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Located along New Orleans’ parade route, this shotgun house is within shouting range of raucous festivities on any given holiday. Even on quiet days, the front porch is the perfect place to watch the comings and goings of the colorful neighborhood. A second story at the rear of the residence creates an unusual shape, and designates the home as a camelback shotgun house. Whatever its formal classification, the space-smart interior and immaculate front yard are enough to make it the envy of New Orleans.
The Single Shotgun
A shotgun-style house is characterized by the arrangement of its rooms in a linear sequence from front to back. The rooms are passed through from one to the next, with no hallway circulation, with a door in the front and back allowing for excellent air circulation. Johnice Katz, a real estate adviser and historic home specialist with Engel & Volkers, explains that this distinctive layout has its drawbacks. “Because a shotgun layout lacks privacy—something the Creoles cared little about—it is actually not the preferred house type of modern buyers,” she says. Beyond interpersonal connections, shotgun homes also formed the social fabric of the city.
The Architecture
Furnishings can either overwhelm a space or be overcome by it, which does not lend itself to a homey atmosphere. The trick is to keep an open flow within each room, and there are several methods to achieve it. Despite the finite spacing, you can make some design and layout adjustments within the space that maximize comfort for everyone.
Historic L.A.
This one room wide, three-room deep “shotgun” layout is uncommon in Southern California. However, it is a commonly found vernacular style in the South, particularly in New Orleans. This style certainly has creole roots yet is debated among many scholars to be influenced by many different cultures and social factors. One popular theory is that the style arose when real estate taxes were based on the length of the homes front façade rather than the home’s entire square footage. Regardless of the influence, the shotgun house has a cult of admirers today and remains a fascinating architectural design.
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Posted: Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Home Alone: 10 Beautiful Homes in the Middle of Nowhere
Today, preservationists, as well as potential homeowners, are buying and restoring existing shotgun homes. Perhaps the most popular example of an innovative restoration is a Waco, Texas, which was featured on HGTV's Fixer Upper. In urban areas, shotgun houses were constructed close together due to land scarcity. Narrow shotgun homes became a great way to house as many people as possible near the city center.
Typically, the front door opens into the living room, and the kitchen sits at the back of the house, to keep the heat from the stove and oven from spreading to the other parts of the home. Aside from its historical significance, the shotgun is gaining popularity with the tiny house movement growth. Home buyers are captivated by its simple charm and potential for innovative decor accents. Property owners who have to build on narrow lots can always look to the shotgun – and its many variations – for design ideas.
Early shotgun houses had flat roofs, but later constructions had pitched roofs with a gable and an extending overhang. Decorative brackets support the overhangs, and ornate vents often graced the underside. Generally, shotgun houses are set near the street with no front yard, though some can accommodate a small one. In New Orleans, neighborhood and historic preservation organizations often set specific building standards for shotgun house construction. Some allow modern materials that resemble the traditional ones, while others insist on authentic lumber. There may even be codes regarding the homeowner’s choice of exterior paint colors.
Maintain a Consistent Air of Openness
The traditional building material for a shotgun house is wood, from the framing to the siding. Newer materials like vinyl, fiber cement board, and brick are sturdier and less susceptible to weather and termite damage. Steel is an expensive option for framing but could prove useful in storm-prone areas.
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. For many years it was widely assumed that the long narrow design had been developed in New Orleans in the 19th century so that houses could be built on narrow plots of land. O'Connor says these houses take advantage of narrow lots and were usually placed close to the street. Shotgun facades after the 1800s typically have a gabled roof, and many shotgun-style houses have gabled front porches as well. While exact style and layout may may vary from house to house, most shotgun-style homes have distinctive properties that set them apart from other homes.
After being threatened with demolition and surviving three moves, Santa Monica's only intact shotgun house found new life as the headquarters of the Santa Monica Conservancy. Scholars in the field of vernacular architecture apply scientific names to this humble structure, its origins, and its future, but the shotgun doesn’t lend itself to high church language. The structure’s very simplicity has allowed the design to survive since its origins in West Africa, its passage through the Caribbean and to Haiti, and its ultimate landfall in New Orleans in the early 1800s. Despite the high ceilings, the fixed square footage limits what is possible with room arrangement and design.
They are two to three rooms deep without any hallways, so you walk through each room to get to the next. It’s common lore that the name of shotgun homes came about because when all the home’s doors are open, you can fire a gun through the front door and the bullet will exit through the back door without hitting anything. However, it’s more likely that the term shotgun home comes from the Yoruba word togun, meaning house or gathering place. Recently renovated, this historic shotgun home in Waco is now the pinnacle of modern style and function. The narrow nest may look tiny on the outside, but inside the home feels surprisingly spacious. An open floor plan unites the wood-floored common area and well-equipped kitchen.
An etched glass window on the door and lightweight window dressings let in just the right amount of light to maintain an intimate setting for conversation. The retro color palette of this New Orleans shotgun looks like it was born of the ’50s. Be that as it may, the 1,600-square-foot stunner was built only last year, and boasts the modern amenities to prove it. Indoors, an inviting living room opens onto a modern kitchen, complete with sleek stainless steel appliances—the perfect place to cook up Bayou cuisine.
Apart from the historical significance, shotgun houses have started to gain popularity among tiny home enthusiasts. The tiny home movement has caused an increase in respect for the simple charm and decorative innovation potential of shotguns. Not to mention, as the size of lots decrease, homeowners that need to construct a home on a narrow lot can always use the shotgun and its many variations as inspiration. Nestled in the French Quarter, this New Orleans cottage, dating back to 1887, retains elements of Victorian-era charm. Bracketed bay windows and a double set of doors give the exterior a wide open and welcoming appearance, while also providing passage to the open floor plan within. Period-authentic heart pine floors, rounded archways, and original fireplaces make this shotgun house a timeless treasure.
Home appraisers make lots of different adjustments to home value, one of which may be based on frontage. In the United States, New Orleans is best-known for having an abundance of shotgun houses. Haitian refugees are said to have brought the “Creole cottage,” a variation of the shotgun house, into the New Orleans area in the late 1700s.
Shotgun homes initially served lower-income, working-class neighborhoods as they were built by nearby factories to house workers. Tourists looking for shelter from the hustle and bustle of New Orleans’ Canal Streetcar line can find it in this regal and restful shotgun home nearby. The ornate exterior of the home, with intricate awning and patterned gable, mirrors the dazzling detail of the interior. There, muted colors and plush furnishings live in harmony with light-toned hardwood floors. Today's emphasis on environmentally friendly and energy-efficient homes, the shotgun was prescient and set the standard for a charming and intriguing style perfect for a narrow lot. In this design, the entrance is through a side door set under the roofs eave line or a side porch extending the length of the house.
It was painstakingly preserved and restored as far as possible and now stands as an example of a lost way of life, said architect Mario Fonda-Bonardi, a board member of the Santa Monica Conservancy. Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for individuals with disabilities. We are continuously working to improve the accessibility of our web experience for everyone, and we welcome feedback and accommodation requests. “Typically buyers don’t want to walk through kids’ bedrooms in the morning,” Kattengell says. The City of Santa Monica took ownership of the house because the community organization that had rescued the house had disbanded, and the house was considered abandoned. In 2007, the City issued a request for proposals to find a suitable use for the Shotgun House.
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