FEDERAL & EMPIRE 1780-1850
In a Federal or Adamesque house the entrance plain or carved door provides the main emphasis of the façade. In a high style house the addition of a semi-circular or elliptical fanlight and carved principal entrance doors derived from pattern books identifies the building as Classical revival or Adamesque. Federal doorways are often framed by pilasters and surrounded by delicate wood carvings of oval paterae and classical motifs.
In terrace/row houses the door architrave might serve as the only exterior ornamentation carved Porticoes of large houses gradually increased in size; in the south they eventually took the form of multi-storied galleries.
Exterior and interior plain panelled or carved doors are usually made of the most plentiful available durable timber for example the regional use of maple, poplar and cypress.
Interior plain panelled or carved doors are frequently finished to look like mahogany. Neo-classical door casings are decorated with carved wooden tracery and applied stuccowork.
Before the end of the federal period most doors were six-panelled or carved, sometimes with carved ovule mouldings.
However, Greek revival doors were usually of the two or four panelled or carved form which became standardized through the pattern books of Asher Benjamin and Minard Lafever. Exterior door mouldings, which became heavier, featured classical carved motifs; pilasters supported a simple entablature or plain lintel with corner blocks and a central panel.
Internal plain or carved doorcases were framed by flat carved Doric pilasters, with carved classical mouldings in grander houses.
BRITISH VICTORIAN 1837-1901
The design of the porch to a Victorian house was not only to protect visitors from the weather but also to convey the social status of the occupants, a projecting porch implying greater wealth than one that was recessed
.
Front plain or panelled carved doors are panelled and sometimes carved doors arched in the Gothic style. They were often green or woodgrained. Glazed upper panels or fanlights above allow extra light to enter the hallway. Foundry catalogues were filled with examples of door knockers and knobs and , from the 1840s, letterboxes/mailslots.
The Victorians felt it important to insulate their houses against the cold. In smaller terraced houses, where there is usually an archway across the narrow hall, it was the convention to hang curtains in order to retain hear. Similarly, a portiere, or curtain on a swinging pole, would hang behind a plain panelled or carved door to make a room warmer.
Internal doors are constructed in the traditional frame and panel manner with carved doors on the finest houses. Plain or carved doors leading to grander principal rooms can be up to 3 inches (7.5cm) thick with numerous panels and applied mouldings or in the finer homes carved panelled Doors . Such features not only indicate the room’s importance, but the greater the density of wood the more effective it was as a protection against eavesdropping servants. Doors to more modest rooms are often framed in wood less than one inch (2.5cm) thick with very thin undecorated panels.
AMERICAN VICTORIAN 1840-1910
In America during the Victoria period plain or carved Doors continued to be made as an exterior frame holding thinner panels.
This provided strong, lightweight doors receptive to many styles of carved decoration. For example, gothic Revival doors supported elements of Carved Gothic tracery, Italianate doors held applied Renaissance Carved style panels and Colonial Revival doors bore Neo-classical carved motifs.
Many houses of this period in America had plain doors panelled or carved doors were fitted in the finest houses with the style of the building being conveyed either by the shape of the door opening or by the portico or porch. Carved Italianate doors were made Italian by their arched openings. Even a worker’s cottage door could be Gothicized and carved with a simple bolection moulding or hood.
The preference during the America Victoria period was for Impressive plain panelled or carved double doors were preferred. Double Carved front doors first appeared on Gothic houses and continued to be widely used on later styles, often matched with a second pair, forming a vestibule. With the advent of inexpensive glass, more doors were glazed
During this period in America Fanlights/transom lights over exterior and interior doors were also popular; clear glass in the 1850s, followed by coloured glass and later, leaded glass panels.
Interior doors, in simple configurations of carved doors and panel doors, usually matched the other finished wood in the room. Sometimes simple doors were embellished with decorative detailed carving on the Doors. Almost every grand house featured a pair of sliding plain panelled or carved doors between double parlours, or between parlour and dining room.
ARTS & CRAFTS 1860-1925
During this period designers to historical sources for their door. Early Arts and Crafts plain or carved doors, both external and internal, are often of plain carved plank door construction, inspired by English medieval forms these were usually fitted with elaborate iron hinges and a latch rather than a knob or handle.
Another inspiration was the Georgian six panelled carved door, although the proportions tend to be subtly altered.
The entrance symbolized the welcome of the house, porches were an important feature of Arts and Crafts houses, particularly in later designs which look to vernacular precedents and often incorporate seats.
C.F.A. Voysey, in Britain, developed a form of interior and outside door in the late 19th century in which three elongated panels are set beneath a glazed panel. This was much imitated and became the standard American Craftsman door of the early 20th century. Carved doors were still favoured during this period in the finest of homes
Grand Aesthetic Movement interior doorways of the 1880s had intricate carved doors or painted door panels. The later were very influential, and many standard Victorian four panel doors were enhanced carved or with painted or papered “Aesthetic” decoration: flowing floral and bird designs were most popular.
Leaded and stained glass were fashionable fitted in carved decorated frames in both British and American plain or carved doors. Some later designs Show carved doors in the Art Nouveau influence.