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| The view of our courtyard upon entering the gate from our street |
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Such spaces in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court. Both of the words court and yard derive from the same root, meaning an enclosed space.
I have been trying to determine what it is about the courtyard that I like so much, which in turn made me think about the history and function of courtyards.
In rural areas, I suppose buildings built around a central courtyard provided a bulwark against thieves, invaders, wild animals, or other pests, while still affording those inside the outer walls natural elements of sunlight, rain, and plants. They could also serve as a communal space to gather, especially if many people lived or worked in the buildings surrounding the courtyard.
Protection against invading armies and wild animals might have been less important in the urban architecture that has featured courtyards for centuries. But still they afford security while providing access to nature, light, and the outdoors. If you think about a building or buildings occupying an entire city block, it could be that those buildings would be too thick for natural light to penetrate deep into their interior. One way around this problem would be to, essentially, leave the deep interior unbuilt, as a courtyard, so that light would flood the void and penetrate into the buildings from the middle as well as the exterior.
Of course, anytime that you increase the surface area to volume ratio of a building, it becomes more expensive to heat (and cool), so buildings with internal courtyards are especially popular in temperate climates. (We may feel differently about the courtyard in the middle of Parisian winter.)
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| A view of the courtyard from our apartment |
So what do I think is so great about them? First, they're ideal for domesticated pets. We have a black cat who prowls around in our courtyard, a much safer place for her than the streets of Paris. Likewise, when we determine that the black cat is not out, we sometimes let Sandy run off-leash in the courtyard, one of the few outdoor places in Paris that he can do so. (If we lived in a rural area instead of the middle of Paris, the threat might be coyotes, not cars, but a courtyard would provide similar protection.) Second, they serve as a (partial) protection from unwanted natural elements. The wind is blocked and street noises are mitigated. Also, a partial or temporary roof could be easily erected using the existing buildings as sides, if one wanted to provide protection from sun and rain. Third, they provide security for possessions. A man who works in the restaurant on the ground floor of our building leaves his bicycle in the courtyard every day, and he doesn't have to worry about it being stolen. Fourth, unwanted pests, like rats, raccoons, and squirrels, could be kept out. (In fact, all of the trash from the buildings surrounding our courtyard is stored in the courtyard, disguised by a covering of greenery, and I haven't seen a rat or mouse so far.)
I love the cobblestones of the courtyard and the ancient stone urn and column. I would, though, make a few changes if it were my courtyard. I would put a dining table and chairs (or maybe multiple tables) out for the residents' use during nice weather. And I would add a bit more green, perhaps some additional planters or even an area of grass, to contrast with the cobblestones.
I guess in a broader way, courtyards are a particularly convenient device for bridging the gap between the indoors and outdoors, creating an intermediate space which is neither but has some of the best aspects of both, something that I am always trying to do.
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