When one sees a front porch or verandah, it means different things to different people. To some, it’s just an architectural detail of bygone days, a vestige of the past once popular, and now largely forgotten. But to many, it evokes nostalgia; it reminds people of visiting grandparents, of lazy afternoons in the summer, of drinking lemonade, eating ice cream and parties lit by lanterns. It speaks of simpler times, youth, the countryside, and countless other things. In fact, so many people seem have such a strong, positive, and nostalgic association with the front porch, and so many have porches have miraculously remained on older homes, that they have become an iconic piece of heritage architecture.
However, although many people have wonderful, nostalgic front porch memories, it’s not just about nostalgia, and, despite some of the gorgeous decorative details, the front porch is about more than architecture as well. It’s a private structure, but one that faces the public and, in doing so, brings people together. It was-and still is-a way to relax in your private space and, at the same time, connect with your neighbours. As a community-building housing feature, there isn’t much that tops the front porch or verandah, and, arguably, it was a big part of building solid social connections in the early days of development on the North Shore.
What’s the difference between the porch and the veranda(h)and where did the idea for building them come from?
The idea of the verandah first came to England from India, where such an outdoor structure was imperative to have in the intense heat as a means to cool down. From there, it eventually came to North America with settlers from the UK -first to the US- and then later, to Canada. Although there seems to be a lot of variance in definitions, a front porch essentially is a covered, outdoor structure attached to the main living floor of a house, and is not part of the main structure. A verandah is usually a porch that extends the length of the of the house, often wrapping around two or more sides. It’s also known as a “wrap-around porch”. Depending on the economic status of the homeowners, these outdoor spaces ranged greatly, with varying degrees of size and ornamentation. Larger homes often had verandahs, while smaller, more modest houses would feature a smaller porch to match the house, with room for a couple of chairs to sit in and watch the world go by, but not necessarily enough space to host a party. And there was every style and size in between. But even a modest home could have a wonderfully detailed and wide verandah as shown by this home, now demolished, which was in the 1400 block of Bellevue.
Photo by William McPhee, 1976, courtesy of West Vancouver Memorial Library archives, 0263.McP
A small cross-section of current examples from the three North Shore municipalities is shown below.
*Note the trampoline in the first picture on the left. It’s essentially the kids’ version of the front porch, as it brings neighbourhood kids together in a publicly visible space. Many of these sprang up in front-not only backyards-during the pandemic, and provided safe and necessary socialising for kids.
Another cross-section, but with historical photos. Lots of life being lived on these front porches!
Image of the Lunn family on the front porch of a cottage. Mrs. Lunn is shown with her arm around a young boy standing on a bench. Taking possibly in the 1920s.
Courtesy of West Vancouver Memorial Library archives #1656.WVML
Portrait photo of Mr. and Mrs. Lunn and family members on the porch of a house with a sign above saying "Lynnduffy". The house was located at 19th Street in West Vancouver. Photo taken by Colin Bas.
Courtesy of West Vancouver Memorial Library archives #1652.WVML
Navvy Jack's House - as it appeared on the wedding day of John Lawson's daughter Elizabeth C. Lawson to William John Pitman on December 31, 1914. According to original VCA note this was the first church wedding in West Vancouver. The house stood where, present day, Argyle Avenue meets 17th Street.
Courtesy of Vancouver City Archives, #0021.VCA
364 E.1st St, North Vancouver. 1950. This was the gardener’s cottage that used to belong to Hamersley House. The cottage is still there.
Courtesy of Monova archives #7957
A collection of porch details. Some of my favourite porches are ones that have beautifully framed views.
Addresses clockwise from top-left. 256 E. 10th St. (inside porch looking west and to the right, front corner view showing river rock support column detail ), 419 13th St. E., 368. E. Keith Rd ( looking east through enclosed porch window), 606. E. Windsor (Kerr House), 114 E. Windsor (photo taken pre-HRA).
Community-Building
In the early days of housing development on the North Shore, many homes were built with a front porch or verandah. The largest concentration of these seems to be in the City of North Vancouver, especially in the streets just east and west of Lonsdale.
Whereas today, they may be seen more as a quaint place to sit and watch the world go by, they were much more in the first few decades of the 1900s. At this time, so many people living on the North Shore had recently immigrated there, and neighbourhoods were still young, if not still being built, so the front porch was a perfect way to meet and spend time with people and build community.
Escape from the Weather
The front porch was also an important space to escape from the weather, while still taking in fresh air. This was a time well before air conditioning, so it was often a necessary place to escape the heat in the summer, as the breezes could blow through each side and help keep people cool. And, being on the North Shore, constant rain could be an issue, and rather than remain trapped inside during long, drizzly periods, people would spend time on the front porch.
