Mary over at Dear Little Red House is so graciously hosting Mosaic Mondays. Please take some time and visit her and all of the wonderful mosaics up this week on various blogs.I have always been fascinated by these tiny homes. I knew I could NEVER live in one. But as I get older and the "material things" are no longer as important, I wonder...could I be comfortable in one of these "Shotgun Houses"? I mean, I could really add a lot of architectual detail and really cuten (is that a word?) it up! I thought I would share with you today my love of the Shotgun House. Tell me, could you live in one of these? Leave a comment, and I will enter you in a surprise giveaway to be held Sunday eve at 6 p.m. CST. BTW, did I tell you that my father is from Louisiana.....a Cajun....born and raised...so perhaps this is why I love them so.
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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 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.
Have a wonderful week!
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14 comments:
Awesome houses!:D Yes, I could deffenetly live in one^^ Actualy I've been drawing houses like that lately...funny:P
I love these little houses and I could live in one.
Beautiful mosaic!
Carolyn
I lived in one when I was a child, and later when I was pregnant with our third child. Neither one was pretty, just an old house. I might be able to live in one, I live in a mobile home now, so I kinda live in a sideways shotgun house..grin!
great collection of houses! ..all so unique..
Hi!
Yes, definitely yes, I could live in one of these houses! I love that orange-red on at the bottom. Have a great day!
Sherrie
http://splummer-aviewofmylife.blogspot.com/2009/08/mosaic-monday.html
I love your Mosaic Monday post. Those houses are adorable. I definitely can visualize living in one of them myself but that may very well be because I have roots in New Orleans also.
Thank you so much Linda for visiting my blog and I love yours and will come back to visit often.
BTW, LOVE the MacKenzie Child mosaic also.
Carolyn/A Southerners Notebook
Well I lived for more than 3 years, very happily, in what is called a "railroad flat" in New York City. (All the rooms are in a line, like the cars on a train.)
It's similar to a shotgun house . . . in that the rooms open one to the other, although ours had an outside hall, and a partial inside one. I loved that old apartment; brought my first daughter home there.
So I guess, yes, I could live in a shotgun house. But I don't think I could live in New Orleans without MASSIVE air conditioning.
Cass
I could never live in something so tiny, but wouldn't one make a charming studio? I could definitely imagine myself enjoying that!
Great mosaic!
I don't think I could, I'm pretty tall, I need a lot of space :) but the ones in your mosaic look so nice, maybe I could!
Great mosaic!
would so love to own the blue one at the top or either of the yellows...i could live in them...
thanks so much for sharing
i'll dream tonight about having one of these on a lake up in the mountains or one tucked away in an inlet near a beach...aaaaaahhhhh
Hey, my husband is cajun born! I can make a mean gumbo!
I've never lived in a house that small but almost! I *could* live in one all alone but not with anyone else. My nerves are too "delicate". ♥
Wow -- too cool! I never knew the name or the lore! Sure - I'd live in one because I've always wanted to live in an old house!
Hi Linda! I love those shotgun houses! I am from the South, so I am used to seeing them, but associate them more with New Orleans, as you said. And...yes...I could definitely live in one, although a double shotgun made into one house would be oh so roomy and cute!! Happy week...Debbie
Cute little houses, so quaint!
Think they would make great studios!
Best Wishes,
Linda K.
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