In a message dated 09/13/2000 2:11:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> specifically looking for the definition of
>  "coffin door".....which best I recall was a side door into the parlor of
New
>  England center chimney houses.  I.E.: Coffins couldn't be brought in or
>  leave through the small center hall with stair in front of the
>  fireplace/chimney mass, so a door with direct access to the room in which
>  family members were "laid out" before burial was needed.

No such thing in my "Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture" Edited
by Cyril M. Harris (available from Dover Books, 1977).

Having said that, I have heard people reference 'coffin' doors. Specifically
in an 1860s Italianate in Trenton which had an extra wide exterior door
leading to the dining room. One of the guides at the house called it a
'coffin' door, and gave an approximation of your definition. However, I could
not tell you if the history of the definition is true.

-Heidi