Square One: Good Home Design Starts Here

Design snapshot: Classic carriage-house doors

comments (3) March 1st, 2012 in Blogs

Katie Hutchison, Contributor

Photo: Katie Hutchison

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Perhaps these old doors once provided access to horse-drawn carriages. Nowadays, they're inactive. Time has taken a toll. A row of raised panels has been replaced with flat-panel substitutes. The astragal trim, which would have covered the vertical intersection between the joining door leaves, is missing. The hinges appear unhinged. Nonetheless, they're handsome doors.

Natural light enters the narrow, glass panes that are in careful proportion with the wood panels. View of the interior is purposefully limited since this would originally have been a storage space. The hefty, field stone, exterior wall with deeply raked joints and arched top greatly contributes to the appeal. The warm toned stone nearly complements the forest green doors, in much the same way that cedar shingles would often offset dark-green trim when the Shingle style had its heyday.

There's plenty here to inspire the design of oversized doors, today -- for a garage, carriage house, or creative outbuilding. Attention to detail never goes out of favor. For more on oversized doors, read "Designing doors for large openings" the Fine Homebuilding Drawing Board column I wrote for issue #198 October/November 2008.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast and SquareOne

Read more design snapshots by architect Katie Hutchison.

posted in: Blogs, architecture, Design, Design snapshot, oversized doors

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Comments (3)

Zbranek_Holt_Custom_Homes writes: These doors are very wonderful finds indeed. They provide a certain charm when included in a home. Being in a custom homes Austin industry, reclaiming old or antique parts of buildings is a good choice.
Posted: 9:56 pm on March 7th

KHS writes: TheTimberTailor, I haven't been back to check on those doors lately, but let's hope that the flat panels were just a temporary fix.
Posted: 11:58 am on March 3rd

TheTimberTailor writes: "A row of raised panels has been replaced with flat-panel substitutes"... SO sad! Sad for the circumstances that lead to the decision that must have been made "Awh, just slap some plywood in them holes, it doesn't matter". Sad like touching up a damaged Mona Lisa with sharpie markers.

Idealism aside, it's great to see such classic design and millwork survive in any condition at all, showcased for all to appreciate.
Posted: 3:12 pm on March 2nd

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