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Front porches on homes


60 Warm and Welcoming Front Porch Ideas

The Spruce / Christopher Lee Foto 

Your front porch is your home's best chance to make a good first impression. No matter how big or small it might be, whether it is showy or unassuming, and regardless of the style of architecture, your front porch deserves as much attention to design and decor as your interior space.

A front porch can function as nothing more than a pass-through space or double as a second outdoor living room. It can create a convenient landing space for comings and goings, or simply sit there looking pretty, inviting passersby to wonder what else you have going on inside.

Whether you are looking to enhance your home's curb appeal, create a welcoming portal for both you and your guests, or make life a little more pleasant for all of those hard-working delivery people who visit your doorstep every day, check out these front porches in a range of layouts and sizes that don't skimp on style for some clever ideas on how to beautify your own outdoor space.

50 Front Porch Ideas to Elevate Your Home’s Curb Appeal

For a house that needs a refresh, implementing front porch ideas is a smart way to add curb appeal without spending like crazy. Still, designing a front porch is not a task to take lightly. If home is where the heart is, then the front porch is where the soul resides. Each front porch is not only unique to your house, but it’s unique to your style. “This is a place where you can express yourself and your creativity,” says Jennifer Hunter, owner of Jennifer Hunter Design in New York. “No matter the type, a porch provides the ideal opportunity to add seating and decor so you can play with the aesthetic and blend it in a way that connects your interior with the outdoors by using weather-friendly materials.” Before you dive into designing, consider the type of porch you have. Is it front entry or wrap around? Does it offer space for ample seating? Should you add greenery or a sculptural element, or even a new doormat?

What are the different types of front porches? 

Some of the most popular styles of front porches include open porches and bungalow porches. Open porches, also known as farmer’s porches, have strong support from the ground and can run along the front or wrap around the sides of the house. This type of porch can be elevated or rest close to the ground. “They often have a broad opening to the attached green space and usually don’t have roofs,” says Linda Mauck Smith, co-owner and designer of BLDC Design in Shaker Heights, Ohio. “A bungalow porch acts as an extension to the front of a house and typically is built with columns and are finished with a roof or a pergola.” Both open and bungalow porches can also be screened, to make the area bug-free. A portico, a porch that covers a front entry, is usually on the smaller side. It’s also roofed to protect anyone entering or leaving the main entry. A gable roof porch, which has a triangular structure overhanging it, and a front entry porch, which is a small slab of concrete directly outside the front door, are two other popular front porch designs.

How do you style a front patio? 

Style a front porch just as you would any other room in the house, but consider the materials used—much like you would when designing an outdoor patio. ”It’s best to style with wood, metals, and fabrics that are waterproof and fade-resistant,” Mauck Smith says.

If your front porch or patio has enough room, seating is essential. “A front porch is the perfect place for socializing,” Hunter says. “It is a space that is meant to be savored. Create a seating area with chairs and side tables.” A comfortable seating area will not only allow you to spend time on your front porch, but it makes the home appear more inviting overall.

How can I make my front porch look good?

“Avoid clichéd signage and stick with [items] that you might normally be more likely to use indoors,” Hunter says. To make the front porch look good, and perhaps the envy of the neighborhood, make the space a continuation of your interior design. “It’s a great space to have some fun and add outdoor-friendly accessories,” Hunter continues. “Be inventive with your styling by grouping a collection of potted plants on a coffee table or a single fern on a garden stool.   Lanterns or hurricanes are a great way to not only bring in decorative elements but also candlelight. This completely transforms the mood and allows you to entertain past daylight.”

Ahead, 50 front porch ideas—big and small—to transform the home entrance into anything from a favorite new book nook to a happy hour hotspot. Here, everything you ever wanted to know about front porch design.

20 most beautiful entrances of the city, where you can get free of charge and admire the pre-revolutionary style

Sergei Dragun

lives in St. Petersburg

Author's profile

Entrances in St. Petersburg are called entrances.

