By recessing the doorway a 
small hall was provided. See 
scheme D opposite 
T HE busy Ameri¬ 
can has rather 
a tendency to the 
"pose” of being proud 
of his over-occupation 
by business, at least to 
the exclusion of the 
■development of his 
merely esthetic sensi¬ 
bilities. And that, too, 
despite the fact that he 
thereby often commits 
.some of those very 
mistakes of taste he 
would scornfully re¬ 
gard in others as evi¬ 
dencing the taint of 
the nouveau-riche, while in many instances he appears even more 
short-sightedly to disregard modern appearances of mere busi¬ 
ness efficiency and success. It is probably this very defect that 
has caused him so long to ignore, for instance, the ugly approach 
to his cities from the railroad station — itself generally located in 
some gloomy and tumble-down business section, and at which 
•one arrives only after passing miles of suburban back-yards, 
dilapidated box-cars, rear tenement porches and grimy factory 
windows. It is perhaps his constant familiarity with this daily 
•experience that has somewhat blunted his susceptibilities in the 
A simple porch adding char¬ 
acter to an otherwise con¬ 
ventional Colonial type 
past, even as to the 
benefits of seemly 
sightliness when ap¬ 
proaching the entrance 
to his own home. It 
is now, however, as 
undoubtedly true that 
we are gradually de¬ 
veloping a feeling of 
responsibility and pride 
in regard to our own 
grounds, and those of 
our immediately ad¬ 
joining neighbors; just 
as we are also grad- 
u a 11 y developing a 
sense of civic responsibility which has already begun to better 
the modern "city gates” through which we now approach our 
more advanced business centers. 
This front yard, the approach to the house, the entrance porch 
and steps, all perform their essential part toward that very im¬ 
portant "first impression” we desire to be, at least, fairly favor¬ 
able! It is true that this "first impression" survives from expe¬ 
riences extending further into the house. The front vestibule, 
the staircase, the hall, and such of the rooms as open from the 
hall, are equally as important as the doorway itself in continu- 
An entrance set inside a bay loggia with brick step and path giving approach. Here the lawns were 
also raised to conceal the height of the first floor above grade at the front 
Doorways and Their Approach 
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTIMATE ENTRANCES—HALL 
ARRANGEMENTS—THE DOORWAY THAT IS ADDED ON 
Frank Chouteau Brown 
Illustrations by the Author 
A service entrance saved from banality by a hood, an 
extension of the roof 
An effective treatment for a suburban brick house—a 
hung front doorway hood 
The side door can also be made distinctive if hooded 
in some such manner as this 
22 
