Thursday Doors: April 28, 2016
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
One of the best places in the world to look at DOORS would be New Orleans, Louisiana. The houses are colorful, quirky, old, and one of a kind and so are their doors! And notice the intricate latticework too!
The “Shotgun House” is very popular here. It is a narrow rectangular residence, usually no more than 12 feet wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It is said that a shotgun blast could pass from one end of the house and out the other, un-impeded, hence it’s name! It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War through the 1960’s.
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Some of the houses are the “Double Shotgun” style with two front doors.
Double Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Double Shotgun House with Icicle Trim, New Orleans, Louisiana
Space is at a premium here in the Marigny neighborhood. The houses have several common traits; trash cans (sometimes painted a wild color) always sit in the front of the house, as do cars and motorbikes, mostly parked on the tiny sidewalks along with the trash cans. Parking space is a luxury here. Also notice the beads, lights and other trinkets scattered haphazardly everywhere! Color is everywhere, and for the most part the brighter the color and their combinations on the house, the better! It’s always nice to add a plant or two too!
Shot Gun House, New Orleans, Louisiana
Wrought iron (worked by hand) decoration or fencing is associated with New Orleans too. Previous to the mid-1800’s balconies and porches were made of tall wooden columns. The Spanish influenced the decorative ironwork, mimicked after their lacework, to add visual contrast to dreary fronts. The more ornate work is often floral or leafy, adorned with the French fleur-de-lis and coquilles (shells) associated with saints (Saint James ) or religious pilgrims. Cast iron details are Victorian additions and not original to the townhouses. Some of the houses are fancy!
Fancy House, New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans Style
New Orleans Style with Color and Plants
New Orleans Style
New Orleans Style with Black Cat Fence
And there is a combination of everything that brings the businesses to life!
The New Orleans Style Business Door
Just ride your bike so you can drink more!
The New Orleans Style Business Door
The New Orleans Style Business Door
The Jazz Club, New Orleans, Louisiana
AND The Plants Match the House Color!
The Jazz Club, New Orleans, Louisiana
Now for the Purple and Orange House! This one is an attention getter!
Purple and Orange House, New Orleans, Louisiana
And One More thought! Size Matters!
Out of Scale: Out of Touch. No High Rise in Marigny! No tear downs and replacing them with high rise dwellings here! Good for them! New Orleans should look like New Orleans!
Size Matters!
This is just one of many photos in the Thursday Door Collection featured by Norm2.0! Won’t you join in or take a peak at all the doors?
The Travel Lady In Her Shoes 
31 Responses to “Thursday Doors: April 28, 2016”
wonderful post and pics
Thanks Mukul!
You put together a nice set of colorful and classic New Orleans doors.
Sherry, This was just one neighborhood, the one that we stayed in. The next time I go I want to stroll through the Garden District! And of course New Orleans famous above ground cemetery! We visited in April and I am used to the heat, since I live where it is hot and humid also, but believe me when I say it was Hot! It is VERY, VERY, HOT and HUMID there! We got up 6am-ish to get out and take photos and then waited until late evening before we ventured out again! I spent one entire day in the WWII Museum, which is also excellent, just to get out of the heat!
Heat is hard to deal with. So much more to see. Hope you do and I look forward to your next ost if a tour.
Wow, what amazing doors! Such fabulous colours. I would love to visit there. Thanks for sharing.
Very cool doors. Enough in your posts to fill a book.
Ha Ha! Is that a hidden message that my posts are too long? They just look long because of the “Theme” I use. Well that and the fact that I cannot stand to not know about things! I do a lot of research before I travel anywhere and I ask a lot of questions when I get to my destination! Maybe I’m just nosey! Also, I like to stay among the natives and not hotel chains when I travel and that gives so much more of a feel to a place! I have a book in the works now, that I have had to divvy up into two, because I thought it needed a murder! Thanks for looking at my Doors!