Once the entrances to the house were divided into the front exit to the street and back stairs for servants and household needs. Over time, any entrance in St. Petersburg began to be called the front door.

I walked around 30 entrances in St. Petersburg and chose the 20 most interesting ones. I will warn you right away that this is an incomplete list: there are much more front rooms with preserved historical interiors in the city. You can search for them by the #100front hashtag on Instagram.

Some entrances from the list are free to enter, while others can be entered with residents. Many doors have tight closers that do not close well and leave a gap in the opening.

Website "Front Petersburg"

In some front apartments, apartments may be numbered out of order, for example, 6, 11, 32, 64. A house may have two addresses - 2nd Sovetskaya Street, 10B and 3rd Sovetskaya Street, 9. I can imagine how hard it is to work as a postman in the center of St. Petersburg.

I'll tell you where to see the beautiful pre-revolutionary front doors in St. Petersburg. For convenience, I collected them on one map:

Kanshin's mansion

Address: Kuznechny pereulok, 6, the nearest metro station is "Vladimirskaya"
How to get there: admission is free, there is no intercom, because there is a jazz school, a photo studio and other organizations in the front door

7 Style: eclectic
Built: 1870

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Gustav Bartsch for the farmer Vasily Kanshin, as the tax collectors were called at that time. Kanshin gave the house to his daughter. After the revolution, communal apartments were arranged in the building.

Highlights: rich stucco decoration with caryatids and cupids. The building has an original facade and interior decor, which is well preserved.

The decoration of the front door looks more like a palace than an apartment building. True, the interior is spoiled by a modern plastic door that does not fit into the historical finish. The stair railings do not match with the interior: they are made in modern style and have obviously been removed from another house.

An interesting fact. Aleksey Balabanov filmed the film "Happy Days" in this building.

Bernshtein Profitable House

Address: 2nd Sovetskaya Street, 10B / 3rd Sovetskaya Street, 9, the nearest metro station is Ploshad Vosstaniya
How to get there: entrance is free, the front door is not locked : modern
Built: 1905

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Alexander Khrenov. The building is located on a cross-cutting site, which at the beginning of the last century was owned by the director of the Stroitel joint-stock company Grigory Bernshtein.

Points to look out for: for small details that were used on the ground floor, such as white lilies and water lilies. The second and other floors are decorated more simply. Between them there are niches with benches - you can sit and relax.

Thanks to the use of ceramics, the entrance hall has been perfectly preserved. German tiles in decoration are typical, consumer goods of that time.

An interesting fact. Local historian and guide Fyodor Gribkov spoke in detail about the interiors of this house in his book “20 ​​Unique Front Doors of St. Petersburg. The era of modernity.

Weiner apartment building

Address: Chaikovskogo street, 38, the nearest metro station is Chernyshevskaya
How to get there: there is no free access to the front door, you can only count on luck
Style:
2 eclecticism : 1892

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Boris Girshovich for the Weiner family. Weiner Jr., publisher and art critic, lived here for 30 years. In Soviet times, the building had communal apartments and a kindergarten.

What to look for: wall and ceiling finishes. Entrance doors are original, like the doors of apartments, now it is a rarity. There are inscriptions from the 50s of the 20th century on the windowsill.

An interesting fact. This front door is one of the most beautiful and hard-to-reach in St. Petersburg. I was able to get inside only because the front door lock was frozen.

Profitable house Abaza

Address: Chaikovskogo street, 26, nearest metro station Chernyshevskaya
How to get there: entrance is free, the front door is not closed
Style: neo-renaissance
Year built: 1873

A bit of history. Architect Vladimir Serkov built a house for a military historian, Major General Viktor Abaza. In the 1880s, Abaza wrote The History of Russia for the People. On the facade of the building there is the monogram of the owner - the head of an elk, crowned with a small female bust.

What to look for: for decoration - front door in very good condition. The walls are decorated with floral ornaments and figurines of playing boys - putti. The wrought iron railings of the stairs attract attention.

