#regionalarchitecture

#regionalarchitecture

A Lovely Example of Charleston's Unique ArchitectureThis historic old house at 71 Pitt Street in Charleston, South Carolina, can be yours for just $3.5 million. If you don't have that kind of change in your pocket, just click to the right in the gallery above to see what's inside, or go to the home's real estate listing for even more pictures. But what really struck me about this design is the "front door" that leads to... the porch. What's up with that? Oh yeah, this must be one of those sideways houses you hear about, where the front of the house doesn't face the street. The story goes that at the time of building, houses were taxed on the footage facing the street, so people built them sideways in order to lower the tax bill. But that's just a myth. This is a Charleston single house, that was indeed built sideways when the city was young. It has a unique architecture, including the porch called a piazza. These were sometime two- or three-stories tall. The "front door" at the end of the piazza faces the street, and appears to have been designed for privacy (not tax avoidance). These tall sideways houses made the most of small plots in a growing city. You can see more examples at the above link.You can read more about the history of theRichard Holloway House here. #realestate #Charleston #architectur #regionalarchitecture #Charlestonsinglehouse

The Mother-in-Law Doors of NewfoundlandA strange architectural feature that gets noticed a lot in the Canadian province of Newfoundland is an exterior door placed rather high above the terrain, yet has no stairs leading to it. Once you've seen one of them, you can't help but notice example after example around Newfoundland. There is even an Instagram account dedicated to documenting such doors. Why would anyone install a door that would be so difficult to access and dangerous to exit? Ask any local resident, and they will tell you that's the door you show unwanted guests, hence the name "mother-in-law door." Either they won't come in, or if they are leaving, they won't come back.