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51-529: The two-story building had 1,800 square feet (170 m). It was surrounded by parking lots and new development. The building had a shotgun layout , with one narrow bar room leading to another, leading to a back porch. The bar that operated in the building was a typical dive bar that drew a diverse crowd of people, including from nearby apartments, hotels, courthouses, and office buildings. The building has an unknown date of construction, and appeared on maps as early as 1887. A bar opened there as early as 1890 as

102-413: A description of this shotgun house and Jeff's fondness of it. One of the more widely known references to a shotgun house is in the 1980 Talking Heads song " Once In A Lifetime ". The first line of the song is "And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack". The John Mellencamp song " Pink Houses " was inspired when he was driving along an overpass on the way home to Bloomington, Indiana from

153-933: A distinctive urban life. Other cities, such as Macon, Georgia , experimented with renovating shotgun houses for low-income residents and, though there was indecision whether it would be cheaper to tear them down and build new housing, some were rebuilt. There are many large neighborhoods in older American cities of the south which still contain a high concentration of shotgun houses today. Examples include Third Ward in Houston ; Bywater in New Orleans ; The Hill in St. Louis ; Portland , Butchertown and Germantown in Louisville ; Cabbagetown in Atlanta and Village West of Coconut Grove in Miami where

204-463: 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. In some cases, the house has no setback and is actually flush with the sidewalk . The original steps were wood, but were often replaced with permanent concrete steps. A sign of its New Orleans heritage,

255-557: 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 offices or storage spaces. Elements of the shotgun style have recently been seen in a number of the compact, low-occupancy structures employed in the Solar Decathlon contests held periodically in Washington, DC. While some are erected from panels brought to

306-487: A very poor class of tenants. 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 others and for other uses. Shotgun houses were often initially built as rental properties, located near manufacturing centers or railroad hubs, to provide housing for workers. Owners of factories frequently built

357-483: Is forsbourg , derived from Latin forīs , 'out of', and Vulgar Latin (originally Germanic) burgum , 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, this name was given to an agglomeration forming around a throughway leading outwards from a city gate, and usually took the name of the same thoroughfare within the city. As cities were often located atop hills (for defensive purposes), their outlying communities were frequently lower down. Many faubourgs were located outside

408-404: Is a side door allowing access to the kitchen, or a porch along the side extending almost the length of the house. "North shore" houses are 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 construction of shotgun houses slowed and eventually stopped during

459-403: 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 the kitchen. Some shotguns have only two rooms. Chimneys tended to be built in the interior, allowing the front and middle rooms to share a chimney with

510-469: Is that the style can be traced from Africa to Saint Dominican influences on house design in New Orleans , but the houses can be found as far away as Key West and Ybor City in Florida , and Texas , and as far north as Chicago , Illinois . Though initially as popular with the middle class as with poor families, the shotgun house became a symbol of poverty in the mid-20th century. Urban renewal led to

561-684: Is usually supported by decorative wooden brackets, and sometimes contains cast iron ventilators. The rooms are well-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. The lack of hallways allows for efficient cross-ventilation in every room. 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 and other ornaments for shotgun houses that were accessible even to homeowners of modest means. The double shotgun requires less land per household than

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612-459: Is very similar to the traditional shotgun house, except there are stairs in the back room leading up to 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 – this was a key reason for their construction. A combination, the Double Camelback shotgun, also exists. A minor variation

663-486: The rue Saint-Denis within the walls. The rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré came about in a similar manner. The term was also used in the early expansion of New Orleans beyond the original city plan, when French was still a common language in the colonial city. Faubourg Tremé and Faubourg Marigny , two of the oldest neighborhoods outside of the French Quarter , are persistent examples. Another early example

714-544: The Indianapolis airport . There was an old black man sitting outside his little pink shotgun house with his cat in his arms, completely unperturbed by the traffic speeding along the highway in his front yard. "He waved, and I waved back," Mellencamp said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "That's how 'Pink Houses' started.". In Bruce Springsteen's song " We Take Care of Our Own ", from the album Wrecking Ball , he refers to shotgun houses, singing "We take care of our own, from

765-551: The Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve ). This style was used so frequently that some southern cities estimate that, even today, 10% or more of their housing stock is composed of shotgun houses. The earliest known use of "shotgun house" as a name for these dwellings is in a classified advertisement in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , August 30, 1903: "Two 3-room houses near

816-458: The Louis XIII wall there were urbanised areas, and those were called faubourgs. In 1701, these faubourgs were annexed to the city, and at about the same time, the wall was demolished, and where it once stood, there is now the chain of Great Boulevards that leads from Place de la Bastille via Place de la République and Place de la Madeleine to Place de la Concorde . The border of

867-612: The South , since the style's length and outside doors at each end allowed for excellent airflow, while its narrow frontage increased the number of lots that could be fitted along a street, as was the case with the shotgun homes in Fazendeville, Louisiana , a historic, African American village that was ultimately razed during the 1960s as part of the creation of the Chalmette National Historical Park and Battlefield (now part of

