The PRC Celebrates Shotgun Houses!
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Popular folklore says that these homes got their names because if you fired a shotgun through the front door it would exit through the back without hitting any walls. The style is characterized by houses that are one to two rooms wide, and three to four rooms deep with no interior hallways- each room opens directly onto the next. However, the doorways of each room are not always aligned, so you’d better check before you decide to put that folklore to the test!
The architectural style was imported from tropical Haiti, where the cost-effective and unique structure drew in the air to circulate through each room. The homes were typically raised a foot or two off the ground, which also allowed air to pass beneath, further cooling it and keeping water away from the main structure. With New Orleans’ Gulf and river breezes, the benefits of using the shotgun style were apparent, and it soon became the most popular housing style in the South from the end of the Civil War (1861-65) through the early 1920s.
There are many varieties of shotguns, including the single, double, and camelback shotgun. It remains the most popular housing style in New Orleans.
The PRC celebrates Shotgun houses each Spring by hosting several events. Please see our event page for a listing!
The PRC has an extensive photo collection of shotguns on Flickr.
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8 Comments
August 14th, 2009 at 5:47 PM
[...] worked on those suits with his wife in his New Marigny shotgun home , which he’d also spent years working on and [...]
August 19th, 2009 at 7:08 AM
[...] residential neighborhoods. At first glance, these homes may look like a typical single two bay shotgun house, but there are distinct differences between the two [...]
January 13th, 2010 at 2:16 PM
[...] shotgun house is another Haitian contribution. This housing type was believed to have originated in West Africa [...]
November 13th, 2010 at 3:01 AM
[...] Preservation Resource Center, Advocacy Department New Orleans blog.prcno.org/2009/05/12/the-prc-celebrates-shotgun-houses/ Some folklore says that these homes got their names because if you fired a shotgun through the [...]
January 21st, 2011 at 10:38 AM
[...] Resource Center of New Orleans (PRC) will bring back one of its most time honored traditions, the Shotgun House Tour. Appropriately, it will highlight the beautiful Shotguns in the Garden District and the Irish [...]
June 15th, 2011 at 8:15 PM
[...] Preservation Resource Center, Advocacy Department New Orleans blog.prcno.org/2009/05/12/the-prc-celebrates-shotgun-houses/ Some folklore says that these homes got their names because if you fired a shotgun through the [...]
October 24th, 2011 at 12:56 AM
[...] Preservation Resource Center, Advocacy Department New Orleans blog.prcno.org/2009/05/12/the-prc-celebrates-shotgun-houses/ Some folklore says that these homes got their names because if you fired a shotgun through the [...]
November 17th, 2011 at 6:07 PM
[...] Preservation Resource Center, Advocacy Department New Orleans blog.prcno.org/2009/05/12/the-prc-celebrates-shotgun-houses/ Some folklore says that these homes got their names because if you fired a shotgun through the [...]