No. 62 September 2006
The authoritative source on early churches in New Jersey

ISSN 1543-3250

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William Halsey Wood

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Trenton - Living Word Church

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South River Methodist

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Feature of the month

the social significance of the port cochere

In the later decades of the nineteenth century, large homes and villas began to sport an appendage, usually visible from the approach, that allowed residents and visitors to drive a carriage into and through an open porch. The purpose was, ostensibly, to keep guests from getting wet in rainy weather, but we suspect the reality is something a little crasser—a means of showing that your taste and financial resources were probably greater than your neighbors. This open porch was called a port cochere (pronounced port ko share).

The port cochere had long been a feature of hotels and theatres, of course, but for a residence smaller than a castle to include such an extravagance was unusual. They begin to appear on Italianate mansions about 1860, and they do not seem to be a regional taste; there are fine examples even in areas where rainy weather is decidedly not the norm. What has this to do with religious architecture, you ask? Perhaps not very much. Less than a dozen churches in the state have a port cochere, but that simply makes an exploration of this architectural element a bit more fascinating. We may safely assume that a port cochere was not driven by liturgical requirements. They are almost exclusively found only on stone churches and only on those erected in the last few decades of the nineteenth century. All are architect-designed churches, and all are located in wealthy urban communities with a substantial mercantile or industrial class. Not entirely surprising, is it?

Four of the churches with port cocheres are Presbyterian, three are Episcopal, one is the Reformed church in Bedminster (Somerset) and one the Seventh Day Baptist church in Plainfield (Union). Others are located in East Orange (Essex), Rumson (Monmouth), Madison and Dover (both in Morris), and Millville (Cumberland). The Presbyterian church in Bound Brook (Somerset) was built with a port cochere, but that was eliminated when a large addition was built in this century. I have undoubtedly overlooked some churches that have (or had) one, but there are probably not more than a handful in total.

As I interpret it, a port cochere allowed the carriage and team, as well as the dress of the ladies alighting from the carriage, to become the center of attention for those who gathered outdoors before or following the services— rather like a red carpet at a movie premiere, it tells us who we should be paying attention to. It had the additional benefit, of course, of announcing to members of other congregations that they were in the presence of the community's leader in taste, style and financial resources.

Anyone who believes that religious architecture is mainly driven by piety, liturgy, architectural traditions, and the desire to erect a place of worship appropriate to a powerful and glorious god simply doesn't understand much about human nature. Just as the large (mainly) Catholic and Lutheran churches were used to mark ethnic "territories" in working class neighborhoods in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, we must be alert to the social and cultural significance of our architecture, secular and religious. And a port cochere, although uncommon, tells us a great deal about a congregation.

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