Shotgun house
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The shotgun house is a type of house that was the most popular style in the American South from just after the Civil War until the 1920s. Alternate names include shotgun shack, shotgun cottage, and railroad apartments. The style was developed in New Orleans, but the houses can be found as far away as Chicago and California. Shotgun houses are characterized by their narrow rectangular structure, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, three to five rooms deep, all connected to each other with no hallways, with doors at each end. The term "shotgun" is usually said to come from the saying that one could fire a shotgun through the front door and the pellets would fly cleanly through the house and out the back door. Though that is often true, it isn't always the case, and the name's origin may actually reflect its African heritage.
There are several variations allowing for additional features and space, and many have been updated to the needs of future generations of owners. The oldest shotgun houses were built without indoor plumbing, and this was often added later, often crudely. Double-barrel shotgun houses allowed for two houses to share a central wall and fit more houses into an area, and camelback shotgun houses allowed for a second floor at the rear of the house. In some cases, the entire floorplan has been changed during remodelling to create hallways.
Shotguns, though initially popular with the middle class as much as the poor, became a symbol of poverty in the mid-20th century, but opinion is now more mixed, with some the targets of bulldozing due to urban renewal, but others the recipients of historical preservation and gentrification. They remain the most prevalent housing in many southern cities and towns.
History
Shotgun houses were most popular before widespread ownership of the automobile allowed people to live further from businesses and other destinations and when building lots were kept small out of necessity, 30 feet (9 m) wide at most. An influx of people to cities, both from rural areas in America and from foreign countries, all looking to fill rapidly emerging manufacturing jobs, created the high demand for housing in cities. Shotgun houses were thus built to fulfill the same need as rowhouses in Northeastern cities. Several were usually built at a time by a single builder, contributing to their relatively similar appearance.
A well-known theory for its popularity over other available styles of housing was that in New Orleans and some other cities, property tax was based on lot width; thus, a shotgun house would minimize property taxes Yi-Fu Tuan. "Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience" Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. But the most compelling reason was probably its cheap construction cost and superior natural air cooling qualities, in a time long before air conditioning. The many later variations suggest adaptation to conditions not present when the shape was first used, showing that its flexibility probably contributed to its popularity. Vlach, J: "Shotgun houses", pages 51-57. Natural History 86, 1977).
It has been suggested, most notably by folklorist and professor John Michael Vlach, that the origin of the building style and the name itself may trace back to Haiti and Africa in the 1700s and earlier. The name may have originated from the Africa's Southern Dohomey Fon area term, to-gun, which means, "place of assembly." The description, probably used in New Orleans by Afro-Haitian slaves, may have been misunderstood and reinterpreted as "Shotgun."
The theory behind the earlier African origin is tied to the history of New Orleans. In 1803 there were 1,355 free blacks in the city. By 1810 blacks outnumbered whites 10,500 to 4,500. This caused a housing boom, and as many of both the builders and inhabitants were Africans by way of Haiti, historians believe it is only natural they modeled the new homes after ones they left behind in their homeland. Many surviving Haitian dwellings of the period, including about 15 percent of the housing stock of Port-au-Prince, resemble the single shotgun houses of New Orleans. This theory is now widely accepted by historians.
The shotgun house was popularized in New Orleans, Louisiana, first seen there definitively in 1832, though there is evidence that houses sold in the 1830s were built 15 to 20 years earlier . They were eventually built heavily in hot urban areas in the South, since its great length allowed for excellent airflow, while its narrow frontage increased the number of plots that could be fitted along a street. It was used so heavily that some southern cities estimate that even today their housing stock is 10% shotgun houses or more Burns, Richard Allen. The Shotgun Houses of Trumann, Arkansas, Arkansas Review, (April 2002), Vol. 33, Issue 1
After the Great Depression, few shotgun houses were built, and existing ones went into decline. By the late 20th century, shotgun houses in some areas were being restored as housing and for other uses.
Shotgun houses were often initially built as rental properties, located near manufacturing centers or railroad hubs, providing logical housing choices for workers. They were often built by the owners of factories to rent specifically to employees, usually for a few dollars a month. By the late 20th century though, shotguns were often owner-occupied, for example, 85% of the homes in New Orleans' shotgun-dominated Lower Ninth Ward are owner-occupied. Starr, S. Frederick. The New Orleans Shotgun: Down but Not Out. New York Times. Sep 22, 2005. pg. F.7
Characteristics
The rooms of a shotgun house are lined up one behind the other, typically a living room is first, then one or two bedrooms, and finally a kitchen in back. Early shotgun houses were not built with bathrooms, but in later years a bathroom with a small hall was built before the last room of the house, or a side addition was built off of the kitchen. Some shotguns may have as few as two rooms.
Chimneys tended to be built in the interior, allowing the front and middle rooms to share a chimney with a fireplace opening in each room. The kitchen usually has its own chimney.
Other than the basic floor layout, shotgun houses have many standard features in common. The house is almost always close to the street, sometimes with a very short front yard, and no porch. In some cases, the house has no front yard and is actually flush with the sidewalk. The original steps were wood, but typically were replaced with permanent concrete steps eventually.
A sign of its New Orleans heritage, the house is usually raised two to three feet off the ground. There is a single door and window in the front of the house, and often a side door leading into the back room, which is slightly wider than the rest of the house. The front door and window often were originally covered by decorative shutters. Because there is not much space between houses, there almost never are windows on the side walls.
