Historic Front Porch

This 19th century home in Mineral Point was missing it's front porch.  The owner had collected 5 or 6 photographs of the way it used to be, but they were grainy and taken from afar.  By peering through a magnifying glass and strolling the streets looking for similarly styled homes with intact elements, I was able to piece together the size and shape of appropriate details.

The new porch would solve a summer problem: major overheating through the front, south-facing windows.  My clients and I discerned the original porch was narrow, not deep.  Would 6 feet be enough to shade the windows?  A Sketchup model, set to 42.86 degrees latitude would tell us.  It also showed us that welcome winter sunlight would cut light by half.