Camelback in Black
Camel Back in Black is the quintessential “mullet house,” which is the common name for a renovated historic home in the front (business) with a modern addition in the rear (party). In this case the existing structure was an early 20th century New Orleans Shotgun Duplex Home that was adapted to be shorter due to both site constraints and an existing carport addition, which was removed. The design strategy was to create a distinct new entry to the main unit of the home along the side of the property. This was achieved through a clear delineation of a modern massing of a second story addition (called a Camelback in New Orleans) with a roof that wraps to frame an exterior gate. The gate leads to a raised rear yard, which was filled in to be the same height as the main home to make it more of an extension of some of the public spaces rather than a small sunken pit, which can often be a lifeless space.
Many time you will see new Camelback additions in the city that take a more blended approach, but in this case because of the corner lot and the desire to create a prominent entry (along that side) a clear line is delineated between old and new. This was done intentionally to clearly represent the original form with appropriately renovate historic details true to the original, without creating a false sense of history through an addition that would have not represented a proportion that was standard for the time the original structure was built.
The existing home was the childhood dwelling of the owner, who inherited it years after it fell into disrepair. There was mold, rot and structural disrepair, but it was important to the owner that NFA preserved as much of the existing portions of the home as possible; so where there was flooring that could be preserved (and refinished) it was, where there were historic interior and exterior trim detailing that could be preserved it was and if not it was replicated in kind to the original. On the other hand, there were certain modern needs and updates that were desired and didn’t want the design to feel overly constrained by certain replicas of historic troupes. So, the addition and many of the interior finishes were intentionally contemporary.
