“TURN OF THE CENTURY” ONE ROOM, TWO ROOMS AND SHOTGUN HOUSES
Fig. 22. Circa 1910 two room house with integral gallery (Bldg. 120).
Fig. 23. Front view of a circa 1920 one room house (Bldg. 115).
Fig. 24. Side view of 1920 one room house (Bldg. 115).
The alluvial lands east of the Ouachita contained two categories of dwellings, those of the plantation owner as previously described and the houses of the tenants and small land owners. The dwellings depicted on these and subsequent pages are typical of the latter category. The basic folk house plan types used were the one room, two room, shotgun and later the bungalow. Houses were usually constructed of wood frame with vertical board and batten siding or horizontal milled siding.
A feature which the basic one room and two room plan dwellings had in common was the integral front gallery. The gallery roof framing was part of the roof structure of the core of the dwelling. One might notice in [figure 22] that although two gallery columns are absent, the roof is still standing.
The one room type is illustrated in figures [23] and [24]. The front view of the circa 1920 house shows a side addition to the original core room. The side view, [figure 24], shows that this was originally two rooms deep since the space usually occupied by the rear gallery was enclosed. The roof had wood shingles on wood lath. The shingles were later replaced with sheets of tin.
The two room plan houses in figures [25] and [26] were expanded as the space requirements of the occupants increased. The first example has a rear appendage. Vertical board and batten siding was used on the addition, but an inconsistency in window sash selection occurred. In [figure 26] the appendage was built as a shed addition on the side. This large two room house is two rooms in depth. This additional depth allows the roof to be higher, a definite advantage for the reduction of summer heat.
Fig. 25. Two room house with board and batten siding (Bldg. 118).
Fig. 26. Circa 1910 two room house on the O.Z.O. Plantation (Bldg. 129).
The shotgun type house plan, [figure 27], was used abundantly on the river plantations. The typical plan was one room wide and two or more rooms deep. There were front and rear gables. Variety occurred at the front gallery as evidenced in the pair of shotguns illustrated. The gallery might be the full width of the core allowing space for chairs and thus creating an extra “room” for relief from the summer heat of the interior rooms. This gallery also provided a place for social interaction between the occupants and passersby. In contrast with this situation, the porch on the right was of the width necessary only to protect the door from the elements and to provide shelter for those entering. As shown, shotgun houses were often in close proximity to each other. This feature may have had its background in the fact that the shotgun plan had been used in urban situations in New Orleans where property was extremely valuable. However, when the plan was transported to a rural situation, the close proximity characteristic remained.
Fig. 27. A pair of 1920’s shotgun houses (Bldg. 125).