Typically, shotgun houses have a wood frame structure and wood siding, although some examples exist in brick and even stone. Many shotguns, especially older or less expensive ones, have flat roofs that end at the front wall of the house. In houses built after 1880, the roof usually overhangs the front wall, and there is usually a gable above the overhang. The overhang is usually supported by decorative wooden brackets, and sometimes contains cast iron ventilators. [Shotgun Houses on Architectural Patrimony]. Accessed April 4, 2006.
The rooms are good sized, and have relatively high ceilings for cooling purposes, as when warm air can rise higher, the lower part of a room tends to be cooler. Rooms usually have some decoration such as moldings, ceiling medallions, and elaborate woodwork. In cities like New Orleans, local industries supplied elaborate, but mass-produced, brackets other and ornaments for shotgun houses that were accessible even to homeowners of modest means.
Variations
A conventional one-story freestanding shotgun house is often called a single shotgun. Many common variations exist in high quantity, and are often actually more common than the single shotgun in cities.
- Double Shotgun, also called double-barrel shotgun, essentially two shotgun houses connected to each other, a form of Semi-detached housing. The double shotgun requires less land per household than the traditional shotgun and was used extensively in poorer areas because it could be built with fewer materials and use less land per occupant. It was first seen in New Orleans in 1854.
- Camelback house, also called Humpback, a variation of the Shotgun that has a partial second floor over the rear of the house. Camelback houses were built in the latter period of shotgun houses. The floor plan and construction is very similar to the traditional shotgun house, except there are stairs in the back room leading up the second floor. The second floor, or "hump", contains one to four rooms. Because it was only a partial second story, most cities only taxed it as a single-story house - in fact this was a key reason for their construction. Holl, Steven. Rural and Urban House Types in North America, Princeton Architectural Press (1990) p.34-39
- Double Width Shotgun, is where an extra large and wide shotgun house would be built on two lots instead of one. These were typically built one to a block in locations where a single person would first buy the entire city block during development, then build themselves a double sized home and then subdivide the rest of the block with single lot homes.
- "North shore" houses, shotgun houses with wide verandas on three sides. They were so named because most were built on the north shore of New Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain as summer homes for wealthy whites.
- The term may also refer to a different structure, common in rural areas and small towns, which takes the form of a small, long, free-standing house, generally made of wood, with no hallways. Unlike the larger terraced version, this is generally a single-storied dwelling, but it was still associated with poverty and popular partially because of its ability to make hot weather more comfortable. It was most prevalent along waterways and bayous in rural Louisiana.
Decline and legacy
The construction of shotgun houses slowed and eventually stopped during the early 20th century. The affordability of two technological innovations, the car and consumer air conditioning units, made the key advantages of the shotgun house obsolete to home buyers. After World War II, shotgun houses had very little appeal to those building or buying new houses, as car-oriented modern suburbs were built en masse. There have been no new shotgun houses built in America since the war, although the concept of a simple, single-level floor plan lived on in ranch-style houses.The surviving urban shotgun houses suffered problems related to those typically facing the inner city neighborhoods in which they were located. The flight of affluent residents to the suburbs, absentee owners, and a shortage of mortgage lenders for inner city residents lead to the deterioration of shotgun houses in the mid and late 20th century. Confusing ownership, passed down amongst a family over several generations, also contributed to many houses sitting vacant for years.
Though shotguns are sometimes perceived as being housing prevalent in poor African American neighborhoods, many were originally built heavily in segregated white neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods became predominantly black during the 1950s and 1960s, but many did not and remain predominantly white.
Regardless of who was living in them, from World War II until the 1980s, shotguns came to be widely viewed as substandard housing and a symbol of poverty, and they were demolished by many urban renewal projects. This thinking is no longer so prevalent, with cities such as Houston and Charlotte establishing "Shotgun Historic Districts". Shotgun houses even been praised as quality and cost-effective cultural assets that promote a distinctive urban life. Other cities, such as Macon, Georgia, experimented with renovating shotgun houses for low-income residents, but found that it is cheaper and more effective to tear them down and build new housing. Duncan, S. Heather. Rehab or replace? The case for and against shotgun houses. The Macon Telegraph. Mar 6, 2006. pg. 1
There are many large neighborhoods in older American cities of the south which still contain a high concentration of shotgun houses today. Examples include Bywater in New Orleans and Cabbagetown in Atlanta. Their role in the history of the south has become recognized, for example, Rice University recently sponsored an exhibition called "Shotguns 2001", which featured artistic paintings of the houses and lectures, in a neighborhood of restored shotguns.
In some shotgun-dominated neighborhoods, property value has become quite high, leading to gentrification. Sometimes, a new owner will buy both homes of a double-barreled shotgun structure, and combine them to form a relatively large single house. Shotguns are also often combined to renovate them into office or storage space.
The shotgun house plays a role in the folklore and culture of the south. Superstition holds that ghosts and spirits are attracted to shotgun houses because they may pass straight through them, and that some houses were built with doors intentionally misaligned to deter these spirits. They also often serve as a convenient symbol of life in the south. Elvis Presley was born in a shotgun house, Karal Ann Marling, Elvis Presley's Graceland, or the Aesthetic of Rock 'n' Roll Heaven, American Art, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Autumn, 1993), pp. 72-105 the Neville Brothers grew up in one, Arroyo, Raymond. The Devotion of Aaron Neville. Crisis Magazine, September 2001. and Robert Johnson is said to have died in one. [Trail of the Hellhound: Delta Sites], Retrieved April 4, 2006
See also
References
External links
- [Shotgun Houses on Architectural Patrimony] (includes many example photos)
- [Description on Great Buildings Online]
- [Shotgun Homes and porches]
- [Future of Shreveport's shotgun houses subject of public hearing]
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