2 front doors? (hair salon, rental, houses)

[nicole evans]

Ok I just had a random question about 1950's era houses having 2 front doors...does anyone know why? I am purchasing a peir and beem house that was built in 1952 and it has 2 front doors, at first I thought it must have been converted as some point, but later realized that it is one of several in the area that have 2 doors. My doors are right next to eachother, with only about a 3 foot gap between. WHY??? I have tried to think logically about what the second front door would be for, but I have not come up with anything except its a great escape plan in case of a fire....

I should point out on door goes into the living room and one into the bedroom.

I hope someone knows the answer to my most random question!


Thanks,
Nicole

[Trainwreck20]

Dunno...might have been some sort of 'mother in law' setup, so you could leave without going through the main area of the house. Or a rental room set-up, same deal. I have to admit, though, I haven't seen that arrangement myself before, so I am guess it isn't that common....

[achtungpv]

A couple of our rent houses were like that. It was built as a duplex with one side being for the aging parents. Kinda like up north where the parents are on the ground floor and adult kids on the floor above.

When we bought one of the houses, it had been remodeled to a single house but still maintained the two front doors. I've seen a lot of these in smaller towns in Texas.

[nicole evans]

Thats what I thought may be the case with mine, but I am still not sure, the house is all original there have been no obvious signs of remodeling...hmm thanks for the info...still very strange though...not that I mind strange

[achtungpv]

I should have added that trainwreck is right also. There are houses that aren't necessarily duplexes but have a private entrance. Basically the parents' side had a living room, bedroom, maybe a bath, and a private front door. There were interior doors to connect the two sides.

One of the houses we owned was like this...and we lived in it for about 3 years. My sister and I had our own living room which was pretty cool. and the other was a true duplex that was converted to a single family house but kept the two front doors.

[desertsun41]

I been in the home construction business for more then 30 years and never heard of it. But I wonder if it is just something that was customary in those days.

Like dumb waiters or 7' high ceilings, or remember the ol slot in your medicine cabinet that was meant to discard your razor blades into? How about rope and lead weight window sashes? Or even balloon framing?

All things customary in their day but long since obselete.

[Pontificator]

Me again! Not sure about a 50's era home, but I have always been told that one front door was for the family, and the front door in the next room over was to serve a possible tenant -- this was common during the Depression.

[hellpaso]

years ago--i'm ancient--bear with me. i remember these in houses that were much older than 50's, maybe built in the 20's. in small towns, and those entrances were for the "preacher". most churches in rural areas didn't have full time preachers, so they would have one come in town on the weekends for the service. he would then be "put up" with some of the church folk, and i was told that door was so he could come and go without disturbing the family.

[nicole evans]

Ok so there are many possible reasons for the double front doors, I like the one about the preacher...this is very interesting. I love the old details of the houses from the early part of the 1900's... anyone else on here a history buff like myself. I spent all day yesterday looking at texascapes.com....wow what a great website for people wiht a passion for texas history

Thanks again everyone!

[hypocore]

I can recall only a couple of houses with 2 front doors defniitely not as a wide spread 'trend' in my area.

One was a lady who had a hair salon at one end of her house so she had a separate entrance for it, although I have no idea if she put it in or if the house was built that way. This was back in the 70's when my mom would go there for her hair cuts and the house would have been built in the 50's.

Another has a second door right next to the garage, that I believe actually opens into the garage. This house also built in the 50's.