An interesting fact. Previously, the street where the house is located was called Sergievskaya. It was renamed in 1923 in memory of the composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky lived in the 41st house on this street in 1852-1853 and studied at the Imperial School of Law, which was located on the corner of Fontanka and Sergievskaya.

Dobrodeeva Profitable House

Address: Kovensky lane, 14, the nearest metro stations are Chernyshevskaya and Vosstaniya Square
How to get there: there is no free access, but you can go with a tenant or a hotel guest
Style: eclectic
Built: 1904

A bit of history. Architect Boris Kishkin built an apartment building for honorary citizen Sergei Dobrodeev. He lived here with his family. At the beginning of the 20th century, Dobrodeev was the director of the Oil Business partnership and the founder of the printing school of the Imperial Technical Society.

What to look for: on wall and ceiling moldings and on the second entrance doors. The stucco molding consists of brackets, that is, ledges in the wall, which are decorated with flowers.

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The second entrance doors seem rough at first glance, but if you look at them, you can see fine woodwork. In general, the front door is in good condition, it was not spoiled by painting, as it happens. Only the light bulb at the entrance is knocked out of the general style - another lamp would be appropriate here.

An interesting fact. K-14 yard space operates on Kovnosky Lane, where film screenings, lectures and exhibitions are held.

House on Radishcheva street

Address: Radishcheva street, 24, Baskov lane, 37/39A, the nearest metro stations are Chernyshevskaya and Vosstaniya Square
How to get there: there is no free access to the front door
: eclectic
Built: unknown

Things to look out for: for stucco on the walls and oven. The front door is of a bright burgundy color - I have not come across this anywhere else. The interior is well preserved. The only depressing thing is the condition of the stove, on which the employees of the housing and communal services glue ads.

Profitable house Kryuchkov

Address: Lomonosov street, 18, the nearest metro stations are Vladimirskaya, Dostoevskaya
How to get there: there is no free access, but there is a kindergarten on the second floor, so people often enter and go out
Style: eclectic
Built: 1894

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Alexander Khrenov. In 1905, the organization "The First All-Russian Union of Teachers and Figures for Public Education" was located here. In the Soviet years, a sewing and fur factory worked in the building.

What to look for: on the stucco under the ceiling - it is well preserved, like the original wooden doors. There is also a white stove and a green fireplace in the front door. The overall impression is spoiled by shabby walls: they were painted by vandals. The property is in need of renovation for a long time.

Profitable house Eliseev

Address: Lomonosov street, 14, the nearest metro stations are Vladimirskaya, Dostoevskaya
How to get there: entrance costs 130 R, you need to call the concierge and pay him
lektika
Built: 1892

A bit of history. Architect Gavriil Baranovsky built a house for Grigory Eliseev, the merchant's middle son. In the 1960s, there was an atelier here, and now, in addition to residential apartments, there is a hotel.

What to look for. People call this front door chamomile because of the combination of the yellow color of the walls and the white color of the dome rosette. It looks very cozy: the residents decorated the window sills with flowers and pulled armchairs and mirrors onto the landings.

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The most interesting thing in the main entrance is the spiral staircase located around the elevator shaft, it ends with a dome. The doors to the apartments are in good condition, but for some reason they are all different.

An interesting fact. The first steam elevator in St. Petersburg was installed in the entrance hall. It did not survive, but the mine remained.

Profitable building on Rubinshteina

Address: Rubinshteina street, 20, the nearest metro stations are "Vladimirskaya", "Dostoevskaya"
How to get there: admission is free, because there is a restaurant on the second floor defined
Built: 1901

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Sergei Barankeev. In 1965, the playwright Alexander Volodin lived in it. The most famous films based on his scripts are Five Evenings and Autumn Marathon. Every year, the theater festival "Five Evenings" is held in St. Petersburg in memory of Volodin.

What to look for: in the front hall, it is in good condition. To the right is a tiled fireplace with a lion mask and two columns on the sides. There are stained-glass windows on the windows.

