Multi-Level, Multi-Function

In the New Orleans corner store / residence, the floor of the commercial space is but a single step above the sidewalk. At the rear of the store—or restaurant or bar, where the kitchen may serve both business and residence—three more steps lead up to the dwelling.

            Both store and house are contained by the single continuous box of the shotgun and held under the continuous gable roof, but a hierarchy of privacy is developed in the economy of the section. (This is the early “suburban”—or should that be “faubourgian”?—variation of the French Quarter’s Creole townhouse, where the residence is literally and directly above the commercial space.)