A porte-cochere — in Dutch koetspoort — is a carriage gateway through which horse-drawn vehicles could drive beneath the building into the courtyard behind it. The opening is at street level and is high and wide enough for a carriage with horses in front: considerably larger than an ordinary door or pedestrian gate.
The point was comfort and status. Passengers did not alight in the street but under cover in the courtyard, right at the front door. Deliveries and staff could also reach the yard without passing through the house, and the passage could be closed with gates.
Characteristics
- A tall, wide carriage opening in the street elevation, often with a basket-handle or segmental arch
- Usable or habitable space above the gateway, carried by the arch over it
- Gates or a grille closing the passage
- Guard stones or wheel guards in the reveals, protecting the masonry from wheel hubs
Where you find it
- Town houses, city palaces and canal houses with a courtyard or rear building
- Monasteries, castles and almshouse courts
- Farms and breweries with an enclosed yard
- Later hotels and civic buildings, where the porte-cochere became a covered vehicle canopy at the entrance
From the early twentieth century the carriage gateway fell out of use as the motor car replaced the carriage; many were later infilled or converted into garage entrances.
Practical tips
- Treat it as a structural opening — the whole facade stands above it; infilling, widening or lowering it affects the load-bearing structure directly and almost always needs consent
- Check the arch and its springings — cracks at the springings indicate settlement or loss of the abutting masonry beside them
- Watch for rising damp in the reveals — a passage is open at both ends and the masonry stands unprotected in the splash zone
- Keep the guard stones and historic ironmongery in a restoration: they record the original function and cannot be replaced
Related terms
- Gateway
- Portal
- Archway
- Courtyard
- Basket-handle arch
- Reveal
- Wicket door
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