Robin Evans | Rookeries and Model Dwellings by Manos Saratsis

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Rookeriesand ModelDwellin$s Dnglish Housing Reform and the Moralities of PrivaúeSpace Robi¡ Evang ¡zs no accident that Henry Robens' early and influential family dwellings (1847-50) was planted at the irf London's most disr,eputable rookery, in Streatham S¡. Gile's; nor that forty years later London's last re' rookery, tbe Jago, was lorn down to make way for the model hoosing estate by the LCC, the Boundary Road rhcmc (1889-1900). Perhaps ¡he desire to see purity triumpb err iniquity was enough to explain théir vivid coniunction but ir i¡undiced remark from the architm Robert Kerr, trying ineÊ iÊcrircty ro muscle in on tenemenl constructioi'r, suggests that: üc connection between rookêry and model was more than a E:ttcr of siting. 'Philantbropists' he said 'accept the worst oscs as the type on which to base their operations'.r It was an observation and furnishes this anicle with its theme ¡hich is that 20th cenrury housing is in some measure the relic I ofrn cntirely successful campaign to liquidate the rookery den t rc for model

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kitchen) was characteristically ponrayed as the scene of daylight dissipation, drunkennness and criminal conspiracy;

the dormitory as a nest ofsexual promiscuity. Brought together ¡ they represented the ultimately malig¡ power of bad dwellings. \ It was a picnrre not ofan acn¡al place but ofa latent coqdition; a potent fearful and lurid presentinent revealing the intimate

bond between physical and moral degradation. . These two words, physical and moral, were as good as welded together in the literature of improvement. The,Health of Towns C.ommittee reponed in 1840 that''in addhion to the .

unhealthy surroundings on the moral æ well as the physical condition of the poor confirmed ¡hat the lowest morality was renlenrless social always to be found in the wont constiruted dwellings and

thc middle years of the nineteenth cenrury the crowded

of thè poor was subiected to

Ramblíngs c:¡n more easily be understood from this engraving, r with its inhabited sewer, crowded day room and pagked anic )1 dormitories, than fiom ¡he ten itself. This was the spectre behind pbilanthropy; these ûree types ofinterior stood for certain specifìc evils. The cellar flooded witü eflluent was regard-'î, ed as the source ofz¡rmotic diseases; the day room (or com¡non

ised era ofdomesric legislation'.? But when

con

audacious neigírbourhoods,6 that'fìlthy habits oflife were never fir from

to be found an¡vhere in Bethnal' . ailment, other ¡ookeries in London alone, where thc dangerous classes c¡on of a common lodqinq house, 1847, the only ran¡@ry Rambtings

illustrarion

were to bc found amongst the chronically pogr and dispossess' cd, crammed into a congestèd, dilapidated fabric and 'sur'

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Robin Evans

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PÀßtSTI Of BTTHilAL CRÊÉI'I

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Tne Dìsease Mist: a map of Bethnal

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devised to ment. The programmes ofsanitation and ventilation

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9"qqit leç;l"jTd]Î9 li'.':!ü,ä?ìä:ii:iiË,

õigå;¡c iubstances, was the cause or iiii'ãi",ìÄ áoìoerñic ãnd endemic diseases' lts mosl.opaque i#i;¿ï;t"iiìË'ã¡jv¡ðit t"' to be known as the Jaso'

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for.the. erection of ;?;.i.'i.ih;au ,î.*.Liv ,opootìblt Ëî; À'i;d;r iJgi¡g House ristria the horizon' Their ¡vùPlerqc -'''-'--,iöto-ttt. or äotp'*¡, great vanerY vari*v o¡ A greât atmospbeie" " .A the âtmosDbere" rounded with vice as with th€ physical comfort of .9î]:::1,iYt^",flft#fl iå :i""îJ::fflt:i i.¡tU and "¡ metaphors similies, :llÍî ,""..*e their setf.respecr, and elevate -d -d;;iä;';'ãl;.a;å19¡'-L'ry':t 'iiT::::1¡t åîiläï'#::å:'i#:.iiå'5trü.'ffffi1'::irylii: ,*îl11:t*i.*:*m¡mJiffåiî:"ir'îÍ":i1",i: rr

':li1'jfu*ï1'.:i:ì:*;:ltr1iiilïî3';:'#:i"5 ffl:y'ä,iTiì,*nîi:1fr'ö"#iiiöüi-i1 "i" tuç ¡rueçr ro rookerres PU¡ the within habitat restricted into ar' ilffi:ïå;l;,,'äffii'#i.iäÏ"'"1""o,iä'ifiå'liii;ìr;; lF:-"*:::"^r*:i'l*r::*:: ïH"ååfiåi,:lJ:: these effons at moral -improvement were translated

of domestic ti.. .Àii..n".t prtaice' How could the arrangement the follow' in buildings cõunteract vice and elevate the spirit? In the sensibility investigating by qotstion to I try ing æ -'*t''ih"

domesric arctutecnue was for ,h. nrr, iu-h;âlrh deployed directly against,h.;t";"il; of vice and treaied poor bad,been the of dwellings the rhis towns.Before a marginar concern of rurar philanthropv, whrre in

