As Floridians all move from July to August, the two hottest months in the state, we all are very thankful for our air conditioning and modern conveniences that help keep us cool. But how did Floridians survive a Florida summer prior to those modern developments? To some this may seem inconceivable, so we wanted to dive in and explore that this month. Obviously people did survive, but how? This idea of trying to keep our dwellings cool in a hot climate is not new, but prior to modern air conditioning, they had to rely on architectural tricks to keep cool.
A cross draft is one of the most effective methods to keep temperatures down without modern climate control. A cross draft can be created by opening two aligned doors or windows on either side of a building, thus creating an interior breeze. Modern home designs don’t necessarily take this into consideration because we can press a button and almost magically our homes are cooled. However, early houses did take this into consideration. Ideally, to get a strong cross draft a house would be one room deep, with aligned windows on either side. It is no surprise that when looking at historic Florida homes you find lots of doors and big windows.
The shotgun style, thought to originate in Louisiana, was common in southern states (popular from the 1860s to 1920s). It is a great example of a home designed for cross draft. Often a shotgun home is no more than about 12 feet wide and usually has a large gabled porch. The porch not only provided a shaded area for people to sit, but also shaded doors and windows, thus minimizing the sunlight entering the dwelling. These homes were also constructed above grade, meaning on piers. This helped keep the structure dry and also facilitated air flow below the building as well.
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| Kentucky Archaeological Survey Archaeologists uncover wooden pier posts at the site of two homes in Davis Bottom. (photo courtesy of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey) |
Shotgun houses, a style that used to be prevalent in the south, are disappearing. In Kentucky an architectural and archaeological survey was conducted to document the shotgun homes in Davis Bottom before they were demolished for a road extension project. During excavations archaeologists uncovered stains in the ground (archaeological features) that were evidence of where piers of shotgun homes once stood. Because these homes were usually small, the yards became critical work spaces, which is also evident in the archaeological remains found outside many shotgun homes.
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| Historic Photo of Smokey Hollow, Tallahassee. Note the numerous shotgun houses. (photo courtesy of the National Trust for Historic Preservation). |
In Tallahassee, Cascades Park and the surrounding area was once home to an African American neighborhood called Smokey Hollow. It was a victim of urban renewal, and most of the homes, including many shotgun homes, have since been demolished. However, the community came up with a clever way to give people a taste of what it would have been like to live in a shotgun house. They created “spirit houses” as a memorial to the community. These frame structures resemble shot gun houses that once were prevalent in the community, but don't have the associated upkeep of a fully constructed building. Surrounding this memorial are fruit trees and a community garden filled with veggies and herbs that would have been in the yards of many homes in Smokey Hollow.
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| "Spirit Houses" commemorating the Smokey Hollow Community in Cascades Park, Tallahassee (photo courtesy of Tallahassee Arts Guide). |
As we are in the middle of hurricane season (we are experiencing Tropical Storm Fred as I write this!), I often think perhaps next time I look at a house or apartment, it might be a good idea to consider the potential for cross drafts. When we lose electricity it might be nice to be able to open my windows and create a cool breeze in my house, proving that there is value in understanding historic architecture trends.
