Term for a side motor entrance?

Sometimes in movies I see an architectural feature of hotels or large houses that have a side motor entrance or drop-off for cars with a roof as shown below:

motor entrance

Is there an architectural term for this thing?


There may be other names, the one I am familar with is Porte cochere

Definition of porte cochere Merriam-Webster

1 : a passageway through a building or screen wall designed to let vehicles pass from the street to an interior courtyard

2 : a roofed structure extending from the entrance of a building over an adjacent driveway and sheltering those getting in or out of vehicles

By way of further confirmation, here is the listing for the pictured property, Ivy Road House, Atlanta on the designer's website.

This distinctive painted brick Atlanta Residence was built to maximize its narrow lot by organizing the site with a circular drive that leads to a formal front entry and a porte-cochere that leads to a more informal side entrance.


Derived from the French porte-cochère mentioned in Spagirl's answer, I've mostly commonly heard this termed as the anglicized carport.

Carport is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

an open-sided automobile shelter by the side of a building