THE WELL-KNOWN, elegantly simple axiom that form follows function coined by Chicago architect, and pioneer of the American sky-scraper, Louis Sullivan (1856–1924) today holds little sway with architectural practitioners, theorists or historians. Essentially reductionist in ambition, the phrase disguises, perhaps denies, the complexity of interactions between people (without which there is no function) and buildings, prioritising the often relatively short design/planning process over the subsequent years, decades and centuries of social entanglement. Our homes demonstrate this to us every day. No matter the age, size or design of our house, its functional or architectural description would fail to encompass the enmeshed relationship between ourselves, our family and our domestic environment. That a kitchen has the function of a meal-preparation area is a truism; that a kitchen can also be a place to share those meals through the addition of a table and chairs, the place where the dog shakes on returning from her morning walk, where my husband makes my morning cuppa, where casual conversations with friends and neighbours are accommodated because the room is conveniently located and informally furnished. Personal, human interactions such as these (and the examples one could offer are legion) are essential to understanding how built environments are used, attending to their cultural and historical specificity. If we seek to understand better the complicity between building and user, it is necessary to ask questions of more interest and with greater potential than ‘what's it for?’.

As mentioned in the Introduction, James Charles Wall set the foundation for the modern understanding of porches and, until publication of the present book, his 1912 volume Porches and Fonts remained the principal source on the subject. As a historian of the English church writing either side of 1900, J. C. Wall's concern with porches was what people did in them, at what date, and how this related to biblical or early church practice. Looking to identify historical consistencies and propound good liturgical practice according to a medieval template, Wall's interests in porches were broad and inclusive, confidently stating the range of functions they served from the reign of King Solomon to the aftermath of the sixteenth-century English Reformation.