A modest shotgun house in New Orleans's Bayou St. John neighborhood shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Shotgun houses consist of three to five rooms in a row with no hallways and have a narrow, rectangular structure.Shotgun house in the Fifth Ward neighborhood of Houston, Texas, 1973, as pictured in a photo by Danny Lyon.
A shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War (1861–65) through the 1920s. Alternative names include shotgun shack, shotgun hut, shotgun cottage, and in the case of a multihome dwelling, shotgun apartment; the design is similar to that of railroad apartments.
A longstanding theory is that the style can be traced from Africa to Saint Dominican influences on house design in New Orleans,[1] but the houses can be found as far away as Key West and Ybor City in Florida,[2] and Texas, and as far north as Chicago, Illinois. Though initially as popular with the middle class as with the poor, the shotgun house became a symbol of poverty in the mid-20th century. Urban renewal has led to the destruction of many shotgun houses; however, in areas affected by gentrification, historic preservation efforts have led to the renovation of such houses.
Several variations of shotgun houses allow for additional features and space, and many have been updated to the needs of later generations of owners. The oldest shotgun houses were built without indoor plumbing, which was often added later, often on the back of the house, sometimes crudely. "Double-barrel" or "double" shotgun houses are a semi-detached configuration, consisting of two houses sharing a central wall, allowing more houses to be fit into an area. "Camelback" shotgun houses include a second floor at the rear of the house. In some cases the entire floor plan is changed during remodeling to create hallways.[3]
^Cite error: The named reference mcalester was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Gist, Karen Taylor (March 20, 2010). "New Orleans has a love affair with shotgun houses". The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
^The Shotgun house: urban housing opportunities. Preservation Alliance of Louisville and Jefferson Co. 1980.
A shotgunhouse is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other...
shotgun is a shotgun issued by militaries for warfare. The earliest shotguns specifically designed for combat were the trench guns or trench shotguns...
the Civil War. While the main house built by Tucker was burned by Union soldiers during the Civil War, shotgunhouses (built circa 1895) and Creole cabins...
slabs, brick walls and tiled roofs. Alley house Back-to-back house List of house types Semi-detached Shotgunhouse Townhouse Machiya (Japanese version) "Townhouse"...
on the Mississippi Blues Trail. The museum site includes Presley's shotgunhouse birthplace, a museum, a chapel, and the Assembly of God Church building...
than one room wide Shotgunhouse: a house that is one room wide and two rooms deep, without a corridor Side-hall or side passage: a house with a hallway that...
Shotgun Stories is a 2007 drama film about a feud between two sets of half-brothers following the death of their father in rural Arkansas. The film was...
The George Wall House, also called Old Man Wall's House, is a historic shotgunhouse in the Walltown Neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina. On July 21...
in grand European architecture of the Baroque period List of house types Shotgunhouse Sennett, Richard. The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social...
the suggestion of friend Dave Shouse from the Grifters. He rented a shotgunhouse there, of which he was so fond he contacted the owner about purchasing...
2014). "Shotgun geography: the history behind the famous New Orleans elongated house". Times-Picayune. Retrieved 29 April 2017. The shotgunhouse of Port-au-Prince...
riding atop a camel Camelback, a variation of shotgunhouse with a second floor in the rear of the house. Camelback (roller coaster element), a hump-shaped...
the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Crib barn Central-passage houseShotgunhouse Gamble, Robert (1990). Historic architecture in Alabama: a guide...
88. She is described as being brought up in poverty, growing up in a shotgunhouse with her parents and siblings. Madea has stated that although her family...
Maybeck, and Julia Morgan.[citation needed] Cottage Mar del Plata style Shotgunhouse Vernacular architecture Villa Powell, Jane (2004). Bungalow Details:...
airport. There was an old black man sitting outside his little pink shotgunhouse with his cat in his arms, completely unperturbed by the traffic speeding...
Good For You. Written and recorded at The Green House in New Albany, Indiana, an 18th-century shotgunhouse owned by the family of drummer Shane Cody, it...
Shotgun Willie is the 16th studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson, released on June 11, 1973. The recording marks a change...
one-and-a-half-story frame shotgun-style building with a gable roof. It was deemed significant as one of only three extant shotgunhouses in Park City. "National...
'chops.' We walked across town to Center Street and into a little half-shotgunhouse fifty feet up the block from where the metal-on-metal war of the rug...
Forest house, Swiss chalet style, Gulf house (aka East Frisian house), Geestharden house (aka Cimbrian house, Schleswig house), Haubarg, Low German house (aka...
Global Information