An interesting fact. On the second floor there is an Asian restaurant DUO Asia, which has won awards as the best in the city for several years in a row. Here you can order the Japanese dessert mochi, dim sum, tempura crab and sashimi. The average check is 800-1500 R.

Mecklenburg-Strelitzkoy Profitable House

Address: Rubinshteina Street, 5, the nearest metro station is Mayakovskaya
How to get there: entrance is free, the door is not locked eclectic
Built: 1897

A bit of history. The house was in the possession of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty - an institution that disposed of the personal property of the Russian imperial family. The next owner was the German Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1903, furnished rooms "Noble Nest" were located here, and in Soviet times, repairs of household appliances and bayans with accordions were located here.

What to look for: on the ceiling and moldings with a military theme. The front door is cramped and narrow - this is rather unusual. 9Ol000 A bit of history. The building was designed by the architect Alexander Khrenov for the provincial secretary Pavel Palkin, the son of the owner of the Palkin restaurant on Nevsky Prospekt. The house alternately housed offices, workshops, a glove shop, a beer shop, a hairdresser's, and other establishments. At 1925-1928 the publishing house "Vremya" was located here.

About the history of the house on the website of the Center for St. Petersburg Studies

What to look for: stucco molding, Art Nouveau front door and doors to apartments finished with leatherette. Now it looks strange, but in Soviet times it was fashionable.

An interesting fact. The writer Vyacheslav Shishkov, who at that time was working on the novel "Gloomy River", lived in apartment 7.

Profitable house of the insurance company "Russia"

Address: Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 35, the nearest metro station - Admiralteyskaya
How to get: Entrance free, inside Rosfota Museum
Style: Art Nouveau
Building: 1907

A bit of history. Architects Alexander Gimpel and Vasily Ilyashev built a house for the Rossiya insurance company. It occupied the second and third floors, apartments were on the fourth and fifth, and shops were on the first. Sketches for the design of the house were drawn by the artist Nicholas Roerich. For example, the campaigns of the Russian army are depicted on the building.

In Soviet times, Lendrevbumtrest, Snabkontora and other institutions were located here.

What to look for: for bas-reliefs that symbolize the seasons. For example, winter is deer and northern lights.

There are original stained-glass windows in the entrance hall, each window also has its own configuration - no two are alike. At the entrance there is a stove lined with black tiles. Other stoves can be seen in the premises of the Rosphoto Museum.

An interesting fact. The house houses the museum-apartment of Galina Starovoitova and Rosfoto. On Thursdays at 19:00, tours of the house are held. The price is 300 R, the schedule can be found on the official website.

House of the Salamander Insurance Company

Address: Gorokhovaya Street 6, the nearest metro station - Admiralteyskaya
How to get: Free
Style: Neoclassicism
Building: 1911

A bit of history. At the end of 19centuries there was a profitable house. Architect Nikolai Verevkin rebuilt the building for the Salamander insurance company and added two floors. In Soviet times, the house belonged to the Petrograd Extraordinary Commission - PChK, then - to the OGPU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the 60s and 70s, there was a maternity hospital here, and now there is a private cosmetology and polyclinic No. 37.

What to look for: to the staircase with cupid lamps, entrance doors with a large vestibule, original chandelier and ceiling.

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An interesting fact. In the Soviet years, the house housed the higher school of the MGB - the Ministry of State Security, where Heydar Aliyev, the future president of Azerbaijan, studied in 1949-1950.

Profitable house Dernov

Address: Tavricheskaya street, 35, the nearest metro station is Chernyshevskaya
concierge
Style: eclectic
Built: 1905

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Mikhail Kondratyev for the merchant Ivan Dernov. According to legend, in the year the building was commissioned, the owner died of grief: his beautiful wife left for another.

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From 1905 to 1913, the symbolist poet Vyacheslav Ivanov lived here. His guests were Blok, Bryusov, Meyerhold, Akhmatova, Gorky and other figures of the Silver Age. The tower of the building is named after Vyacheslav Ivanov.