What an amazing collection. I do like the houses decorated with hanging baskets and pot plants. But the colours are astonishing. I can just imagine the uproar if people painted their houses those colours around here. I agree strongly with the posters in the last photo. Every where in my area the sensible 3 bedroom houses are being demolished and huge Macmansions put up. Sometimes the houses that are demolished are only 30-40 years old…
I think the colors are so vibrant because the people that live there are vibrant and resilient too. Even after all these years after Hurricane Katrina, that caused so much destruction, the people there still talk about it and what they went through. People stop you on the street to talk about their neighborhoods. The original inhabitants to New Orleans were the French and people from the French island colonies. That is why I think the houses may be so colorful, the people like to sing and dance and have a good time! Following the French,the Spanish arrived. My GGGGGrandmother arrived there from France in 1842. I CAN’T imagine wearing a long dress there with all the underclothing! You would have burned up! When you step inside any home or building in New Orleans it is completely dark inside! They have heavy curtains over their windows and doors! It’s like stepping into a cave! They have to do this to keep the cool inside, even with air-conditioning! So I think they want bright, bright happy colors for the outside! If your house is not bright it would stand out like a sore thumb!
Many neighborhoods in the US have gone through building phases where the original house was replaced by a monster. What could those people be thinking to change a neighborhood like that? Once that started zoning laws were passed to prevent this.
I loved New Orleans when we visited it was my very favourite city and I was so sad to hear about the hurricane Katrina. Did they finally get their act together and finish rebuilding? We heard so much about it when it happened and how they were not helping the poorer neighbourhoods rebuild, but now it is yesterdays news and we don’t here anything about it. Do you live in New Orleans?
Pommepal, no I live on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. Yes, the people who wanted to move back did, and the rest rebuilt. Many people were fostered by churches all over the US. I know mine took in three families and were provided housing and all.
That is good to hear.
Ooh, Ooh, OOh! These doors are amazing, the colours, the house shapes, it all looks just so funky, love it!
All that color and vibe really puts you in another state of mind! Easy going and relaxed comes to mind!
Awesome post – I just love this collection! I was in New Orleans only once about twenty years ago. It was long before I got into photography and doors but your post reminded me of all the wonderful architecture I saw there.
Norm, I had never been there either, mostly because I wasn’t into the drinking and partying that I’d heard about during Mardi Gras! I was totally shocked at how much I enjoyed the city, especially the people, history and neighborhoods, and I would LOVE to visit again! Only in the cooler months though!
Haven’t been to New Orleans since I was very young, so all my viewing has been secondhand. What a lovely gallery! I’ve seen shotgun houses before, but they’re not usually as colorful as these. My favorites are the one with color and plants and the one with the black cat fence.
janet
Yes, Shot Gun houses are all over the South, but not as colorful as these! They do plants in very tight spaces since land is at a premium! But, they add lots of art in the most distinctive ways!
Those are all wonderful additions to #ThursdayDoors! Great collection from a great city! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thanks Joey! I am glad you liked them!
Ditto to all of the above comments. Think seriously about the suggestion given about a book. Thanks for a lovely outing to a place I’d love to see in person some day!
Hildegard if you get a chance go!
Great pics!
Thanks for looking at my post!
So many beautiful doors! 🙂 The Jazz Club one is my favourite. 🙂
Wow, so many here! Wasn’t into photography yet, when we were in New Orleans, but the views here look familiar! Oh, the shotgun house looks really narrow, but I would prefer it to living in an apartment building:) Thanks for sharing!
Fabulous collection! I love those Shotgun houses. The old cottage we bought last year to renovate is only 12 feet wide and about 16 feet deep so I guess we own an Irish Shotgun house. 🙂
These are all so lovely! I love New Orleans, what great place, with great doors!
Yes, it is fabulous!
What a great collection of doors. I was in New Orleans many years ago and didn’t take nearly enough photos, and loved the houses, and businesses in the French Quarter. I’ve had it on my bucket list to go back, but haven’t made it so far.