Timber Frame Entryways & Foyers

A timber framed Front Entry, Porch and Garage in Blowing Rock, NC. Design by Bradley G. Dowdy, AIA Architect Inc.

Wood adds welcoming warmth to this contemporary home by Carlton-Edwards, Asheville

One of our favorite entryways–you cross a covered bridge to reach the front door. Look closely, and you’ll notice that the rafters and rafter tails are curved

A great deal of love went into this owner-designed and built timber frame on Lake James NC.

A hybrid timber frame home in Linville Ridge Golf & Country Club built by Mike Smith Builders

Douglas Fir King Post trusses with curved lower chords frame an inviting entry to this Blowing Rock, NC home

Rough sawn Western Red Cedar brackets support the sheltered entry to a home in Charlotte, NC

Sometimes less is more–as in the single timber frame bracket shown here at the entry to Stan & Nancy’s mountain home

Bill & Gena’s lake house overlooks the South Holston Lake and across to the Cherokee National Forest–where the Appalachian Trail crosses the ridge visible in the distance.

Stone steps, poplar bark siding, and a single timber framed bracket and 6×6 post at the entry to a timber framer’s home.

A timber frame Porte Cochere we built for a home in Elk River Club. For scale, the main Western Red Cedar timber horizontal plates are 40′ long!

We love putting old barn beams back to work for another 100 years–in this case supporting the roof overhang at the front door to a working barn that was converted to a party barn

Although decorative (non-structural), the curved elements of this timber frame entry timber truss tend to soften the lines of the King Post truss with braces that is actually doing the work

The White Oak timber used for the timber frame entry and gable truss will crack (check) as it dries in the hot Virginia sun over the coming years. We think of this as like wrinkles in a cotton shirt–It proves the timber is real.

A commercial timber framed Porte Cochere at Boone Dermatology’s new clinic in Boone, North Carolina. Porte-cochère is french and translated means ‘coach gateway’. A working definition we like is ‘a covered entrance large enough for vehicles to pass through and pick up and drop off dignitaries…’

One design problem a timber frame entry solves is that it guides visitors to the main entrance of a home–as soon as they approach the house. It makes finding the front door automatic.

‘…houses with a graceful transition between the street and the inside, are more tranquil.’ – Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

Timber Framed Side Entry to a medical facility designed by architect David Patrick Moses.