What to look for. The noses of the figures on the panel are broken off and some details are missing. The front door is in good condition, but the batteries spoil the view. It is strange that they were not painted in the color of the walls.

An interesting fact. Alexander Blok was reading The Stranger on the roof of the house tower.

Profitable house on Tchaikovsky

Address: Tchaikovsky street, 36, the nearest metro station - "Chernyshevskaya"
How to get there: there is no free access, but you can enter with the tenant
Style: eclectic
Year of construction: the house was rebuilt twice - in 1873 and in 1907

Little is known about the history of building : they say that the house was rebuilt by the architect Vladimir Heine.

What to look for: for caryatids and cupids. Unfortunately, after the repair, the front door was painted in eye-catching green. For some reason, cupids were covered with the same paint, which should be white. The front door could have looked much better if not for such a heartless attitude towards repairs.

An interesting fact. The twin brothers Rzhevsky lived in the house and collected art objects. In 1998 they donated their collection to the Russian Museum. It included paintings and drawings by Aivazovsky, Benois, Kustodiev, Petrov-Vodkin and other artists, as well as furniture, clocks and porcelain.

Fadeev’s Mansion — Serebryakova’s apartment building

Address: Chaikovskogo street, 24, the nearest metro station is Chernyshevskaya
How to get there: entrance is free, the door is not locked
Style: neo-baroque
Built: 1860, 1900

A bit of history. Architect Boris Girshovich rebuilt the house by order of Olga Serebryakova, the wife of a Colonel of the Cavalry Guards Regiment. Aristocrats lived here: Count Loris-Melikov, Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky and others.

In the 1910s, the building housed the Swedish Embassy. In the same period, the artist Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky lived here. Sometimes he arranged exhibitions in his apartment.

After the revolution, there was the Trudprom No. 1 plant and the cottage workshop of the white goods factory No. 1 of Lengoragroprom. Now the Civil Defense School of the Central District is located on the second floor.

What to look for. This is the only building on the list whose entrance is located not in the center of the front door, but on the left. The entrance group is well preserved. To the right in front of the stairs there is a modest fireplace. On the first floor on the right is a bright door. It is surprising that in Soviet times it was not repainted brown, as was usually done.

An interesting fact. There used to be another house in the place of this house. The daughter of the doctor Sergei Botkin, an amateur artist Maria, lived in it. Wanderers gathered in her apartment.

Commercial house of merchant Cherepennikov

Address: Furshtatskaya street, 2-4, or 2/12 on Yandex-maps, the nearest metro station is Chernyshevskaya
How to get there: there is no free access, you can go together with tenant
Style: eclectic
Built: 1902

A bit of history. The house was built by architects Petr Gilev and Nikolai Dmitriev by order of the merchant Cherepennikov. He sold tea, coffee and wine. His shop was located right there in the house. Now the Eurospar supermarket is located in the place of the merchant's shop.

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What to look for: on the door, chandelier and tall fireplace on the right at the entrance. The old mesh elevator shaft has been preserved. Previously, these were everywhere, but now they are few and far between: they were often replaced with modern ones.

Profitable house Baka

Address: Kirochnaya street, 24, the nearest metro station is Chernyshevskaya
How to get there: there is no free access, but people constantly come here, so it’s not difficult to get into the house
Style: modern
Built: 1905

A bit of history. Boris Girshovich designed a house for the founder and publisher of the Rech newspaper, Julian Bak. His family settled in the first apartment and occupied the entire floor. War Minister Alexander Rediger lived in 22 rooms on the second floor.

After the revolution, apartments became communal apartments. Back in Soviet times, stained-glass windows, metal decor and mirrors from the front door were removed and destroyed. Now the doors of the apartments look the worst - the paint on them has peeled off badly.

The house is known for its residents - ballet dancers Nina Timofeeva and Vasily Ostrovsky, poet Anatoly Mariengof.

What to look for: on the galleries on the second and fifth floors that connect the main building and the outbuilding. The upper gallery looks a little better than the lower one: it was painted in a calmer color. Stained-glass windows have been preserved on the windows. In one place you can see an artifact of Soviet communal life - a sign with surnames under the bell.

