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WVUE: HNOC Curator Explores the History of Shotgun Houses

May 22, 2026

WVUE Fox 8 New Orleans spoke with Lydia Blackmore to discuss the history, features, and legacy of one of New Orleans’s most iconic building styles.

HNOC curator Lydia Blackmore discusses the history of shotgun houses in a segment on WVUE Fox 8 New Orleans.
FOX 8 use this one
“You see the first shotgun houses in New Orleans in the early 1800s, which are very much associated with the wave of refugees and immigrants coming after the Haitian Revolution. They show the influences of Caribbean colonization and the huge impact that people of color have made here in New Orleans. Many of the first builders of shotgun houses were free people of color.”

Lydia Blackmore, HNOC curator

Watch on Fox 8 Watch on Fox 8

Shotgun Style: A Look at the History of Shotgun Houses

Courtesy of WVUE Fox 8 New Orleans

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