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The shotgun house is a type of house that was the most popular style in the American South from just after the Civil War until the 1920s . Alternate names include shotgun shack, shotgun cottage, and railroad apartments. The style was developed in New Orleans , but the houses were found as far away as Chicago and California . Shotgun houses are characterized by their narrow rectangular structure, no more than 12 feet wide, three to five rooms deep, all connected to each other with no hallways, with doors at each end. The term "shotgun" is usually said to come from the saying that you could fire a Shotgun through the front door and the pellets would go cleanly through the house and out the back door. Though that is often true, it isn't always the case, and the name's origin may reflect its Africa n heritage. There are several variations allowing for additional features and space. The older shotgun houses were built without indoor plumbing, and this was often added later, often crudely. Double-barrel shotgun houses allowed for two houses to share a central wall and fit more houses into an area, and camelback shotgun houses allowed for a second floor at the rear of the house. Shotguns, though initially popular with the middle class as much as the poor, became a symbol of poverty in the mid-20th century, but opinion is now more mixed, with some the targets of bulldozing due to urban renewal, but others the recipients of historical preservation and gentrification. They remain the most prevalent housing in many southern cities and towns. HISTORY Shotgun houses were most popular before widespread ownership of the Automobile allowed people to live further from businesses and other destinations, when building lots were kept small out of necessity. An influx of people to cities, both from rural areas and foreign countries, all looking to fill rapidly emerging manufacturing jobs, created the high demand for housing in cities. Shotgun houses were thus built to fulfill the same need as Rowhouse s in Northeastern cities. 1 Shotgun houses were typically built on lots about 30 feet wide at most. Another theory for its popularity over other styles was that in New Orleans, Property Tax was based on lot width, thus a shotgun house would minimize property taxes Yi-Fu Tuan. "Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience" Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. But the most compelling reason was probably its cheap construction cost and superior natural air cooling qualities, in a time long before air conditioning. The many variations suggest adaptation to conditions not present when the shape was first used. Vlach, J: "Shotgun houses", pages 51-57. Natural History 86, 1977).
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