The homes below would have been wonderful, if not rather extravagant places to retreat to, in both the heat and the rain. I’ve showcased these two here for their architectural beauty and unique design, but there were plenty, more modest-sized homes with verandahs that would have been just as effective in escaping the heat and rain.
Spencer House at 2089 Westdean Crescent in West Vancouver shown here with three people sitting on the porch steps. It was built it 1913 for the Spencer family who were pioneer retailers and department store owners. The wide verandah is unique in that it connects to the carport and one can exit the car straight onto it, as well as access it from the centre entrance. Though the house was recently renovated and sold, the verandah has been retained in much of its original form.
Photo courtesy of West Vancouver Archives, #003.WVA.SPE
View of W.C. Thompson House in 1909 with 5 people leaning on rail of front porch, 2058 Argyle Avenue.
Courtesy of West Vancouver Memorial Library archives #0848.WVML
*Note that the incredible, curving verandah was highly unusual, as the sides of most two-sided verandahs met at right angles. The house was waterfront and would have had incredible views from the entire verandah. The home was eventually replaced by an apartment block.
Therapeutic uses
In the 19th and early 20th century, “taking the air” was an important concept. It was well understood by science at this point that getting lots of fresh air was healthy for people, and the front porch or verandah helped people easily access fresh air, for many months of the year, especially in the West Coast climate. Even for people who were too elderly to walk as much as they used to, a short walk from the house into a comfy chair outside was an easy way to get some fresh air as well as connect with people. I imagine that the isolation some people felt as they got older and less physically active would have been lessened with a front porch.
Many porches had flowering and vining plants growing on them in the warmer months, providing a fragrant, therapeutic environment by allowing people to feel life and greenness and a closeness with nature.
Even the original North Vancouver Hospital of the early 20th C. was aware of these benefits for patients. “The Express” newspaper in June of 1908 writes “the large verandah on the second floor is an ideal spot for the hours of returning strength”. Although the building at the time wasn’t purpose built as a hospital, the verandah was very useful in the healing process. North Vancouver’s other hospital at the time, Harbor View Sanatarium, had a great verandah for healing as well, also in a building not purpose-built as a hospital, but one that worked for that purpose.
Hamersley House. 350 2nd St. E., North Vancouver. Photo date uncertain, but probably somewhere between 1910 and 1918. One of its many lives after being the private home of the Hamersley family was as one of North Vancouver’s two hospitals of the early 20th C. It is currently a daycare.
Courtesy of Monova archives, #8935
Extension of living space and a Party Venue
“Invermere” also known as the“Big House” was built for Hugh Nelson (a partner in the Moodyville Sawmill Company and later BC’s Lt. Governor) and his family. It was located in Moodyville at what is now 543 E. 1st st. It would have had a fantastic view of the inlet and the large verandah would have been perfect for all kinds of occasions.
Courtesy of Monova archives, #15175
580 18th St., West Vancouver. Built by the Salter family in 1913 and known as “Hampton House”. Incredible river rock verandah with arched supports. This site is now where Royal Canadian Legion branch 60 now stands.
Courtesy of Vancouver Public Library #0094.VPL
Verandahs were important extensions of the home; In smaller homes, it was a useful extra living space, especially for those with children, and in the larger ones, people could host parties and events from home by using them. Birthdays, weddings, teas, luncheons, dinners, music, games, and other gatherings were common. People liked to light them well for evening events, and Chinese paper lanterns, streamers and bunting were often hung for ambiance, creating a magical space for people to gather.
Performance Venues
Performances of all kinds, especially music, were common on verandahs, and some homeowners even brought pianos out onto them for concerts.
One article from“The Express” newspaper writes about the St. Andrews and Caldedonian Society, a group made up of Scottish immigrants, and an ice cream and strawberry social hosted for them on a wet June day in 1910 at the E. Keith home of Alderman and Mrs. McNeith. The writer mentions that “the wet day and persistent drizzle…were thought to be a fatal counter detraction to the gathering” and yet, car after car arrived that evening, still intent on partying. The day was saved by some of the party being able to spill onto the large verandah, where Mrs McNeith had a piano ready, so that “music, both piano and violin, was enjoyed to the heart’s content”.
I read article after article like this, describing all manner of celebrations on verandahs, many of them including performances such as plays, poetry and music. A common practice for good-weather days was to use the verandah as a stage, and the lawn as the seating area. It appears that not only were verandahs good for socialising and meeting neighbours in those days, but they were great performance venues, creating inexpensive or free venues all over the North Shore and allowing for The Arts to flourish on them.
businesses popularised the verandah as a multi-use space
Restaurants, Tea Rooms, Hotels, Bars and other places of business that serve the public often had a wide verandah, sometimes with an equally wide, second level balcony as well. Having a wide verandah made good business sense, as businesses that had one could diversify more. People generally enjoy eating and being entertained outside, so the verandah provided numerous opportunities to provide activities that proprietors didn’t have room for inside, or that didn’t hold the same magic that an outdoor space with a view to the world did.
