One of the reasons to visit New Orleans is to see and appreciate its historic architectural treasures. From the lowliest New Orleans shotgun, so named because you can shoot a shotgun through the front door and it will go out the back door without hitting anything, to the elegant French Quarter mansions with elaborate wrought iron balconies, they exist cheek by jowl and are all different. See the three story masterpieces of St.Charles Avenue mansions built in the mid 1800s, many of them owned by the same families today. What kinds can you see and how do you know what you are looking at?
Instructions
Identifying New Orleans Historic Houses
1. See the creole cottage, most built from 1790 to 1850, they are found mainly in the French Quarter. The cottages are single story, set at ground level with high pitched roofs. They are symmetrical with a four opening facade wall and are set close to the property line.
2. Find American townhouses, built from 1820 to 1850. You can see them in the Lower Garden District. They are narrow three story buildings set at ground level. The facade wall is on the property line with an asymmetrical arrangement of facade openings and a balcony on the second floor.
3. Notice the Creole townhouses, built from 1788 to the mid 1800s. You will find them in the French Quarter and surrounding old neighborhoods. If you see a two- to four-story structure set at ground level with a symmetrical arrangement of arched openings and the facade wall set on property line, you have found a Creole townhouse. There will be an iron balcony on the second and sometimes third levels and steeply pitched side-gabled roof often with multiple roof dormers.
4. Look for the raised center hall cottage or villa, built from 1803 to 1870. You will find examples of these in the Garden District, Uptown and Carrollton. They have one-and-a-half stories raised two to eight feet above ground on brick piers. Note the full-width front gallery framed by six columns. The cottage will have five openings with the front door in the center, a side-gabled roof, often broken by a central dormer.
5. See the New Orleans shotgun house built from 1850-1910 and found throughout the city. They are usually one-story, but many have a second story, called a camel back, built at the rear of the house. These are narrow rectangular structures raised on brick piers. Most have a narrow front porch covered by a roof apron and are supported by columns and brackets, often with lacy Victorian gingerbread. These are the predominant New Orleans house type.
6. Don't miss the double gallery houses, built from 1820 to 1850. You will find them in the Lower Garden District, the Garden District, Uptown, and along Esplanade Ridge. They are two story structures raised on low brick piers with side-gabled or hipped roofs. The structures are set back from the property line with covered two-story galleries framed by columns. There will be a symmetrical arrangement of facade openings.
