Riding down St Charles, you can’t miss the ornate and colorful buildings enticing you as you cruise past. From shotguns to sprawling mansions, each house has a unique character. Architecture in Louisiana is more than just buildings, instead, it reflects history, identity, and survival. Louisiana architecture is known for being a blend of cultures, French, Spanish, Caribbean, African etc. The state’s buildings are made to stand the test of time and reflect cultural ideas. Follow me through the history of Louisiana’s architecture as this blog will cover styles from the late 1700s to modern times.
Creole cottages were popular in the first half of the 19th century in urban areas. They are of French origin, lacking an interior hallway. They also had a Spanish influence. These buildings were usually low to the ground with four openings, including French doors. These buildings had no setback or yard, just a backyard. The roof of a creole cottage was usually made of wood shingles, boards, or strips of bark and was steeply pitched. On top, there was often a canopy that protected the home’s inhabitants from the elements. The house would also be detailed with dormer windows. Upon entering, one would find themselves in the two front rooms, usually for the family and their guests. A second set of rooms for private use of the family would be behind the first two. The fireplace could be found in the wall dividing the house down the middle. Cabinets, or small rooms used for storage, could be found in the back of the house. The kitchen was detached in its own building near the back or to the side of the house. The Creole cottage began to modernize, for example the canopy became part of the roof and the houses began to be built on higher foundations. The materials for the exteriors were updated to wood weatherboards. The most notable modernization was adding a hallway in the house, eliminating its most identifiable feature. The Creole cottage was popular in the French Quarter and the Faubourg Marigny in New Orleans. These houses were often lived in by builders and owners who were of French descent or free people of color.
Shotgun houses became popular when demand for housing increased in the early 1800s. This structure of house was created in West Africa. Shotguns were thought to be for the lower class and were looked down upon by others, despite their prevalence and multitude. Shotguns are long buildings that are one room wide and multiple rooms deep. Originally, shot guns did not have hallways but they have since evolved. Shotguns are raised from the ground. The structure of the house allows for efficient airflow. The houses are often quite close to one another. Older shotguns didn’t have bathrooms, but more modern ones position the bathroom in the back of the house. There are different types of shotguns as well. “Double barrel” shot guns are two units that share a wall, and “camelbacks” have a second story towards the back. Shotguns are known for their vivid colors and decorations such as gabled roofs and porches.
The townhouse is popular in urban areas due to it being space-efficient, tall and narrow. This house was introduced in the 1790s. It has 2-3 stories and is 2 rooms deep. The roof is side gabled or hoofed. Houses like these can be found in the Central Business District and in the French Quarter. American townhouses can be found in the Garden District, with wrought iron fences and columns. The center hall cottage takes inspiration from the structure of Creole cottages. It has Caribbean inspired architectural details. The rise of this style began in the early 1800s among the upper middle class. The building is raised off of the ground. The rooms are laid out symmetrically around a center hallway. Its most defining feature is the deep front gallery supported by columns. The center hall cottage often has gabled roofs and dormer windows.
The style of Greek Revival became popular during the 18th and early 19th century. It features a wide, flat, plain, often “Greek key” design. It has tall porches and columns or boxed piers. Roofs are front gabled or hipped. This style of houses is common on mansions, plantation houses and
institutional or commercial buildings, but in Cottages and Shotguns. The Neoclassical style of houses were introduced to Louisiana in the 1870s. This is a very classical style of architecture, with classical pilasters, six over six double hung windows, egg and dart and dentil moldings, porches supported by classical columns, and doors flanked by sidelights and topped with fanlights.
The Italianate style comes from the 19th century and is inspired by the Italian renaissance. It became popular in the 1850s in New Orleans. Many Italianate buildings have tall, double hung, fourover-four, two-over-two or two-over-one windows with arched heads and hood moldings, symmetrical facades, hipped roofs, often hidden behind a parapet. They also have horizontally protruding eaves visually supported by brackets, single or paired. This style is often mixed with others like “bracketed” shotgun houses. Victorian houses became popular from the 1870s-1900s. The style of stick work became very popular. There are variants of Victorian style including Queen Anne, with its towers and turrets, and Eastlake, known for brackets, quoins, railings, spindles and skin-like shingling. The most well known Victorian houses in New Orleans are the large and tall houses with decorative roofs, deep-set wrap-around porches and lots of details.
The Arts and Crafts style combines California Craftsman style, the English Arts and Crafts style, and Prairie-style. This style was most popular in the 1920s and 30s. Design choices in this era include unadorned structural building parts and “natural” materials along with deep porches and columns. The layout of these houses are irregular bungalows. They contain straight window bays, strong horizontal massing, The windows may be made up of small panes or leaded glass windows. A large window can be often found under the porch overhang. Art Deco, from the 1920s-50s, combines geometric forms with bold colors. These buildings have a focus on simple geometric shapes. These buildings would be constructed from concrete, stucco, smooth faced stone and terracotta. The Modern style favors horizontality, rectilinear forms, smooth facades, and ribbon windows. There are often long strips of glass, lots of concrete, steel and chrome accents and little decoration.
Louisiana’s architecture has grown and changed with the people inhabiting it. Each structure is a page in the book of its history. These buildings represent more than simple domiciles. They embody the spirit, the resilience of the state. All of these styles of homes still exist and are lived in and enjoyed today. Whether you’re in New Orleans or Lafayette, you can enjoy these awe-inspiring buildings on a simple walking tour or drive.
Riding down St Charles, you can’t miss the ornate and colorful buildings enticing you as you cruise past. From shotguns to sprawling mansions, each house has a unique character. Architecture in Louisiana is more than just buildings, instead, it reflects history, identity, and survival. Louisiana architecture is known for being a blend of cultures, French, […]
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