The original North Vancouver Hotel had a fantastic verandah and balcony, seen here much decorated for a celebration.
Photo of postcard courtesy of Monova archives, #95
The Capilano Lounge that was at the foot of St. Georges at the terminus of the Capilano Streetcar line ran ads in the local papers that focussed on the verandah. Here are a couple of examples below.
Two classified ads from the June 18th, 1908 edition of “Vancouver Daily World”.
Why did homes stop being built with a front porch?
Despite the practical nature, the extra outdoor space for activities, the connection with neighbours and friends, and the beauty, the front porch/verandah generally got smaller as the years went by, becoming eventually, not much more than a covered entrance (portico), and lastly, disappearing altogether. Bungalows by the 1940s like this one didn’t often include a proper front porch, but only had a portico to keep visitors dry at the front door. Architectural styles change over time, and perhaps by this decade, the porch had begun to been seen as unnecessary and antiquated and architects wanted to try a different look for the front of the home.
After WW2, my theory is that the housing boom, residential use of air conditioning and a more modern sense of privacy put the final nail in the porch’s coffin. New builds were re-imagined as something completely different from previous styles of building, actively striving for “modern” features that were unlike previous houses, and the outdoor spaces built with these new houses included back decks and large patios, with all the outdoor living centred in the back, rather than the front. On a hot day, you could even retreat inside to mechanically cooled air. I also wonder whether new technologies in entertainment, such as high-fi record players and televisions, provided home owners entertainment that neighbours might have once frequently provided, and the fact that many people now owned cars, which allowed for quick getaways and travel, made people feel less isolated and, perhaps, less likely to lean on others as they once might have.
Even service businesses like hotels lost the need for the verandah by building on a much larger scale and including massive indoor spaces like indoor pools and large meeting and performances areas.
By the 1960’s and 1970s, balconies had become popular-this way homeowners could have a secondary outdoor space, rather than just at the back, one that wouldn’t encroach onto space in the yard, and they could sit and people watch if they wanted to- while still having a feeling of removal and privacy from the public.
You could hang out on your balcony, but no one could join you without going through your house and being formally invited. Vancouver Specials made this balcony style popular but none had a front porch.
The 1990s and the 2000’s each had nostalgia-driven heritage style building revivals in which some homes included front porches and verandas again. Newspapers throughout the last 70 years have articles here and there declaring the revival of the front porch, so it has tried to make a come-back a number of times, but never quite got there as the revivals are sporadic and short-lived.
There are numerous of these porch-revival homes on the North Shore, however, I’ve not seen one where someone is actually sitting on their porch. In fact, in my hours of exploring looking for homes with a front porch, I didn’t see anyone actually using one. Perhaps it wasn't the right time of day, the weather wasn’t nice enough, or maybe weekends would have been more fruitful, rather than my mid-week treks. I hope that some of these wonderful spaces are getting some good use. What I did notice along with the absence of front porch enjoyers, was that many were impossible to photograph because of hedges that had been allowed to grow incredibly high, and new, high fencing, seems to be rather prolific lately all over the North Shore. With the feeling that technology is giving us less and less privacy, and unaffordability driving crime more than it seems to have in recent years, are we heading towards the polar opposite of what the front porch stands for and actively keeping people out, rather welcoming them in?
The verandah vs fence issue isn’t new. It was already a concern in 1902. A Vancouver paper called the “Daily News Advertiser”wrote an article advocating for verandahs called “Verandahs of Toronto”, trying to popularise them more in the Vancouver area. In this rather passionate plea for verandahs, the author at one point bluntly writes “Build more verandahs. Take down the fences.”
Despite the front porch not being common to new buildings and not being used as a social tool the way it used to be, perhaps it doesn’t matter so long as people live in the spirit of it. Engaging with others, being welcoming to those in our community and just saying “hello” to passers-by if we happen to be in the front yard or on a walk, keeps that spirit alive. Between the isolation of the pandemic and getting overly reliant on texting, zoom and other technology-related communication, engaging with others in real life feels more challenging than it used to. But-no matter where we live- we can still think about how we want to create our own “front porch.”
Do you have fond memories of a front porch? Do you have a porch front of your own that you spend time on? How do you build community in your neighbourhood?
FUN FACTS
It seems as though there were as many commercially produced products available for the porch in the early 20th C. as we have now. Here are a few local ads you may have seen if you lived back then on the North Shore.
The word “verandah” was taken by the English from the Hindi word “varanda” meaning long balcony or terrace, but the word actually came from Portuguese, originally.
Sources: Newspapers.com (The Express, Daily News Advertiser, The Vancouver Sun, Saturday Sunset, Nanaimo Daily News), West Vancouver Memorial Library archives, Monova archives, Vancouver Public Library archives, energy.gov