918-503: The 1950s and 1960s, but many others 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 such cities as Charlotte establishing "Shotgun Historic Districts". Shotgun houses have even been praised as quality and cost-effective cultural assets that promote

969-514: The Hare and Corbin saloon. It subsequently saw numerous residential and commercial uses. The Main Bar owners purchased the business in 2000. The building and property owner, developer and attorney Scott Schiff, attempted to evict the bar in 2015, along with surrounding properties. The bar owner successfully resisted the eviction attempts at the time, though properties around it were demolished or developed, leaving

1020-511: The US and from foreign countries, all looking to fill emerging manufacturing jobs, created the high demand for housing in cities. Shotgun houses were built to fulfill the same need as rowhouses in Northeastern cities. Several were often built at a time by a single builder, contributing to their similar appearance. The rooms of a shotgun house are lined up one behind the other, typically a living room

1071-403: The back of the house, sometimes crudely. "Double-barrel" or "double" shotgun houses are a semi-detached configuration, consisting of two houses sharing a central wall, allowing more houses to be fit into an area. "Camelback" shotgun houses include a second floor at the rear of the house. In some cases the entire floor plan is changed during remodeling to create hallways. The origins of both

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1122-631: The city walls, and "suburbs" were further away from this location ( sub , "below"; urbs urbis , "city"). Faubourgs are sometimes considered the predecessor of European suburbs, into which they sometimes evolved in the 1950s and 1960s, while others underwent further urbanisation. Although early suburbs still conserved some characteristics related to faubourgs (such as the back alleys with doors, little break margins for houses), later suburbs underwent major changes in their construction, primarily in terms of residential density. Beside many French cities, faubourgs can still be found outside Europe include

1173-440: The city was transferred a few kilometers outwards, and the new borderline, which was in force until 1860, is now marked by the outer circle of boulevards passing through Place Charles de Gaulle in the west and Place de la Nation in the east. In 1860, the border of the city was once more transferred a few kilometers outwards to where it still is. Haussmann's renovation of Paris erased many traces of ancient faubourgs and

1224-416: The destruction of many shotgun houses; however, in areas affected by gentrification , historic preservation efforts have led to the renovation of such houses. Several variations of shotgun houses allow for additional features and space, and many have been updated to the needs of later generations of owners. The oldest shotgun houses were built without indoor plumbing , which was often added later, often on

1275-407: The early 20th century. The increased 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 . Few shotgun houses have been built in the US since

1326-455: The extremely limited evidence – two rooms that "may or may not have been unified" – has been challenged as "premature". Vlach's theory behind the earlier African origin is tied to the history of New Orleans . In 1803 there were 1,355 free black people in the city. By 1810 black people outnumbered white people 10,500 to 4,500. This caused a housing boom. As many of both the builders and inhabitants were Africans by way of Haiti, Vlach maintained it

1377-437: The greatest number are found dispersed from there in a manner that supports the diffusion theory. The style was definitely built there by 1832, though there is evidence that houses sold in the 1830s were built 15 to 20 years earlier. A simpler theory is that they are the typical one-room-deep floor plan popular in the rural south, rotated to accommodate narrow city lots. Such houses were built throughout hot urban areas in

1428-479: The historic building standing alone. In the same year, the site was listed as one of the region's most endangered sites, as recorded by Columbus Landmarks . The property remained on the organization's endangered site list until demolition. In February 2021, the bar closed, amid the COVID-19 pandemic . The bar owner decided to close due to low foot traffic during the pandemic, a rough cycle of closings and reopenings, and

1479-459: The house is usually raised two to three feet (60 to 90 cm) 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. Side walls may or may not have windows; rooms adjoining either the front or back door will generally have at least one window even when

1530-417: The houses are built very close together. 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

1581-583: The houses to rent specifically to employees, usually for a few dollars a month. However, by the late 20th century shotguns were often owner-occupied. For example, 85% of the houses (many of them shotgun) in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward were owner-occupied. Shotgun houses were most popular before widespread ownership of the automobile allowed people to live farther from businesses and other destinations. Building lots were small, 30 feet (9 m) wide at most. An influx of people to cities, both from rural areas in

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1632-575: The last remaining 25 shotgun homes have been designated as historic structures. Their role in the history of the south has become recognized; for example, in October 2001 Rice University sponsored an exhibition called "Shotguns 2001". This three-day event featured lectures on and artistic paintings of the houses, as well as presentations and panel discussions in a neighborhood of restored shotguns. In some shotgun-dominated neighborhoods, gentrification has led to property values becoming quite high. Sometimes,

1683-416: The mid-to-late 20th century. Confusing ownership passed down within a family over several generations also contributed to many houses sitting vacant for years. Though shotguns are sometimes perceived as being prevalent in poor African American neighborhoods, many originally constituted much of the housing stock of segregated white neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods became predominantly black during

1734-497: The name may have originated from a Dahomey 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". Citing Vlach, James Deetz claimed archaeological support for an African origin in his dig at Parting Ways , a 1790s community of freed black slaves in Plymouth, Massachusetts; his shotgun interpretation of

