Architecture: Why Old New England Homes Had 2 Front Doors

If you live in New England or have ever visited, you'll notice some older homes have 2 doors side by side. We've seen them in southern New Hampshire and southern Maine. Today's blog shares a story about various reasons why homes were built that way. 

(Photo: Home in Somersworth, NH built in 1900. Credit: Zillow) 

Six Intriguing Reasons Why New England Homes Originally Had Two Doors 

 Jolana Miller, May 12, 2025, Theshark105.3 Radio 

When you see houses with two front doors, do you assume they're duplexes or two-family homes? We have so many around New England, and while they're duplexes now, or have several apartments inside, historically speaking, two front doors had literal reasons behind them.

Living in the oldest part of the country, there's also a good chance that some of those two-door homes you see in Maine or Massachusetts just kept the aesthetic while being a single-family home.

Let's go back to the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, where, according to Family Handyman and The Spruce, there are six reasons homes originally were built with two doors.

DEATH DOOR

In some cases, one door was reserved for the dead, lying in repose in the front parlor, and was only used when someone passed away.

SYMMETRY 

Two Doors Made the Exterior Symmetrical According to an article on Taste of Home.com, symmetry was in style. Georgian-style homes (which were trendy at the time) were designed around balance, order and classical symmetry, often achieved through the use of many windows, two chimneys and a front entry hallway that ran straight through the middle of the house. If a home, for whatever reason, didn’t have this centered hallway, a centrally-placed front door threw things off. The easy fix? Add another door to keep things balanced.

APPEARANCES

Simply put, more than one door looked like you had a home with more rooms.

(Photo: Credit: https://hellofarmhouse.com/) 

HOUSEHOLD FUNCTION

Each door was a separate entrance into the home, with one of the doors being the entrance to the more formal side of the house for parties or important meetings. The other was used for day-to-day living.

Also, if the family had servants, the owners of the home used the right side while servants used the left door.

TEMPERATURE REGULATION

Most homes had one single hallway that stretched the length of the house. However, if you opened the front door, you could send a wind tunnel of hot air or cold air through the house, so two doors helped keep homes temperature-friendly no matter what time of year.

BUDGETARY

Many single-family homes with two front doors did it for budgetary reasons.

Glass was quite expensive, and having it shipped from Europe or literally made onsite in America was not doable, especially since making glass was a specialty trade. That second door was the cheaper alternative since doors don't use nearly as much glass as windows.