# Question about Spanish Colonial architecture. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932 "2018-03-21T01:08:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/1 "2018-03-21T01:08:03Z")
This is the lovely 17th century manor in which my wife and I were fortunate to stay during our recent travel to Cartagena, Columbia. [Link](https://www.dropbox.com/s/2f1v3sl0mb9wmom/Screen%20Shot%202018-03-20%20at%205.34.52%20PM.png?dl=0) My question concerns the purpose for the three doors (why so many?) on the front of the building. The building is fairly narrow and the central door (the only door presently in use) opens into a foyer occupying approximately 1/2 the width of the bottom floor. The side doors open into a kitchen (right side) and a long narrow room (left, storage???). Anyway, the place has a very open floor plan (and the building is fairly narrow), making it a cinch to access either side room through the center door. After careful consideration, here are my possible rationales for the closely set doors. [ul] [li]The doorframes serve a structural purpose.[/li][li]People of different station went through their desingated door[/li][li]They fancied the way door-ish houses look (and not to be boorish but they may have been Moorish)[/li][li]The interior of the house was less open and more segregated in times of yore[/li][/ul] That’s all I got. Please edifice-i-fy me:D ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/2 "2018-03-21T01:09:04Z")
:smack::smack::smack::smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/3 "2018-03-21T03:08:54Z")
Cross-ventilation? ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/4 "2018-03-21T03:13:15Z")
Moved from ATMB to GQ. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/5 "2018-03-21T03:29:34Z")
Good being brought into the long narrow room (likely a store) or the kitchen didn’t have to pass through the entrance hall, which would have been a more formal space. You may also find that the doors from the street are larger than the connecting doors between the entrance hall and the two rooms concerned. There could also be a combined functional/aesthetic thing going on here. For practical reasons it may have been desirable that one of the rooms should have a separate entrance, and the other was also given a separate intrance to preserve symmetry and proportionality. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/6 "2018-03-21T04:07:58Z")
Seems rather common, sensible design to me. Every house I’ve lived in has had a separate door leading into the kitchen. Very handy, when you are bringing in groceries or other supplies, or taking out food/kitchen waste. (Generally, most of the trash in the house comes from the kitchen.) In cities, with alleys, this was often a back door to the house. And most of those houses also had a door that led to a storage area. Usually a side door. Also useful as a quick path from the laundry room to the clotheslines. In American design, those supplemental doors are often back doors and side doors. In the OP’s city & architecture, they seem to be all in front, opening onto the street. But it makes sense that they are separate doors, to serve separate purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Lightlystarched](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Lightlystarched](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightlystarched)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/7 "2018-03-21T04:33:42Z")
Before air conditioning, to open the whole house to catch a breeze. ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-spanish-colonial-architecture/810932/8 "2018-03-21T19:19:18Z")
It was hot as all get out there.