An interesting fact. Residents lead a group on social networks where they talk about their house and new discoveries from its history. They planned to create their own museum dedicated to the building.

Kraevsky's apartment building

Address: Lane Ulyana Gromova, 4, the nearest metro station - “Square of uprising”
How to get: free access, but you can go to the front with tenant
Eclector
Year built: 1881

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Fomichev. In 2001, the building was recognized as an object of cultural value.

What to look for: caryatids at the entrance and stucco on the walls. Two ornaments are repeated on each floor - cupids and a vase with flowers.

House of Baroness von Taube - furnished house "Palais-Royal"

Address: Pushkinskaya street, 20, the nearest metro stations - "Mayakovskaya" and "Ploschad Vosstaniya"
How to get there: there is no free access, but it is easy to enter, all residents of this large house use one entrance
Style: eclectic
Built: 1876

A bit of history. The house was built by the architect Alexander Ivanov. Initially, it was the Palais Royal Hotel with 99 rooms. Students and petty officials could not afford to stay at this hotel, they could not afford it. But actors and writers often settled here. Chekhov, Bunin, Mayakovsky and other famous people of the early 20th century stayed at the hotel.

Now it is a huge residential building with communal apartments and a single entrance.

What to look for. The front entrance is quite unusual - the staircase is not located directly, but to the right of the entrance. It and the ceiling, which depicts female profiles, have been restored. The rest of the front door looks shabby and shabby, in addition, someone constantly smokes on the stairs and children run back and forth.

There are many bells to communal apartments on every door.

An interesting fact. Actor Mammoth Dalsky lived in the Palais Royal. Once he was drunk, refused to go to a performance and sent the then unknown young singer Fyodor Chaliapin instead.


How the entrances of buildings in Novosibirsk have changed over the past two centuries - March 2, 2022

Galdareiki, front doors, vestibules:

how the entrances of high-rise buildings have changed over the past two centuries

Most entrances in Russian high-rise buildings are portals between the street and the apartment. The maximum that can be found here is mailboxes, flowers in pots on stairwells, and if you're lucky, then elevators, garbage chutes and an enclosed room for strollers and skis. In the old apartment buildings, this picture can no longer be rewritten. But in new homes, the typical idea of ​​​​these spaces is changing radically. We decided to remember what the first entrances looked like, how their functionality changed and what awaits residents today outside the front door to their new home.

The first house with a front entrance was the stone palace of Alexander Menshikov, which was commissioned in 1714 in St. Petersburg. The main entrance was located from the side of the Neva. It was decorated with a portico of wooden columns that imitated stone, and above it they made a loggia for the orchestra - it met guests arriving along the river. It was from this moment that the fashion for front entrances (entrances) appeared in Russia, which are designed to immerse guests in luxury and comfort from the threshold.

Where did the first 9 appear0027 porches in Russia

Alexander Menshikov's Stone Palace

In the middle of the 18th century, porches began to appear in the mansions of wealthy Petersburgers and Muscovites. Outside they were decorated with porticos, statues and pilasters. Inside there are stucco rosettes and cornices on the ceiling, paintings on the walls, and if not marble, then at least metlakh tiles on the floor.

The entrance became a commonplace with the advent of tenement houses. At the end of the 18th century, representatives of the rural population began to move to cities where they needed housing.

The function of the front doors was still the same - to immerse the guests in warmth and comfort. For example, the entrances to the apartment building of Larisa Nezhinskaya are guarded by statues of the sun god Ra. Pilasters, ceiling moldings and forged balustrades along the wide staircase have survived to this day in the Chubakovs' apartment building.

Apartment house of Larisa Ivanovna Nezhinskaya

The owners of some apartment houses saved on entrances. Instead of closed warm spaces, they simply made a galdareyka - an external corridor, which was taken out of the main volume of the building. Of course, this space cannot be called an entrance. Here they dried clothes, smoked and discussed the latest news. Buildings of this kind were often seen in Moscow. But mostly they were built in cities with a warm climate, for example, in Tbilisi.

