I think there might be some confusion in this thread about Victorian houses and Craftsman houses. While the Craftsman movement started during the tail end of the Victorian era, most of the Craftsman houses date from the from the mid-1910’s through the early-1930’s. Unlike most surviving Victorian houses which were upper class dwellings, the Craftsman houses were more middle class (albeit often upper middle class).
So with that in mind, the middle class post-Victorian people who were the Craftsman houses’ original occupants weren’t usually pissing in the yard, giving birth at home, having servants, or sneaking off to the saloon/brothel. Or at least it wasn’t condoned to a degree that one would build an architectural feature around it, although I wouldn’t put it past the Victorians a generation earlier. The generation of people who lived in the Craftsman houses were sort of the prototype for the post-war middle class and wouldn’t have seemed so different in habits and sensibilities. That’s part of why the houses have stood up so well to modern architectural tastes, both practical and aesthetic.
I won’t quibble with what you’re saying…so what do you think is the purpose of the Gentleman’s Door?
This house does have servant’s quarters, or if you prefer, a " maid’s room" at the back for live-in help. This IS the South, and a family in this neighborhood in the 1930’s would have had a live-in “girl.”
I think functionally, its easier to get to and from the car to go through this door as opposed to using the other ones. I think it might be there just for convenience (laziness), and not for any other contrived reason.
The Eppes family in the TV show Numb3rs lived in a Craftsman house, a fact they frequently mentioned. In the episode, “Two Daughters”, the father, Alan, asked his son Charlie (who’d bought the house from him) to add what sounds exactly like a “Gentleman’s Door”, although he didn’t use that term. This door was never mentioned again.
Since earlier in the episode Alan had been considering moving out, I figured that he wanted it for additional privacy.
Another buzz-kill: I think it serves the same function as a sliding glass door or a plantation door in a bedroom does. Provides egress to the outside. The only part “strange” to me is that it leads to a side yard/driveway, rather than to a backyard or deck.
I’ve always thought it was called that because the gentleman was more likely to come home dirty, and need to clean up before dinner or greeting any guests. The polite fiction being that he’d been out hunting or somesuch, but the truth being that even many middle-class jobs in those days were quite dirty.
This allowed him to strip near the door and get to the bathroom without making a mess in the front parlor.
Functionally though, they are generally used to let the dog out first thing in the morning.
Given the age of the house, is it possible the door used to open to a different setting? Did a driveway or garage get built that changed the use of the plot?
I don’t know if it was designed for this, but this door would allow the wife to quickly slip her paramour out the “Gentleman’s” door if her husband came home unexpectedly.
Or the husband to do the same with his mistress.
This reminds me of a line from Master and Commander–the Captain (can’t remember his name-- played by Russell Crowe) and his first officer are enjoying drinks, and the Captain offers a toast, “To our wives and sweethearts-- may they never meet!”
My house was built in 1930. Sort of a Queen Anne/Craftsman mix. Very nice. 2 story, which is different but we do have winter in Ohio, which might explain this. Master bedroom and enormous bathroom upstairs (with salon/baby room!). Lots of built-ins and a fireplace, no huge porch. The realty listing was “bungalo”.
