Perfect for anyone who loves to look at charming old houses and imagine their histories this book offers a selection of what are probably the most historically interesting aesthetically appealing and photogenic of the nineteenthcentury houses in the Key West historic district. It includes full color photos as well as a variety of charming anecdotes about old Key West gleaned from interviews with descendants of the families who built houses there. Key West was an industrial town and many of its houses were for workers who had little to spend on housing. The shotgun houses are simple undecorated houses many of them built by cigarmakers for their workers. Then of course there are the great housesampmdashthe Heritage House the Cosgrove House the Hemingway House and the Southernmost Houseampmdashlarge and famous houses with unique and proud histories. Then there are the eyebrow houses shotgun houses and Conch Victoriansampmdashmany of Key Wests houses were built by ships carpenters who built strong tight shiplike houses most working without plans other than memories of vessels and seaport homes from their own past. Widows walks were borrowed from New England overhanging eaves eyebrows from the West Indies. Builders added details from architectural fads of the timeampmdashfrom Greek Revival columns to Creole trellises.The final architectural mix what we see now in Key Wests Old Town can only be called like the natives themselves Conch.