What is a Shotgun House?

It’s no secret that New Orleans is home to a number of shotgun homes. If you’re not familiar with this type of home, you’ve come to the right place.

A shotgun home is a narrow home designed in a rectangular shape that is 12 feet wide or less with rooms arranged to be one behind the other. Each room has doors at each end to allow those living in the home to get from one room to another.

Where Shotgun Homes Come From?

The style of home was made popular after the American Civil War in the 1860s. It remained as a popular style through the 1920s and mainly became popular in the southern states, such as Louisiana. These homes were not always called shotgun houses, as they were also called shotgun shacks, shotgun cottages and shotgun huts. Some were even called shotgun apartments.

Variations of the Shotgun Home

Typically, shotgun homes are one-story and freestanding. This type of shotgun home is referred to as the single shotgun and there are several variations on this style of home.

A double shotgun is a bit like a double-barrel shotgun because it provides two shotgun homes that have been connected with a shared central wall. This is known as a type of semi-detached housing and requires less land for the home than a traditional shotgun. This style of home used to be used mainly in the poorer areas because they were cheaper to build.

The camelback house or humpback house is another variation of the shotgun, which has a partial second floor. The second floor is found over the back of the home. These homes were built in a very similar way to the traditional shotgun, but have a hump in the rear, hence the name. The second floor or hump has four rooms and since it’s only a partial second story, these homes were taxed as single-story homes.

Another type of shotgun home is the double-width or extra-large shotgun. These homes were built on two lots and would usually were built one-to-a-block. Usually, the person buying the entire city block would build their double-width shotgun home and sell off the rest of the block for single-lot homes. The Double Camelback shotgun is another style that exists. It’s much like the camelback, but has a side door giving easier access to the kitchen from outside. It may also have a porch along the side that could extend the entire length of the home.

The final type of shotgun home is the north shore shotgun home. This type of home comes with wide verandas on three sides and was mainly built on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain as summer homes for wealthy people.

Shotgun homes come in a variety of sizes and styles. Many found in New Orleans have been carefully restored to maintain many of the original elements. It’s not uncommon to see this style of home on the market today and they make good choices for those looking to enjoy New Orleans and some of the unique history of the area.