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:I:'*1r:':"',11ï3:îîi:iilå'å',ïH:,îÍ':|;:#lXT1i in architecmre to bias conduct i¡r *'i'ioir'."'ar'ãas "ãiotea

with tbat sensibility'

ptlti*iti¿i*aions consonant *ort¡oorä]|ï;;il -d : to the confined bcen had t: illness ¡"tt .t t"itnifåt eflorts to control gcographv uot¡ phv'rg-tirytlitit building of hospitals. s"t toäåoJ;ã more than perhapsho established convention' of-a-.ifyiife- Behind novet There was an map of the ro take their place at the a were if-it as city the treating device' t literary "..y".liìi. claims that dwellings left an 'impress' ôn the life ,oï-,¡t ;;;ú;ttn'it'. pæt"itt'-swamps'and deserts' its chaned and people,rt rhat 'the ,*. ,.här;ã'1h; only pr.cticat'rti;;: iis pan in the rhetoric of mid' r'"ît' t"titã"edíegions' ü prtyta matories of the poor'were thei¡ homes,rt that every a shift of emphasis' as without not thoug! refor-m, ..*ry ,a however mean, was casker containing a precious i.*üä;

Luilding of prisons,

shouldbefashionedactordingly"r'andtha¡i-p'o"t'nåit''iä"rtti'l*t"rtítgt;ttownsweresaidtobeasda¡kandim' *t. .õtãiàti¡ ioiests of ¡frica' the populations of popular housing *.r. i*o,råJnial ro social prôgres5,'ã"¡jr'; ;;;;t.bl;.t t*t*t^*::l1ii*tj"*:::ii,i disuias il;i; conviction that vimre could be wrought from a¡cbitecnr;t; i::;

Å:Çù.i:T4üTðilr¿*iïn'åtr:ä;y*r,:"'*ï,rïJÏ:':ïïä;iji';ä'',ï'.[:ïil well airols with H;t;i;Si. ithrough ethical as

¡hese analoeies wâs' ct¡t ,liNìîf"råä.iä;h; b.;d';iJ i.p.aì..n,t to tral'ìc might here and ¡*pí"å,.öü_úi l;h;ffi #;;;;i 'iher. b.-rernoved but that only served to emohasise deeper l, ãii¡. tetofitistd: iayers of impen;ätlìt; ðt;tit; Kingsley .,:.:...'ttto

reponed the opening .o Giles,, he was abre."f .r.ti,.ä;.i' pfogress of social ,n'.r¡oä,îä'i, ì¡", would be easy enough to miss the tull significance or't't'i'

Descriotive MaP

of London

bv Charles Booth. The ( occupiöd by the 'Lower class 1889

'Owing to the vastness

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which there separates the lz several quarters maY be ô ¡ather rhin as one citY,'re The power of the i:thnogra suggestion bf a 'civilizing r speech and could helP accr ¡emarkable series of maPs Poverty compiled under at fust sight to be mâPs ol t

ed on house'to-house

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the maps are apPlied onl¡ dicate ihe dilapidation of fabric. In Booth's classific urorality were fused into niddle class and uPPer t

vicious, semi-criminal" S ween virtue, wealth and g Presumed to be, and so ck the house that the maPs b ¡ing of l) the distributioo vuiations in moral cha¡i

ferent dwellings'¡o The ¡ ioined the physical Panc

Rookcrics aud Modcl

Dwcllings

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'Descriptive

Map of London Povery, N.W. Section, compiled lor. l8B9 by Charles Booth. The darkesr tone indicares buildings occupied by the 'Lower class, v¡cious semi-criminal' grade

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'Owing to the vastness of London, owing to the moral gulf which there separatç the various classes ofits inhabitants its several quarters may be designatCd as assemblages of towns rather than as one citv.'It The power of the èthnographicai analogy, with its concomiranr suggestion of a 'civilizing mission extended beyond figures of speech and could help accounr for the production in t889 ofq remarkable series of maps. The descriptive Maps of Londorl Poveny compiled unde¡ìhe di¡ecrion oiCharles-Booth appea{ at fìrst sight to be maps ofhousing conditions but although basl ed on house-tùhouse surveys and although the graded tints on l¡e maps are applied only to domestic development, they in-¡ tltcate the dilapidation of thã occupanis, not of the buildingf Iabric. In Booth's clæsifìcation categories ofclass, income and morality were fused into a single gradient ranging from'upper rntddle class and upper clæs wealthy' to 'I¡wcr class 9tcious, semi<riminal'. So near was the correspondence betwetn virtue, wealth and genril¡ty vice, poveny ánd vulgarity . presumed to be, and so closely were these charactcristics tied to t[e house that ¡he maps have to be read as a simultaneous char. nng of l) rhe dis¡riburion ofwealth, 2) ofclass difference, 3) of rn¡iations in moral. character, and 4)'of good, bad and indifterent dwellings. ¡0 The Descriptive Maps of lændon Poverty I þued the physical pattern ofthe city to the social and moral

