense, ipe resists decay, termites and borers. It will weather gray, like teak, but can be sealed yearly to maintain its original color.

For a porch that is raised off the ground, Whittington might use a synthetic wood and plastic product, Tendura, for the floor. Other low-maintenance materials he likes to use include fiberglass columns and a plastic material for the beaded ceiling.

View from the Porch

Whatever materials are used, porches are a portal to an array of sensuous pleasures: the gentle touch of air on skin; the soothing sounds of chirping birds and crooning winds; and the welcome sight of unexpected, four-legged visitors.

“I like to go out there at dusk and call my boys long distance. It’s so peaceful. The deer come up. I feel like I’m in the middle of an enchanted wonderland,” Potomac resident Kay Niederer says. “My husband Leo likes to sit on the porch and watch summer storms.”

A porch allows one to be in touch with the seasons and weather, but not at their mercy. Protective and comfortable, the porch wraps around the house like a hug, providing that same feeling of cozy connectedness. It allows fresh air, outdoor time and a feeling of comfort and home.

“A porch makes the front yard usable; it’s definitely a friendlier environment,” says Whittington.

Friendly and relaxing, a porch recalls an era of simpler pleasures. “It can be,” says Cave, “our last chance…to enjoy life in the slow lane.”