Apartment house of Nadezhda Buzolina

Novosibirsk is only 129 years old - a relatively young city. But there are a lot of profitable houses here. The thing is that Novosibirsk (before the revolution, Novo-Nikolaevsk) became a city through which immigrants from the European part of Russia moved to the east of the country - their goal was Krasnoyarsk and the Far East. And Novosibirsk was a transfer point. Few people were going to stay here, build and live, so furnished rooms were in demand. The houses were log, semi-stone and stone. There was no special luxury, as in the front doors of St. Petersburg, here.

Many tenement houses were demolished in the 1920s, but some buildings still remain. Today in Novosibirsk you can see, for example, the profitable house of Nadezhda Buzolina, where the most famous pharmacy in the city is located.

Across the country, with the advent of the Bolsheviks, most tenement houses turned into communal apartments, and mansions and individual multi-room apartments were carefully compacted. The rich decoration of the front doors was left in the past - this is a relic of the bourgeoisie. This was replaced by the most practical constructivism. One of the founders of the trend was Moses Ginzburg, who created the famous Narkomfin House in Moscow, the ideal communal house where every Soviet person should live.

What was hidden behind the doors of
constructivist houses

The Narkomfin building in Moscow

On the first floors there were household establishments and social facilities: a laundry, a kitchen factory, a kindergarten, a polyclinic, and so on. It was possible to get into them through the gallery, where it is easy to meet a neighbor and discuss the news at work.

Constructivist houses were built according to the following principles:

  • housing should be comfortable for a Soviet person, but without pretentiousness, only everything necessary;
  • comrades should not be away from the team for a long time, so all domestic issues must be resolved together - for this, canteens, laundries and other establishments were provided on the ground floor of the house;
  • The road to the factory and social facilities should take no more than 15 minutes on foot.

Entrances in such houses were ascetic. The corridor type was considered the most convenient way to organize space. At the beginning and end of the building there are portals with stairs and elevators. Usually stained glass windows were made in these parts of the house. Between them there is a fairly wide corridor, where on the one hand there is a slender row of apartment doors, and on the other - tape glazing. Near the apartment it was possible to leave a bicycle or a stroller.

Refusal of wide stairs and large platforms allowed to increase the usable area of ​​the dwelling. And the windows in the entrance gave natural light, because of which it was possible to save on general house lighting. It was possible to enter the house from one corner of the building, and exit from the other.

Beauty, spaciousness and through entrances returned to the front doors only with the advent of post-constructivism and the Stalinist Empire style. In Novosibirsk, a bright representative of the first style is a hundred-apartment house of employees of the regional executive committee. There are wide flights of stairs with curved railings, columns, a rotunda in the corner section and impressive inter-apartment corridors. Another highlight of the project - the garbage chute from the entrance was removed to the apartments - to the kitchen.

But this whole constructivist and post-constructivist ode to natural light, air and space collided with the harsh weather conditions of Siberia. Tape glazing did not take root in Novosibirsk due to large heat losses in winter, and energy-saving double-glazed windows had not yet been developed at that time. As a result, by the end of the 1930s, architects finally switched to small windows.

Hundred-apartment house of employees of the regional executive committee

At the beginning of November 1955, a decree was issued "On the elimination of excesses in design and construction." The lush Stalinist empire style was replaced by "naked" Khrushchevs. The entrances have become a buffer zone between the street and the apartment. Their area was even smaller than in constructivist houses. Instead of strip glazing and stained-glass windows, narrow horizontal windows appeared, which no longer gave much light. Elevators were also abandoned: the mine takes up a lot of space, and there was no time to solve complex engineering issues. The porches then began to be painted in typical green, since after the war there was a lot of official paint of this color.

What were the entrances of the thaw and how they met free Russia

Nevertheless, the entrance retained a number of original functions. Of course, it was not possible to leave the stroller on the landing, but under the stairs on the first floor - completely. In the same place, people equipped pantries. Mailboxes were placed between the first and second floors, and a bulletin board was placed at the entrance.

