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Timber Porte Cochère

How to make a grand entrance and enjoy unloading groceries in the rain

Post and Beam Porte Cochere

“The front desk had already made a great fuss of Johnny and Mary, lining up to greet him at the famous porte-cochère as soon as his splendid old Rolls-Royce had arrived…”

Stephen Fry

More Fool Me, 2014

We always enjoy driving into a porte cochère: there’s a certain sense of making a grand entrance, of feeling important, tinged with our nostalgia for more elegant times.

Wood Porte Cochere
If you haven’t stayed at Primland, you’re in for a treat.

So what is a porte cochère? The literal translation from French is “Door Coachman”, and is sometimes (erroneously) defined as “carriage porch” or “Carport”. We define it as “a sheltering roof without walls over a driveway next to the entrance of a residence or business.” And in case you were wondering, here’s the correct pronunciation: /ˌpôrt kōˈSHer/.

Although we readily admit our bias for heavy timber porte cochères, examples of beautiful steel porte cochères do exist. To wit, Marylebone Station in London:

Marylebone station porte cohere

In addition to providing embarking and disembarking vehicle passengers with a glimpse into the ageless past, adding a heavy timber porte cochère to a home or business brings another benefit: it shields guests and customers from the weather.

Wood Porte Cochere for a business
A welcoming timber frame porte cochère at Boone Dermatology designed by David Patrick Moses Architect, PLLC
Talk with our team. We’re nice!

Build a timber frame porte cochère at your residence, and you’ll appreciate it every time you unload groceries in the rain or snow.

Timber Porte Cochere
This timber framed porte cochère is even bigger than it looks. For a sense of scale, the two horizontal timber plates are 12″ wide x 24″ deep beams 46′ long! Design by Bradley G. Dowdy, AIA Architect.

Stay tuned: my wife wants to add a timber frame (what else) porte cochère to our home and she’s designing a contemporary shed type roof version with large overhangs.)

Want to make your own grand entrance?

Call us at 828.266.9663 (we’re nice!) or email below:

Architect Contact

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