Doors and entrances
Choose one door or a double door, the wood, and a design around it: from a simple frame to a portico with columns, a Gothic portal, a castle gate or a canal house with a stoop. Add steps, sidelights, a fanlight, lanterns and a house number. For separate staircases there is Staircases. At the bottom you can see how the sizes and the hinges are worked out.
Point at a block for the explanation. Click a block to mark it as placed. The side view shows the section at the chosen column, the layer view the chosen row from above.
Build breakdown
Per layer
| Layer | Parts | Blocks |
|---|
A number is the count of blocks of that part in that layer, in the colour of the part. Click a layer to see it from above.
Build tips
- A Minecraft door is always 1 wide and 2 high. A double door is two doors side by side with the hinges on the outside.
- Place the door from the outside while looking in. It then opens inward.
- Glass in doors, sidelights and fanlights is always 1 block thick; in a thick wall the rest stays a niche.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the entrance as a schematic file and paste it with WorldEdit, or rebuild it with a hologram in Litematica. Doors become real doors with the right hinges, and trapdoors, fences, iron bars and lanterns come along too.
Shopping list
Put the counts of this entrance on your list: doors, glass, wood and stone separately.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
Canal houses and the stoop
Amsterdam canal houses from the 17th and 18th centuries often have a stoop: a few steps with a landing up to the front door. Below it lay a half-sunken basement for the kitchen, storage or a small shop. Above the door a fanlight brought light into the long hallway.
- The English word stoop, for the steps in front of a New York house, comes from the Dutch 'stoep'. New York was first called New Amsterdam.
- Wrought-iron railings showed that the owner had money.
- The fanlight sometimes carried the house number or fine wood carving.
Georgian doors
In the Georgian period in Britain and Ireland (roughly 1714 to 1830) townhouses got a door with a fan-shaped fanlight, pilasters and a cornice. The fanlight brought light into the hall without needing windows beside the door.
- The colourful front doors of Dublin are world famous.
- The best-known Georgian door is probably that of 10 Downing Street in London.
Portico and pediment
A portico with columns and a triangular pediment comes from Greek and Roman temples. In the 16th century the Italian architect Andrea Palladio put such temple fronts on ordinary villas. That was copied everywhere afterwards, from English country houses to the White House.
- The columns have a base, a shaft and a capital, just as in the Columns tool.
- The portico gave shade and shelter at the door and made an instant impression.
Round arches and Gothic portals
Romanesque churches have doors under heavy round arches. In Gothic times portals became deep and pointed, with a series of arches each stepping further out: the archivolts. They were often full of statues of saints and angels.
- The west front of Notre-Dame in Paris has three great portals with archivolts full of statues.
- The statues in a portal were a kind of comic strip in stone.
- A stepped portal looks bigger and deeper than it really is.
Castle gates and portcullises
The gate was the weakest spot of a castle. So it got a gatehouse with a portcullis: a heavy grid of wood and iron that dropped down in grooves. It was raised with a winch.
- Behind the portcullis there was often a heavy wooden door as well, and sometimes a second portcullis.
- The ceiling of the passage sometimes had holes through which defenders could drop things on attackers.
- In many castles you can still see the portcullis grooves in the wall.
Barn doors
Barns have big doors so a cart of hay or a tractor can get in. Sliding doors on a rail do not swing in the wind and need no room to swing open.
- The Z- or X-shaped brace keeps the planks straight so the door does not sag.
- Red barns are best known from Scandinavia and North America.
Japanese entrances
A noren is a split cloth curtain over an entrance. Shops and restaurants in Japan hang it outside when they are open and take it in when they close. Inside the door is the genkan, a lower floor where you take off your shoes.
- The small roof over the door is called a hisashi and keeps the rain off.
- Sliding doors and sliding walls are typical of Japanese houses.
Modern entrances, shops and cottages
Modern buildings often have glass doors with sidelights and a canopy that sticks out far. In the 19th century shops got a glazed door, a fascia board and an awning. A small porch with a bench is very common on English cottages.
Double staircases and landings
Baroque palaces often got a grand staircase with two flights up to a landing in front of the main entrance. Guests arrived with lots of ceremony.
- The horseshoe staircase of the Palace of Fontainebleau in France is a famous example.
- Many town halls and palaces have a landing where, for example, wedding couples have their photos taken.
- You can find more stairs in the Staircases tool.
Fun facts about doors in Minecraft
- A door is always 1 wide and 2 high. There are no wider doors, which is why you build a double door.
- Villagers can open wooden doors, but not iron doors.
- Zombies can break down wooden doors on Hard difficulty. An iron door stops them.
- An iron door only opens with redstone, such as a button, a lever or a pressure plate.
About this tool
With this Minecraft door generator you design a complete entrance for your house, castle or shop. You choose one door or a double door, the wood, and a design around it: a simple frame, a classic portico with columns and a pediment, a round arch with a keystone, a Gothic portal with archivolts, a castle gate with a portcullis, a canal house with a stoop and fanlight, a Georgian door with a fanlight, a barn door with sliding leaves, a Japanese entrance with noren, a modern glass entrance, a shop door with an awning, a cottage door with benches or a grand entrance with a double staircase.
You add sidelights and a transom or fanlight (rectangular, half-round, fan or pointed) and choose the glass colour, including mixed stained glass. You set the wall thickness and whether the door sits at the outer face, in the middle or at the inner face of the wall. Steps in front of the door, a railing of iron or wood, lamps beside the door (lantern, soul lantern or torch) and a house number plate finish the entrance.
Twelve examples help you get started, such as an Amsterdam canal house with a high stoop, a London townhouse, a cathedral with a Gothic portal, a castle gate with a portcullis, a red barn, a Japanese tea house, a bakery with a green awning and a Nether fortress with a crimson gate. You see the entrance from the front, from above, as a cross-section and in 3D, and the layer plan shows every block.
The tool counts stone and surround, doors and glass, and wood, iron and light separately, and converts everything into stacks. With the .schem download you paste the entrance into your world with WorldEdit or Litematica, with real doors and the correct hinges. That way you build a beautiful front door in Minecraft that matches your building style. For separate staircases, there is Staircases.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make a wide door in Minecraft?
A door in Minecraft is always 1 block wide and 2 blocks high. For a wider entrance, place two doors side by side: a double door. Choose Double door in the tool; the hinges then go on the outer sides, so both doors open together.
Why does my door open the wrong way?
The hinge side depends on how you place the door. Place the door from outside while looking in. Then it opens inward. In the tool you choose whether the hinge is on the left or right, and the download sets it correctly.
Which wood or door should I choose?
Dark oak and spruce suit castles and old houses. Birch and cherry are light and cheerful. An iron door fits a modern entrance or a vault. Note: an iron door only opens with redstone, such as a button, lever or pressure plate.
Do doors keep zombies out?
In Java Edition, zombies on the hardest difficulty (Hard) can break wooden doors. An iron door always stops them. Villagers can open wooden doors, but not iron doors.
How do I build a stoop like on a canal house?
Choose the Canal house with stoop and fanlight design, or the Amsterdam canal house with a high stoop example. Under Steps, set the height of the threshold and choose an iron railing. Want a whole facade to go with it? Go to Dutch gables.
Can I build this in Bedrock?
Yes. The front view and the layer plan work in every edition, and doors work the same in Bedrock. The .schem file is for Java Edition with WorldEdit or Litematica. Turn on Include the wall around it if you want the wall in the download too.