Sideways On

Since joining the library downtown, i've had to undertake a weekly visit - largely to return DVDs that i have loaned (this week - 'Twelve Angry Men" - an excellent film if you haven't seen it). As a result of this, i've often decided to take slight different routes to get back home through some of the other neighbourhoods - mainly to have a look at some of the architecture on display. Now Charleston has some interesting old houses to look at - with a lot made out of wood rather than the brick that i'm used to seeing at home (is that really the best idea in a hurricane zone? Answers on a postcard...). Anyway, on my many trips round the city, i noticed a common feature - and a rather unusual one at that. Many of the front doors of houses here (or at least, what i would call the front door - let's say the main door) are placed at one end of the back terrace/porch - so that you enter right through from the street on to there rather than into the house itself.

Beyond this, the houses themselves are pretty stunning. As with a lot of houses over here, there is a tendency to build out of wood rather than brick - but this doesn't detract from the elegance. Another common feature of houses here is a back terrace or porch - what in the UK would be called a patio (except there is would be made out of concrete slabs), a deck or a veranda. I can fully understand the necessity for this. Given how swelteringly hot the summers get here, existence before the time of air conditioning must have demanded an outside room essentially. And herein lies the origin of the sideways on door. Imagine if you had your lounge outside on the deck and any old Tom, Dick or Harry walking past could peer in and see what was going on. The solution - add a door, raise the house up a bit (such terraces are often a few feet above the ground in the more extravagant houses) and hey presto - a bit more privacy for all.