Nobody thought much about the front porch when most Americans had them and used them. The great American front porch was just there, open and sociable, an unassigned part of the house that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to pass the time. -Davida Rochlin, architect
By Jamie Denty
I like a porch
As family members gathered on the backyard patio of our niece one evening, talk turned to the pleasures of eating outside in such a serene setting. It wasn’t long before we were debating the differences in terminology about patio, porch, deck, veranda. They all serve the same purpose. Yet always with words, each carries its own connotation of place and time.
Technically, the differences in porch, veranda, patio and deck are the building materials, roof or no roof, and the option of being attached to a building or free standing. While we Americans can immediately visualize both the difference and purpose in each word, imagine the confusion that so many terms for similar structures cause visitors to our lands.
“Porch”, derived from the Latin “porticus” and Greek “portico”, is defined as “a covered area adjoining an entrance to a building and usually having a separate roof.” A patio - “a paved outdoor area adjoining a house.” A deck - “a roofless, floored structure, usually made of wood, typically with a railing and adjoining a house.” A veranda - “a porch along the outside of a building, sometimes partially screened in.” In Italy, this attachment to a house is called a piazza; in Hawaii, a lanai. Then, there are colonnades, stoops, and gazebos.
Aficionados of Southern literature instinctively know that verandas belong to plantation homes only. And movies have reinforced the notion that stoops beckon city folk out of their apartment complexes on warm evenings. Our niece’s covered patio attached to her home in California would be called a back porch here in the South.
To read the complete column pick up a copy of The Baxley News-Banner on newsstands now or CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
Technically, the differences in porch, veranda, patio and deck are the building materials, roof or no roof, and the option of being attached to a building or free standing. While we Americans can immediately visualize both the difference and purpose in each word, imagine the confusion that so many terms for similar structures cause visitors to our lands.
“Porch”, derived from the Latin “porticus” and Greek “portico”, is defined as “a covered area adjoining an entrance to a building and usually having a separate roof.” A patio - “a paved outdoor area adjoining a house.” A deck - “a roofless, floored structure, usually made of wood, typically with a railing and adjoining a house.” A veranda - “a porch along the outside of a building, sometimes partially screened in.” In Italy, this attachment to a house is called a piazza; in Hawaii, a lanai. Then, there are colonnades, stoops, and gazebos.
Aficionados of Southern literature instinctively know that verandas belong to plantation homes only. And movies have reinforced the notion that stoops beckon city folk out of their apartment complexes on warm evenings. Our niece’s covered patio attached to her home in California would be called a back porch here in the South.
To read the complete column pick up a copy of The Baxley News-Banner on newsstands now or CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
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