1785-530: The other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War (1861–65) through the 1920s. Alternative names include shotgun shack , shotgun hut , shotgun cottage , and in the case of a multihome dwelling, shotgun apartment ; the design is similar to that of railroad apartments . A longstanding theory

1836-523: The province of Quebec in Canada and the city of New Orleans in the United States . The cities of Quebec and Montreal contain examples, although Montreal has far greater divergences in terms of banlieue , which lead to similarities of many Ontarian and American suburbs. Faubourgs were prominent around Paris since the 16th century. At that time, Paris was surrounded by a city wall . But even outside

1887-462: The railroad yards at Simpson st. crossing, rent $ 12 a month to good tenants who pay in advance; price $ 1,200 on terms or $ 100 cash, balance $ 15 a month; a combination of investment and savings bank: these are not shacks, but good shot-gun houses in good repair." While this advertisement seems to present shotgun houses as a desirable working-class housing alternative, by 1929 a Tennessee court noted that shotgun houses could not be rented to any other than

1938-588: The sections of Ville-Marie . Furthermore, the term des faubourgs de Montréal ("the Montreal suburbs") is preserved in some place names in the city proper , such as the annexes (branches) of the École des Métiers des Faubourgs-de-Montréal . There was also a Caisse des Faubourgs de Montréal in The Village , which in 2003 was closed down. The term faubourg is still alive in Quebec City , where it

1989-542: The shotgun shack to the Super Dome". Springsteen also references "shotgun shack" in "Reason to Believe" from his 1982 album Nebraska , with the line, "In a whitewashed shotgun shack, an old man passes away / they take his body to the graveyard, and over him, they pray." Faubourg#New Orleans " Faubourg " ( French: [fo.buːʁ] ) is an ancient French term historically equivalent to " fore-town " (now often termed suburb or banlieue ). The earliest form

2040-469: The site, many such structures consist of enclosed single or multiple units designed specifically for road transports, with multiple modules connected on site, and compact linear structures often employ multiple-use "zones" rather than specifically private areas, while retaining a linear progression of spaces. In 2011, Louisville's daily newspaper The Courier-Journal reported that a local nonprofit agency devoted to building and renovating affordable housing

2091-399: The site. The public reacted critically on social media, expressing that surface parking is already overabundant, and that historic building losses are already substantial downtown. The building was demolished in October 2021. Shotgun house A shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with rooms arranged one behind

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2142-554: The south. Elvis Presley was born in a shotgun house , Aaron Neville of The Neville Brothers grew up in one, and according to bluesman David Honeyboy Edwards , Robert Johnson died in one. Shortly before his death in May 1997, Jeff Buckley rented a shotgun house in Memphis and was so enamoured with it he contacted the owner about the possibility of buying it. Dream Brother , David Browne's biography of Jeff and Tim Buckley , opens with

2193-419: The term " shotgun " is a reference to the idea that if all the doors are opened, a shotgun blast fired into the house from the front doorway will fly cleanly to the other end and out at the back. Alternatively, folklorist and professor John Michael Vlach has suggested that the origin of the building style and the name itself may trace back to Haiti and Africa during the 18th century and earlier. Vlach claimed

2244-460: The term and the architectural form and development of the shotgun house are controversial, even more so in the wake of conflicting preservation and redevelopment efforts since Hurricane Katrina . New Orleans architectural historian Samuel Wilson, Jr. influentially suggested that shotgun-style houses originated in the Creole suburbs ( faubourgs ) of New Orleans in the early 1800s. He also stated that

2295-458: The term banlieue was then coined. Many Parisian streets have retained their ancient denomination in spite of city growth; today it is still possible to discern pre-1701 delimitations in Paris by marking the point where a thoroughfare's name changes from rue to rue du faubourg . For instance, the rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis used to be located outside of the city wall and was an extension of

2346-496: The tight space not ideal during COVID operating restrictions. The property owner planned to demolish the building. At the bar's closing announcement that February, Schiff stated he had no site plans, but aimed to use the space for seven parking spaces for now. The Columbus Downtown Commission approved the building's demolition in June 2021, following two engineer reports that supported demolition, despite no specific plan for new development on

2397-418: 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. A camelback house, also called humpback, is a variation of the shotgun that has a partial second floor over the rear of the house. Camelback houses were built in the later period of shotgun houses. The floor plan and construction

2448-423: 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 led to the deterioration of shotgun houses in

2499-455: Was Faubourg Ste. Marie , originally (late 18th century) a residential area, which was overtaken by commerce, developing into the modern Central Business District . Greater Montreal no longer has any actual faubourgs on the main island , as the suburb now refers to the North and South Shores . However, place names such as le Faubourg St-Laurent are still occasionally used to refer to

2550-426: Was building new shotgun houses in a development in southwest Louisville. The shotgun house plays a large 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

2601-406: Was 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. The shotgun house was popularized in New Orleans, and, as Fred Kniffen documented in a statewide survey of Louisiana house types in the 1930s,

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