Now I have found myself dazzled by a few front doors in my time and if I’m honest a select band of side doors too. The front door for many has been for centuries nothing short of a draw bridge for the English dwelling. It’s been in recent years lacquered or plied with paint, but behind the shiny facades, it’s all about the emotion and top of the pops is style.
Look for any 500 year old house and you’ll see the strongest bare oak doors. Dance along the timeline of history to the 1700’s and feast your eyes on (quite possibly) the most famous door in the world, 10 Downing Street. A chunky polished black Georgian slab (Once made of purely of wood, now a bomb proof all steel affair) with slightly wonky numerals.
Where am I going with all this? Let’s take a look at this humble terrace (see pic), constructed in the early 1940’s. A post war building frenzy ensued as councils tried their best to keep up with the demand, to quickly house those who had seen their homes destroyed by aerial bombing and others by sheer vandalism of the state.
This particular example of a front door, like half a million others, welcomed home its inhabitants at the end of the working day. A place of refuge away from the howling wind and driving rain.
A family with high hopes, much like yours or mine rented this house for just over £1 per month and together with accompanying door, began to raise a family within. With life, love and laughter, so peeling back every front door led to the story of our lives.
Now, there is nothing special about this door, it sits tight and does the job and is, like most things of its early post-war generation, aesthetically pleasing.
I chose this door above the many, not because of its grandeur but because of its easy design which fitted perfectly with its social environment. Even the windows given to these homed look right. Too often thereafter saw how tastes of the homeowner destroyed the good work of the house builder, who actually knew (for a time) what looked right and what did not.
As an extra slice of history, this door saw the arrival of a youthful Paul McCartney’s coming and goings for nearly 10 years.
20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool