Meaning of porte cochère | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A gateway through which horse carriages pass, often into a courtyard.
   historical
2. A porch, or roof without walls over a driveway, next to the entrance of a building which a vehicle can stop in or under to allow passengers to embark or disembark without being affected by bad weather.

Equivalents

Examples

“We had admirable Noſes to ſmell out proper Places, and your Houſes with Porte-Cocheres were ſure to have enough of our Company.”

“[M]oſt of the Houſes having Porte-Cocheres, and Court-yards, for the Conveniency and the Uſe of the Families.”

“As this Place [Kensington Palace] opens to the Weſt, there are Two great Wings build, for receiving ſuch as neceſſarily attend the Court, and a large Port-cocher at the Entrance, with a Poſtern, and a Stone Gallery, on the South-ſide of the Court, which leads to the great Stair-caſe.”

“I at first perceived, at the exterior, only a long wall, in the center of which was a porte cochère. Not far from this door stood a vehicle drawn by two superb horses. […] Under the influence of this increased interest and curiosity, I knocked at the porte cochère, which was opened. Not perceiving any porter's lodge, I advanced towards a lofty square pavilion, which was situated between the yard and the garden.”

“The whole domain is shut up from the street by a great porte-cochère, or portal, calculated for the admission of carriages. This consists of two massy folding doors, that swing heavily opn upon a spacious entrance, passing under the front of the edifice into the court-yard.”

“That distinguishing feature of the street-architecture of Paris—the porte cochère—has its prototype still in the City of London, though it is almost as seldom met with now as the pointed gable, the latticed window, or the overhanging story of a much earlier period. […] But exceptions to the rule may yet be found, and here and there the curious seeker may stumble, even at the present hour, upon a genuine porte cochère.”

“The Vaugirard Cemetery was an exception among the cemeteries of Paris. It had its peculiar usages, so far that it had its porte-cochère, and its small door which, in the quarter, old people, tenacious of old words, called the cavalier door, and the pedestrian door.”

“[T]he feature of the large porte-cochère or carriage doorway is certainly sufficient in itself, were there no other dissimilarities, to attract even the most unobservant eye. […] The fact, however, of the porte-cochère taking up so much of the ground-floor is often most ingeniously compensated by making the space to the right or left of the doorway, as the case may be, into an excellent shop. […] [T]he yard at the back into which the porte-cochère opens has planned around it the stables and coach-house, an admirable arrangement of which we have more than once spoken in these columns.”

“The "chivalry of the Portes Cochères" la cavalerie des portes cochères, was the army raised by an act of parliament obliging each porte cochère (the house-door or gate at which carriages enter) to furnish a man and a horse.”

“The porte-cochère, so-called, is but a narrow doorway, and is actually situated in the Rue St. Germain l'Auxerrois. […] The porte-cochère of his former lodging-house was not yet open; he took up his stand close beside it.”

“[L]opsided buildings, shabby structures, large moldy portes cochères, fences that enclosed plots of wasteland with the disquieting paleness of stone at night, […]”

“But it is also a world repopulated by fantastical creatures, camped behind all the shopfronts or lurking behind all the portes cochères; by new divinities from the earth and the underworld.”

“This killing of two birds with one stone, making a porte-cochère and a second-story balcony at the same time, was so attractive to Mrs. Smith that it turned the scale in favour of a change. Her stable and carriage-drive were removed to the other side of the house, and Mrs. John rejoiced as an apparent joint-proprietor of the admired summer-house.”

“But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, […] By the time we reached the house we were thanking our stars she had come. Mrs. Cooke came out from under the port-cochère to welcome her.”

“I stopped the Packard under the porte-cochere and emptied my pockets out on the seat.”

“Actually, a porte cochère is a canopy extending from a building to shelter people getting in and out of vehicles. Not too many people have porte cochères—French guys, mainly.”

“The station remains connected to the hotel by a glass canopy or porte-cochère that was much admired by John Betjeman, but you could stand all day under that canopy and not see anyone walk from station to hotel.”

“The front desk had already made a great fuss of Johnny and Mary, lining up to greet him at the famous porte-cochère as soon as his splendid old Rolls-Royce had arrived with his faithful driver, factotum and friend John Novelli at the wheel.”

“"This is a particularly good example of a timber railway station, with its Royal connection giving rise to some outstanding internal and external detailing. The swan-necked iron lamps, the porte-cochère and outstanding decoration in the Royal waiting room set the station apart."”

CEFR level