Tools & Calculators · Field guide
Which New Orleans shotgun type is it?
Five visual clues narrow the building to a likely single, double, camelback, sidehall or side-gallery form.
Shotgun identifier · Five visual clues
Which shotgun type is it?
Answer from the building you can see today. “Not sure” is always a valid answer—renovations often blur the original form.
Look for one relationship
Does the house have a partial second story toward the rear while the street-facing section stays one story?
Look at the side elevation or roofline. A full second story across the entire house is a different clue.
Diagrammatic clue only. Surviving houses may be altered, expanded or combined.
This identifier provides an architectural starting point, not a definitive classification, inspection, historic designation or legal-use determination.
How the result is built
How to read the building.
Compare the result with the broader New Orleans house-styles guide before treating a visual clue as a final classification.
Read the form
Start with roofline, width, paired halves and the relationship between front and rear.
Trace circulation
Separate room-to-room movement, an interior sidehall and an exterior side gallery.
Verify the label
Use historic maps, permits, surveys and physical evidence when renovations blur the plan.
Go beyond the visual result