Vlach claims that the use of large timbers reduced the amount of materials required to construct a sturdy house. The double shotgun consisted of two shotgun houses built back-to-back, and was a convenient way of maximizing space usage (and thus income!) Some have been relocated due to their ease of portability while others developed their own small town communities. We're here to answer any questions you have about our services. He This is a plan for three variations of a shotgun house. Shotgun House | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture formative mark on our landscape. By far the most visible influence was that of white enslavers, however. Several variations on the shotgun house existed. So the next time you see those rows of small linear That's why, according to architectural historians and preservationists, many shotgun houses boast details like gingerbread trim and even non-functioning columns. Although the home measures a mere 400 square feet, it . Hunker may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Erin McDowell/Insider I visited Waco, Texas, and Magnolia Market during its annual Silobration. As a result, most enslavers quickly abandoned barracks-style housing in favor of family-focused log and frame quarters. and to M. Culbertson for providing the source According to the Encyclopedia of Louisiana, the standard city lot size of 30 feet by 120 feet limited the residents to only certain styles of housing. These huts, called the Apuja, consisted of waddle-and-daub wall construction that was capped by a thatched hip roof. This is called a 'shotgun camel-back house,' and is usually quite long. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? The Shotgun House exterior. The basic shotgun house has a steeply pitched roof which allows for tall ceilings and the appearance of more space. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program. The oil field did modify the house in order for it to be better suited to the harsh winds of Oklahoma. You see, shotgun houses gave us the southern porch. Vlach, J.M., Sources of the Shotgun House: Another variation, intended to provide more privacy, introduced a hallway running along the long side of the house, so that the interior rooms opened onto the hallway instead of being walkthroughs. Review: I Stayed in the Shotgun House From 'Fixer Upper' - Insider It has been referred to as an architecture of defiance (61).. They're an The classical shotgun house was only one room wide, and three rooms deep. The long and narrow design is much more ideal for transport by rail than any of the other housing styles used by lumber companies. In 1810 the population of New Orleans was just over The terms quarter and cabin were most often used to refer to housing for enslaved workers. As they did on rural plantations, some urban enslavers erected separate quarters for their enslaved laborers outside of the main house. That's where the older According to John M. Vlach, the Yoruba dwelling is similar in both size and shape to slave huts found in Haiti. . 2 /22. Kitchens were particularly popular as mixed-use buildings and featured either two rooms on the first floor, separated into the kitchen and quarters, or a kitchen below and a quartering room above. But like many types of vernacular architecture in American cities, the shotgun house has, in the last few years, become especially appealing to would-be home buyers, a fact reflected in the number of shotguns that have been renovated and listed at high prices in Southern cities. I and II, Doctoral While many associate that notion with the naming of the shotgun house, historians in the late 20th century began to argue that the shotgun house comes directly from the migration of formerly enslaved Africans from Haiti to Southern U.S. cities in the early 1800s. Throughout the history of the United States, each culture group has developed or altered its own set of diagnostic traits in an attempt to adapt to their new environment. The diffusion of shotgun houses across a wide range of the Mid-west and South has allowed for many types of people to inhabit them. Here are more examples of shotgun houses that still stand today. The box-like shape places equal stress on the four corners and prevents leaning or sagging. While the Pennsylvania cities still built in red brick, tenement style housing layouts. Smaller, more private slave buildings reflected an ongoing and complex series of interactions between enslavers and enslaved laborers. Ordeman-Shaw House tours begin promptly on the hour from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meet your guide at Lucas Tavern. All content copyright original author unless stated otherwise. The shotgun house flooded into Oklahoma during the 1905 Glenn Pool oilfield boom. The urban shotgun houses are becoming attractive to buyers while the rural ones are entrenched in poverty. The enslavement of natives, including the Atakapa, Bayogoula, Natchez, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Taensa, and Alabamon peoples, would . where many Haitian slaves 5 Vlach, The Shotgun House: An African Architectural Legacy, 69. The style of building is thought to have been imported from the West Indies, and arrived in the U.S. in the early 19th Century. If I like the book Ill post a review on the blog. It was at this stage that the traditional hip roofs of both the Apuja and Bohio houses gave way to the gabled roofs of the Maison Basse form. Dedicated to your worth and value as a human being! A Brief History of New Orleans' Iconic "Shotgun" Houses One common theme however is that shotgun houses are primarily found in poor, all-black neighborhoods. The third stage of the syncretic development of the Shotgun house consisted of its migration to the United States by means of free Haitian immigrants from the West Indies