Porches rediscovered in Butte Hill residences

By Nicole von Gaza - 10/12/2008

Photo courtesy of Nicole von Gaza This Uptown Butte porch comes with a "very large house attached."

Editor's note: The following is one of a series of columns from the Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization.

When my husband and I found the porch we had been searching for, we discovered there was a very large house attached. We spent our first evening as the new owners on the porch, in camp chairs, watching the "M" and the Anselmo Mine headframe light up.

The porch is something we think of as uniquely American, yet it existed for centuries in other cultures. As these cultures made their way to America, they brought with them their own architectural styles. Eventually they morphed into what we consider "American" styles.

A porch is, in essence, an outdoor living area, framed and roofed and attached to the house, but incompletely walled.

Porches existed in our architecture prior to the 1840s-'50s. Southern areas had architectural influences from West Africa, a warm climate, and porches were a common element. The more northern areas had their architectural influences from Europe, where porches were not so prominent.

But by the mid-1800s, the "leisure class" had been created and an entire sector of the population was looking for new ways to spend their time and money. What better way than to lounge on a porch?

Buildings materials were readily available as well as inexpensive. All over the country porches were being attached to every type of house.

In Uptown Butte, the popularity of the porch is evident. There is hardly a structure without one. However, I doubt that people spent too much time on their porches during the mining heyday.

But in the days before air-conditioning, cars or television, people spent a majority of their evenings on the porch. They caught up on each other's day, chatted with the neighbors, enjoyed a cool breeze. Furniture was designed specifically for the porch as well, like porch swings and wicker sets. One could create an outside living room.

Alas, this moment in time gave way to new advances such as the car, television and telephone.

The living room became the new family gathering place, the porch abandoned. I don't know when the porch was "rediscovered," or if other people bought homes based on the porch, but in Uptown Butte, in the summer, porch life is bustling. People talk and laugh, dogs bark, kids play, the sun goes down, the lights go on.

Life is good.

Nicole von Gaza is the public relations coordinator for Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization. For details about CPR, visit http://www.buttecpr.org or stop by their office, 405 W. Park St., Suite 200, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday.