In a message dated 9/13/2000 2:11:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> "coffin door".....which best I recall was a side door into the parlor of New
>  England center chimney houses.

Dan Bluestone, my [esteemed] prof at CU, would agree with you, I think... I
seem to remember him talk about coffin doors once -- they give direct access
into the parlor from the outside -- I am not sure that a center chimney was
always a component (at least in later houses).

In a more urban setting, I have seen what were described to me as coffin
doors in some historic neighborhood in Europe (don't ask me where -- I forget
-- maybe Belgium?). They were smaller than a typical door of the period and
gave direct access to the street from the ground level (formal/family spaces
were on the 1st floor, up a few steps from the street). As I recall, just
about every house had one along the street. Cute little things they were.

Mary