There’s a bunch of these in northern Ontario small towns.

The mysterious unused, non functional, only decorative … front door.

It’s funny because there are some old houses up here where they even just remove the front step and front deck and the front door just lingers in the air doing nothing. Inside, the entire front living room area has been rearranged to the point where the old front door is just permanently shut, sealed and never opened and furniture placed in front of it. This was a lot more common about 20 years ago but lately they seem to be disppearing as people realize that is just too silly.

I think part of it is that because we live in the north and part of the year leaves us with big mounds of snow in the winter, everyone just prefers to use the back door. The back door is easier and more convenient in the winter time. If you used the front door, you blow in cold air (even if you have porch) into the main living area and then you track in snow, which melts and creates puddles of water. Plus a regularly open and closing door in the winter time eventually gets lined with frost and ice from the constant freezing the thawing.

The same thing happens at the back door but the back door is usually next to the kitchen, hallway or storeroom. And the back door usually leads into a big ugly porch, maybe even a second porch where everyone can dump their winter clothes, boots and outdoor gear before walking into the main part of the house.