A carriage house or coach house is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.
They often face away from the farmyard and may be found close to the stables and roadways, giving direct access to the fields.
Horse-drawn carriages for the most part are now part of the past so now a days, many carriage houses have been modified to other uses such as secondary suites, guest houses, automobile garages, offices, workshops, retail shops, bars, restaurants, or storage buildings. However, such structures are still often called carriage houses in deference to their original function and regardless of their current use.
Carriage houses for large estates could be quite elaborate and large enough to house many carriages, horses, tack, and hay. They could even include basic living quarters for the staff who managed the horses and carriages. Horses were occasionally stabled in the carriage house but usually in a separate barn or stable.
