The last remaining, intact shotgun house in Santa Monica, built in the 1890s, was moved to a city-owned property which was formerly Fisher Lumber on November 13th.

The unassuming, wood-frame shotgun house, formerly located on private property at 2712 Second Street in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, has been saved twice from demolition. Built in the 1890s, it was designated a Santa Monica Landmark by the city’s Landmarks Commission in 1999. More than 100 years ago, there were about 200 such cottages inhabiting the streets a few blocks west of the beachfront when Santa Monica was more of a frontier town. These homes were the dominant architectural form in Ocean Park for its first quarter century.

Typically, shotgun houses are one story high, one room wide (12 feet) and usually two or three rooms deep (36 feet), one behind the other, and connected by doorways that lined up. Hence the name shotgun house: you could shoot a shotgun in through the front door and the shot would come out of the back door without ever touching a wall. It is a freestanding structure with no windows on its side walls. Such houses were generally sited so close together that windows would have been impractical for light or ventilation let alone personal privacy. They were often graced with a covered front or rear porch.

The origins of this type of house have always been a bit mysterious despite the large number of shotgun houses built in the U.S. Architectural historians have often chosen either to ignore the question of its origin or label it an appearance of Greek revival style adopted from the urban storefront or shop into a dwelling. More recent studies by folklorists and cultural geographers make strong arguments for African beginnings in the case of the shotgun house of the American South. In this country, the shotgun house had its beginnings in New Orleans in the early 19th century after thousands of free Blacks came there from Haiti following the revolution of Toussiant L’Overture.

The need for instant field housing in the Civil War, in boomtown mining camps and in disaster areas (hundreds were delivered to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake) made this style of home popular. They are found in both rural and urban southern areas, mainly in African-America communities and neighborhoods. The name of the house type may be an altered form of “togun,” the African Yoruba word for “house.” As the shotgun house evolved through the 19th century, it was embellished with decorative elements borrowed from popular tastes of the time, from Greek revival to Victorian gingerbread.

In Santa Monica in the 1870s Santa Monica and Ocean Park were separate towns. Real estate developers who sold lots in the newly subdivided cities knew that people coming to live or vacation from nearby Los Angeles sought alternatives to tents or hotels to live in. If the cities were to have a permanent population, the developers needed to dampen the boom-bust cycles that periodically devastated the area. So they started selling lots with homes.

New buyers couldn't afford Victorian, Edwardian, or Queen Anne homes that were popular at that time. To make purchasing more affordable, something simpler was needed. They looked for a structure that could be erected easily, quickly and inexpensively. The shotgun house filled the bill. The rail depot in Ocean Park was soon unloading shotgun houses from downtown Los Angeles by the dozens. The $100 homes came either in kit form or were prefabricated, preassembled and then dragged into place by horses. The shotgun house may be the seed from which the entire real estate and tourism industry sprouted in Santa Monica.

The very qualities that made the shotgun houses attractive as instant housing doomed them in the long run. In time they became unlivable as permanent homes though they were fine as temporary, vacation quarters. Privacy was limited because each room was a hallway leading to the next room. The walls consisted of a single vertical board, leaving no room to hide unsightly plumbing, insulation, wiring and utilities that were being incorporated into the more modern, turn-of-the-century homes. Typically they had no foundations since they were to be erected quickly and inexpensively. Posts and sills were placed directly onto the ground where the beach moisture attracted termites. And, they were very small, no larger than today’s small two-car garage. Inevitably they sprouted add-ons to their backs, fronts and sides to enlarge the otherwise cramped living space. All these problems contributed to their eventual demise.

Santa Monica’s saved shotgun house was preserved by benign neglect for most of this century. Through the work of City Council, neighborhood and preservationist groups, and the generosity of philanthropic residents, the house has a future. In the next two years, a new site in Ocean Park will be found and the house will be restored for a new community use to ensure its preservation.