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The shotgun house illustrates the history of New Orleans and its community. Here are three quick examples:
1. Like many New Orleanians, the origins of the shotgun house are unknown, but research indicates that many homes in the West Indies have similarly shaped rooms and ceiling heights. This architecture may have carried over as people migrated to New Orleans.
2. Per some theories, cultures that produced shotgun houses were gregarious and open, like the architectural concept they adopted.
3. While shotguns today are sought after, in 1929 they were considered distasteful and “jammed up together, like lumber in a pile.”
– Scott Hutcheson, Senior Advisor to the Mayor on the Cultural Economy