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Letter to the Editor: Shotgun Houses
 Dear Editor:
I enjoyed your article on the new housing for Katrina victims (“Tidy Katrina Cottage One Approach to Rebuilding Effort,” Jan. 30, 2006). However, I would like to call your attention to the fact that this type of housing has been around and existing throughout the South for more than two centuries.
In the city of Darlington, S.C. there can be found today similar "shotgun houses," which were constructed as tenant or sharecropper housing in the economically depressed post-war South before and after the "War Between the States."
These structures are relatively inexpensive to produce and transport; are easily erected and completed; and can be mass-produced. Undeniably, it does offer an answer to the dilemma that the storm-ravaged areas of the South have again encountered. Although these units may not always be desirable as permanent housing, they do get the victims out of temporary shelters and tents and into "code-acceptable" homes.
I once read an article in Architectural Digest where similar structures as these were renovated as "upscale living apartments" in Birmingham, Ala. The renovated units were later resold at prices many times higher than their original cost. So, who knows, these new shotgun houses now being manufactured and provided to Katrina victims may someday find an enduring place in the housing market. Apparently this "historical design" has found new uses in helping our nation and our storm victims recover from the ravages of Mother Nature.
John A. "Sandy" Kendall, building official,
City of Darlington, S.C.
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