In the 1970s, more comfortable houses began to be built up in the country, for example, typical brick 12–14-story buildings. In Novosibirsk, 12-story buildings of this series were mainly erected. In these new buildings, elevators and smoke-free stairs appeared, and the apartments were distributed along two long corridors. Because of this, natural lighting on the residential floors disappeared altogether, and the staircase, connected with the apartment areas through the passage through the external balcony, became an exclusion zone where marginals often gathered.

The purely utilitarian function of the entrance has migrated to the new buildings of the 90s. It was a buffer between the yard and the apartment. Without embellishment.

In such houses, flowers began to appear on the windowsills - they were taken out by local aunts to somehow decorate the space. Cleanliness was maintained by themselves, arranging shifts. The inhabitants of which apartment today are washing the floors and dusting, it was evident from the corresponding plate on the door handle.

Doors for security reasons became deaf and iron. A long key, similar to a drill for a puncher, lay in the pocket of every inhabitant of large cities. The first floors of the entrances were not really illuminated, the light bulbs were constantly unscrewed by someone. Narrow stairs became a dangerous place - here thieves often attacked people, blocking escape routes. In this case, they were helped by dark vestibules between two rows of deaf doors. Teenagers suffering from a lack of entertainment regularly gathered in the entrances. Because of all this, the inhabitants of the new post-Soviet houses tried to quickly bypass this unpleasant space and find themselves at home, behind the iron door.

Stairs were the scourge of houses in the 1990s. One (almost obligatory) - to the front door, five or six more - to the elevator. The ramps, if any, were very steep. This made life difficult for people with limited mobility, many of them, in fact, were imprisoned in their apartments.

In the early 2000s, the “nail” keys were replaced by magnetic ones from the intercom, smoking in the entrance (and in general) became out of fashion, and little by little, common areas ceased to be so dangerous.

Progressive developers began to think again about what entrances should be in the middle of the 2000s. The rest - only after the crisis of 2014-2015 (before that, demand forgave almost any mistakes). In some houses there were rooms for the concierge, a kind of wheelchairs, tiles on the floor.

How interesting interiors returned to the entrances

As a result, after two centuries of architectural experiments, we returned to the fact that a person still needs not a buffer, but a cozy space that will say: “Leave all problems outside the threshold. Are you home. Relax". The modern entrance, in fact, is a rethinking of the two-century experience of multi-apartment housing construction.

Today interiors are made in accordance with modern trends in design, often inspired by the lobbies of fashionable European hotels. An example is the quarter in the quiet center "On the Decembrists" from Brusniki, in which public spaces are made in the style of modern classics. Neutral colors, pleasant textures of fabrics and natural materials in the decoration make the design discreet and intimate. To maintain the style and create the atmosphere of the front hall, objects of art are placed here - paintings and statues. In the hall on the first floor there is a soft lounge area where you can wait for a courier or wait for a taxi. The mailboxes are recessed into the wall and do not interfere with the passage, they look more like another decorative panel.

The floors are navigable to help you find your way around easily. This house has spacious residential halls, but strollers and bicycles are not stored here, they are left in the stroller or storerooms, which are located in the parking lot. So the space remains aesthetic and meets all fire safety requirements.

Constructivism gave them transparent and high entrance groups. Residents see what is happening inside the entrance and outside in the yard. This gives a sense of security. Entrance groups are located at ground level, which is convenient for people with limited mobility and parents with kids. Entrance to the entrance - by individual smart keys. The intercom at the entrance to the entrance is installed in a warm vestibule: guests do not need to wait for the door to open on the street. For convenience, each entrance has spacious wheelchair and bicycle rooms with access only for residents.

What solutions did modern entrances take from different architectural styles?

The Stalinist Empire gave through passages that connect the street and the courtyard. European experience - glass entrance groups. Like in the USA, the corridors are carpeted to keep it clean.

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