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What Is a Shotgun House? An Architectural Style With a Wild History

shotgun house

Robert Holmes/Corbis/VCG

Homes come in a plethora of architectural styles, from ranch to Craftsman, but here’s one with a particularly exotic history and challenging layout: a shotgun house. A shotgun house has a long, narrow layout in which each room leads to the next; in theory, you could shoot a bullet shot through the front door that would exit straight out the back (not that we’re advocating the use of firearms inside the house, of course).

The wild history of shotgun houses

Shotgun houses were brought to the United States in the 18th and 19th century, as islanders in Haiti and the West Indies started settling in New Orleans, bringing this African architectural style with them. It spread northward from there, and while homes of this type are still most frequently found throughout the South, they can also be found in apartment form in major northern cities like New York and Chicago (where they’re usually called “railroad apartments” because their long, narrow layout is the size and shape of a railroad car).

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Over their long history, shotgun homes have gone in and out of fashion. Also known as “shotgun shacks,” they were once targeted for demolition in cities from New Orleans to Lexington and Covington, KY. Today, however, they are cherished as an integral part of our country’s architectural heritage and gaining popularity among home buyers, who embrace their simple charm.

Pros and cons of a shotgun house

Historical roots aside, the prevalence of shotgun houses in the South also has to do with the weather. Shotgun homes have excellent cross-ventilation between the front and back doors and windows, which allowed for a nice breeze to waft throughout a house, long before the invention of air conditioning. Typically, the front door opens into the living room, and the kitchen sits at the back of the house, to keep the heat from the stove and oven from spreading to the other parts of the home.

Johnice Katz, a real estate adviser and historic home specialist with Engel & Volkers, explains that this distinctive layout has its drawbacks. “Because a shotgun layout lacks privacy—something the Creoles cared little about—it is actually not the preferred house type of modern buyers,” she says.

That said, shotgun houses do have their die-hard fans, and Katz is one of them: After spending years documenting and sharing photos of New Orleans’ many beautiful examples of shotgun homes on social media, she and her husband recently closed on their own such home in the city.

“Some people jump on the chance to buy a shotgun house, knowing that they’ll have fun taking on the challenge of redesigning the layout,” she says. Some homeowners add interior or even exterior hallways, or carve out space for extra closets or pantries that break up the original flow of the home and offer additional storage.

Such solutions are not only an inspiration to other shotgun house owners, but to anyone living in a cramped space.

“All over New Orleans, you’ll find creative solutions to strict rectangular living,” says Katz. Seeing all the different ways buyers and sellers adapt their shotguns is one of my favorite things about New Orleans real estate.”

The post What Is a Shotgun House? An Architectural Style With a Wild History appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.