to New Orleans. In the nineteenth century, quarters were often improved, reflecting a new attitude among enslavers that combined Christian duty, paternalism, scientific agricultural reform, and a sharp business approach to the management of the enslaved workforce. material. the shotgun house did indeed become the best way Learn more about our affiliate and product review process, By creating an account you agree to the Hunker. It was quickly assembled, it required neither blueprints nor skilled carpenters, it used locally available and inexpensive materials, and it was portable and durable. Enslaved people received periodic food and clothing rations, but otherwise supplied all of their other personal material goods, whether through theft, trade, purchase, or the work of their hands. [1]. (Hooks 2004). in American Vernacular Architecture. outward-looking sign of community over America -- Oklahoma Historical Society800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, Oklahoma City, OK 73105 | 405-521-2491Site Index | Contact Us | Privacy | Press Room | Website Inquiries, Get Updates in Your Inbox Keep up to date with our weekly newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Haitian immigrants introduced the shotgun house style to the U.S. around the end of the 18th century and many were built in the South in the mid to late 1800s. Vinson made models of these houses for his traveling exhibit. The most modest of these had unfinished interiors and dirt floors, shuttered windows, and chimneys formed of wood and mud. If your specific country is not listed, please select the UK version of the site, as this is best suited to international visitors. Like shotguns found elsewhere, it is one room wide, two or more rooms deep, and one story high, and it has a door in each end. The architectural basics of the shotgun house are simple: rarely more than 12 feet wide (to accommodate small lots), a shotgun is a house in which one room is set directly behind the one before it, starting with the living room (the most public part of the house), sometimes moving onto a bedroom space (though for cost reasons plenty of shotgun houses initially had just two rooms) and ending with the kitchen. The Bohio form of the Arawak Indians also made room for a front porch that was passed onto the Shotgun houses found in the United States. One of Parks' memories of growing up with her grandparents in Pine Level was of her grandfather, Sylvester Edwards, sleeping armed with a double-barrelled shotgun. (avalyn reports shotgun houses are still prominent throughout The Big Easy, but have been redecorated into a more festive - read: garish - and tightly cramped cavalcade of skinny long buildings.). [5]The frame was then either covered with vertical planks or brick was laid between the frameworks of the house, creating an aesthetic appeal. Their narrow, front-to-back design, with doors aligned in a row, aids air circulation during the summer. According to him, this development took place in three primary stages, which are illustrated in the diagram drawn above. Architectural Legacy, Common Places: Readings 58-78. Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors. According to John Michael Vlach, the historian most responsible for discovering the African roots of the Shotgun house, syncretism is a design strategy migrant communities have used to preserve their material cultures as they move into new cultural environments (Vlach, 1991). world. The slaves brought by the Five Civilized Tribes brought their housing style with them and it became established as a cheap form of housing. It propagated that The Trouble with Typology: Exposing an - Race & Architecture The oil rigs required men to operate them and unlike sawmills, there could be tens to hundreds of rigs operating out of one company town. (2) The homes of the upper class were often designed to be quite wide as an ostentatious display of wealth. According to Vlach, these slaves were trained to replace rough-cut lumber construction with the mortise-and-tenon techniques used by French plantation owners. The relatively small structure (26 by 16 feet) was supported by posts set into the ground and included a single interior fireplace that probably was serviced by a wooden chimney. As such, it is typical of the type of impermanent construction in use throughout the region at this time. Stokes claims that two shotgun house designs were used in Louisiana logging camps, one style was designed to be portable, the other was modeled after the French and migrated its way north. Those located closest to elite plantation houses were generally better built, with wooden frames and masonry chimneys and foundations. Upton and J.M. One must also account for the role of syncretism in the historical development of vernacular forms. Enslavers may have preferred smaller slave houses, such as the 12 by 14 feet (168 square feet) cabin that survives in Stafford County. Culture and Privacy: A Sociology of the Shotgun House As a result, hired enslaved laborers sometimes lodged in boarding houses or found other, cheaper accommodations located relatively near their workplace. Though it entered the United States through New Orleans around the time of the Jackson purchase, it eventually spread through the country. More importantly, though, glazed windows provided improved light and ventilation that kept enslaved people healthier and allowed for extra indoor work as well. Learning from the lumber companies, oil companies also adopted shotgun houses as a cost effective form of housing. I stayed the night in the Shotgun House, one of the homes made over on the HGTV show "Fixer Upper." I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and would recommend the house to "Fixer Upper" fans and non-fans alike.
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