Louisiana Office of Tourism [2287IMG0002]

The shotgun house evolved in Haiti from a West African - Yoruba, according to many scholars - house design in which two or more rooms were constructed in a straight line back from the entranceway on the street. New Orleans shotgun houses, which first appeared in the city after the massive 1809 immigration of Haitian refugees, have dimensions quite similar to shotgun houses in Haiti. The high ceilings, large windows, and front-to-back ventilation made the design very popular in the hot New Orleans climate. Many of these houses remain in the Faubourg Tremé neighborhood, a nineteenth-century Afro-Creole stronghold adjacent to the French Quarter.