The Same or Different?

[gnomi]

Foyer/vestibule

(I have an opinion, but I am interested in what others think.)

Comments

[tpau]

vestibule is for vestiments, it is where coats are4 hung and shoews are left. a Foyer is where one waits to be invited furhter into the house, etc...

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Different: foyers can be any size, vestibules MUST be small. (I think) Both serve the same function.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

A vestibule is a small alcove to the side of a room. It is usually about the size of a closet, and probably does not have enough room for a bed.

A foyer is an entrance hall and usually has enough room for a chair or bench. if the foyer is small, but has doors and can be used as a passage, it is not a vestibule.

Thank you for letting me use my Architectural Degree today!

[tober.livejournal.com]

With all due respect, I feel that I must question the part where you say "If the foyer is small, but has doors and can be used as a passage, it is not a vestibule." Is that to suggest that a vestibule must be blind, a small area with exactly one entrance/exit? In an office or apartment building where the (usually main) entrance has an outer door and an inner door with at least sufficient space to stand between the two doors but not a lot more space than that (and no seating, etc. in that space), I would call that space a "vestibule" and certainly not a "foyer." In fact, I don't think I would ever call any part of the common space (as opposed to space that is habitable by an individual) of a larger building a foyer. Anyways... if the thing I'm calling a vestibule in an apartment building should not be called that, what alternative would you suggest? Entrance-way? Airlock? Other?

[violetcheetah.livejournal.com]

I always think of a vestibule as being between two sets of doors, like in an apartment building, but I have no idea where I got that impression.

[elrhiarhodan]

To me, a vestibule is the space between the inside and the outside door. A foyer is a waiting area that's part of the main house.

As tpau pointed out, linguistically, a vestibule is a space for vestments (coats, cloaks, boots, etc.)

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. A foyer is where you can recieve guests, a vestibule is where you shed coat and umbrella before entering the house proper.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

What she said.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Just so.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

Different. And what they said. *points up*

In my house you go through the vestibule (between two sets of doors and with a place for coats if I ever hang the hooks) and into my foyer. Which leads to a passage, actually. LOL

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

OT, darling, but can you email me your mailing address? I got a package BACK for you, with a nicely Canadian admonishment that you don't live in PEI.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

*head tilt* They're right. I used to -- but I wonder what kind of pixie stix I was on when I sent you my address. I haven't lived there since 1993!!

ahem.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

My home has a foyer. It has no vestibule.

(When one enters the door, there is a very wide hallway that opens up into the living room. But the "coat closet" is up a half-flight of stairs.)

[nchanter.livejournal.com]

Different.

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

Vestibule is an airlock. A tiny room with an extra door to insulate the house from direct access to the cold outside air. There may or may not be a coat closet, coat hooks, coat tree, rubber boots to trip over, other storage for vestments, but that's about it.

Foyer is a windowless room at the entrance, and may be after the vestibule. It generally has room for some furniture - storage, perhaps sitting, perhaps (a Dining Foyer, such as in my parents' apt) a whole dining room. My grandmother's foyer was perhaps 6x12, had a coat closet, a bar, a side table with the telephone and telephone books, two bookcases, and doors to the DR, hallway to the BRs, and LR. It would have been a bit small for a dinette table - too narrow.

Vestibules I associate with my cousins' houses in the 'burbs. Foyers I associate with city apartments. My apt doesn't have either, as it's half of a house. I guess the entrance room downstairs is a vestibule - it has doors to her apt and our stairway to our apt, but is usually empty, except for our shopping cart (so we don't have to carry it up & downstairs) and the landlady's snowblower and snow shovels in the winter (during the summer they live in the garage). I don't think she does much shoveling. What she'll do when her younger children get married & move out, I don't know.

[fynixsoul.livejournal.com]

To me, foyer = enterance hall; vestibule = doorless closet.

Alternatively, foyer = the lounge area outside the dining hall at CSW (pretty sure that's what we called it--Michael would probably know for sure, since he was there for longer than I was), and a vestibule is the small room containing free standing ATMs (according to one episode of Friends.)

However, you should probably listen to the other people on this list; they sound smarter than me. For example, I bet they probably know whether "foyer" is pronounced "foy-air" "foh-yar" or "foy-yay." I've heard it all three ways, and thus never dare to pronounce it myself.

[fauxklore]

I grew up in a split level ranch. One enters a house onto a landing. I don't think I have ever seen a vestibule.

I think "foyer" is a fancy word for "lobby."

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

Different: large houses converted into museums and suchlikes have foyers, as do schools. Small rooms prior to entering a functional building or room (e.g. hospital) can be vestibules. I'd take off my coat in the foyer, but may strip down in a vestibule.

And sensible people like me have mudrooms. Except not really, cuz my house is too small and poorly laid-out for that. But it has an area that is conceptually a mudroom. Does that count?

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

Definitely different. A bunch of other people, likely far smarter than I, have already explained why they are different. What's your opinion?