This is a PS blog entry. Even though we are now in Texas, we wanted to add an entry for Louisiana architecture, since it's so different from our current home town, The Villages, FL. The house above is a pretty upscale house in Covington, Louisiana, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The main living quarters are on the second floor, above expected hurricane flood levels. Note the wide porch with overhangs to reduce the heat from the summer sun. The ground floor is enclosed, but will likely have non-essential storage, a party room or spare bedroom for guests, and garage located there. This area was not heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina.
The second house is in Mandeville, LA, also on the north shore. Less ornate than the first, but still very nice, and also built up high in case of flooding.
The third house is called a shotgun house here, for two reasons. It is a side by side duplex, so the front doors are positioned like a double-barreled shotgun. The second reason for its name is that all of the rooms were off a single hallway, so you could fire a shotgun from the front door down the main hallway and out the back door... not a good place for a burglar to get caught! This style house was the most common found in the New Orleans area until tract houses appeared following World War II. Many have been converted by younger couples into trendy single family homes by knocking down walls and making larger rooms.
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