Adapting to New Orleans Architecture

SHOW & TELL
TOPIC: New Orleans Architecture
BY: Anthony Cane

CONTEXT

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HISTORY (REGION)

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HISTORY (REGION)

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HISTORY (STATE)

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HISTORY (STATE)

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HISTORY (CITY)

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HISTORY (CITY)

TYPOLOGIES

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HISTORY (ARCHITECTURE)

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THE SHOTGUN
• Shotguns are called shotguns because they were developed so that all the doors line
up – “you can shoot a gun straight through the house and not hit anything”. Now, you
never need to shoot a gun from the front of the house to the back of the house, but you
are going to want the ventilation that this layout provides. New Orleans is extremely
hot and humid for most of the year, so this was an inventive way to be as cool as possible
before air conditioning was invented.
• You will also find extremely tall ceilings on average even for modest dwellings that
can be 4 meters in height. You would also find attic spaces above, all of these design
were critical in controlling the hot humid air inside the dwelling
• It is also common to have covered front porches to shield from the sun.
• Shotguns can come in single or double varieties, and are typically around 3-4 meters
in width internally,
New double height extensions are referred to as camelbacks.
• They can be decorated in any style – ranging from Greek Revival, Italianate, Eastlake,
or Craftsman.
• Due to the long and narrow divisions of the city and the orientation of the gable roof
structure these buildings adapted well.
• The shotgun house design thrived in New Orleans following two disastrous fires in
the late eighteenth century. Building codes required wooden houses to be narrow so
that there was room between the houses built on small lots. The space made it harder
for fire to spread, so the thinking went, and the Spanish Cabildo (or city council) was
forced to acknowledge that such wooden dwellings were necessary, as poor individuals
could not afford expensive bricks and tile roofs.

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• Another possible source for the shotgun’s
name is derived from the West
African name for a small house where
men meet to talk. “Togu na” (house
of talk), some believe, might have become
“shotgun”.The origin of the name
remains a somewhat disputed topic of
conversation.
• The structure’s very simplicity has allowed
the design to survive since its origins
in West Africa, it’s passage through
the Caribbean and to Haiti, and then its
inevitable landfall in New Orleans in
the early 1800s

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THE CREOLE COTTAGE
• Creole Cottages are thought to have originated in Africa and brought to New Orleans
through Haiti after the Haitian Revolution.
• Earlier examples of Creole cottages are constructed of brick-between posts or masonry,
with smooth plaster or wood weatherboard sheathing. Later examples of Creole
cottages are often of wood-frame construction with wood weatherboard siding.
• The outer façade typically contains two doors and two windows which from the front
could suggest a multifamily residence. Instead, they were built as single family homes
that offer the family the flexibility to choose the primary door utilized by the residents
or even the ability to take in boarders and give them their own entrance.
• The interior of the home is two rooms by two rooms with storage areas (known as
cabinets) located towards the back. Above the main floor is an attic, which can be accessed
through a spiral staircase in the cabinet, making these homes one and a half
stories tall.
• The front façade is sheltered from the weather by an overhang (abat-vent) or roof
overhang that directs rain away from the front façade.
• Originally, Creole Cottages were very plain, but in later years homeowners might
add decorations to them to “modernize” them. Our Creole Cottage has had Italianate
Brackets added to it, a century after the house was built!

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THE CREOLE TOWNHOUSE
• Creole townhouses were built after the Great New Orleans Fire (1788), until the
mid-19th century. The prior wooden buildings were replaced with structures with
courtyards, thick walls, arcades, and cast-iron balconies. The townhouse building
type, or some variation thereof, is common because its vertical massing and long, narrow
footprint make efficient use of land.
• Common in the Vieux Carré from about the 1790s to 1890s, the townhouse building
type is a 2- to 4-story, 1- to 2-room wide, 2-room deep masonry building with distinct
vertical massing, a side gable or hipped roof and an orientation towards the street.
• The townhouse type first appeared in its Creole form in the late colonial period, but
the basic type remained for the better part of a century as the American townhouse
gained popularity.
• In townhouses from different periods of construction, the shape, type and style of
windows vary, and whether or not a projection, such as a balcony or gallery, is present.
• The main block of a townhouse is typically rectangular in plan with a service building
attached or semi-attached either to the rear at one side of the house or, alternatively,
located along the rear edge of the property providing additional bedrooms or
a garçonnière, and historically, a kitchen.
• A Creole townhouse typically has arched openings at the ground floor level and a
passageway or carriageway leading to a side and/or rear entranceway, rather than
a front entrance door. There are no interior hallways, and a stair often links the main
section of a building to a service building.

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• The townhouse had either party walls
or only a narrow passage between
each house and its neighbor. Its first
floor served as mercantile space and its
upper floors served as the family’s primary
living area. Some had a low mezzanine-type
storage area known as an
entresol located between the first and
second floor. The entresol was lighted
by semicircular grilles or fanlights
placed above first floor entrances. The
family’s area featured French doors,
wooden or iron balconies cantilevered
above the front sidewalk, and rear galleries
providing additional outdoor living
space.
• A wide, gated carriage passage
known as a porte-cochère connected
the street to a rear courtyard.

ADAPTATIONS

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