Shotgun House - Houston, Texas
This boarded up shotgun house may date to the early 20th Century. It would be nice to believe that it was saved and relocated for local historical preservation purposes.
Shotgun houses generally consist of a gabled front porch and two or more rooms laid out in a straight line. Rooms are directly connected without hallways. Shotgun houses may have derived their name from that room format, as it was sometimes said that a bullet shot from the front door would pass through the house without hitting anything and exit through the back door. However, the term may also be derived from togun, the Yoruba word meaning “house” or “gathering place.” Although shotgun houses are small, were inexpensively built, and generally lack amenities, they have been praised for their architectural virtues, which include the ingenious use of limited space and decoration such as gingerbread trim and brightly painted exteriors. They represent a unique African American contribution to architecture in the United States, dating from the early 19th century to the early 20th century.
Info from Encyclopedia Britannica
Shotgun House - Houston, Texas
This boarded up shotgun house may date to the early 20th Century. It would be nice to believe that it was saved and relocated for local historical preservation purposes.
Shotgun houses generally consist of a gabled front porch and two or more rooms laid out in a straight line. Rooms are directly connected without hallways. Shotgun houses may have derived their name from that room format, as it was sometimes said that a bullet shot from the front door would pass through the house without hitting anything and exit through the back door. However, the term may also be derived from togun, the Yoruba word meaning “house” or “gathering place.” Although shotgun houses are small, were inexpensively built, and generally lack amenities, they have been praised for their architectural virtues, which include the ingenious use of limited space and decoration such as gingerbread trim and brightly painted exteriors. They represent a unique African American contribution to architecture in the United States, dating from the early 19th century to the early 20th century.
Info from Encyclopedia Britannica