cond¡tion

ofits inhabitants with

an unprecidented, methodical and dangerous classes¡r tended to congregate in distina enclaves the largest ofwhich was still noticably áifferent fïom the rest of I rhe city. Something that had been takeo for granted since tbe 1840s, it was hardly a revelation in itsel[ yet for Victoriân reformers it

boldness and clnfirmed

th?t the chronically poor

meant râther more thân it does to us. The discemable differences at the scale ofthe ciry between layouts consistent with morality and layouts conducive to brutality could be compared with differences, equally selÊevident, at a smaller scâle. Thus a¡chitecture in its broader social perspective, beyond the territory marked out for it by an could be interpreted as a'Ç physical geography ofmoral conditions; the layout ofthe house mapping the moral condition of the family and street layouf mapping the moral condition of a community, iust as the city mapped the moral condition of sociery at large, An informing purpose of the fìrst philanthropic bousing agencies was therefore to replace dwellings that were both the sign and the cause of corn¡ption with the format for a new, purifìed domesticity. To understand their ponentous experiments it is also necessary to understand the moral geography ofpublic and private space as they perceived it,

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THE DIT'ELLING .ì Mansion and hovcl Althoulh London's rookeries were made up of many flimsy¡ sheds and

ill<onstructcd hovels they also contained what oncaÞ

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Hill on the other hand suct principles regarding Prr neglected.2l It was no easY

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Above A slum staircase, from George Sims'Hor¡z The Poor Live

Above fat ùght 'Cællar in St. G¡les'sketched on the spot': a one room dwelling, door open to the street

Above rþht View from Brewery Bridge, Gustave Doré

Eelow far right The Humours of an lrish Wake as celebrated at St. Giles'

c. had been fine, large houses, lanerly fatlcn into decay and filled with criminals, prostitutes, loungers and beggars; a fact thât .was notiçed by a number of investigators including the Rev. Thomas Beames w[o wro¡e as follows in The Rooheries ol Lon!¡ doz (t851): 'Thus in the dingiest sueers of the metropolis are found houses, the rooms of which are loft¡ the walls panelled, the

1830?

stone eaten by slugs into innumerable small chambc¡s and con

necting passages.'2' Presented with a bcwildering, in' decipherable network of pâssâges, doors, stairs and rooms it

wæ as easy to get lost accidentally as on purpose. The

Reverend Thorold became so c¡nfused trying to locate a pious consump¡ive in one of 'the old fashiooed dillapidated tenements' with 'Lodgers who swarmed in every corner of the building', that he entered tbe wrong room otr the wrong lan' ceilingsbeautifutlyornamented(althoughtbegildingwhichencrusted the ornamenrs is wom off). The chimney pieces models ding and srumbled into the den of a dog-stealer.2t At the same even now for the sculptor, In many rooms there still remains time police records describe a wide variety of contrived escape the grotesque carving for which a former age was so routes; secret doors, bolt holes, runways, elevated ledges and

celebiated.'¡¡

.even e spiked wall made use ofby retreating l¡w breakers.26 Yet these grand architecnual relics ofan oppulent past were /You could never be certain where anyone wru¡ (a frustration to thought to be no more appropriate to their current use tban the { social investigators, debt colleaors and reformers as well as the makeshift huts that had accumulated in thei¡ courts and police), but you could be sure ¡hat whatever aoyone did was donc the purview of uunerous neighboun. Mayhew, There were two featurcs coÍlmon to hovel and mansion Dickens, Veir, Sims and Oíavia Hill were all of them struck which rendered tbcm unfìt as moral dwellings. In the fìrst place by the custom of leaving doors open day and night in the most abandoned districts. thefboth provided endtess oppomrnities for opening ways and out of buildings and between rooms so tlut 'every apârt- For story tellers like Mayhew this meant that houselife was menr in the place is accessible from every orher by e dozen diF picnrresquely displayed in the theatre of the st¡cet. 'As the ferent approaches'.il W. Weir said that in the least salubroius doors to the houses were nearly all ofthem kept opcn', he wrotc quarter ofthe most notorious rookery, around Ch¡uch Lane, ofthe lrish quarters, 'I could even whilst walking along gain St. Giles', it wæ'æ if the borgrcshad been onc great block some notion of the furniture of the homes'.rt But for Octavia

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another, one activiry fro¡: ânother, the interminable having their counterpart

Hill on the other band such â practice would indicate that basic

principles regarding properry and person ryere being neglected.'t It was no easy task to discriminate one family from another, one activity from another, or one household from ânother, the interminable intérconnections of thc a¡chitecnre

having

their counterpart in the apparently undifferentiated

structure of low-life.

Secondl¡ hovelr'and mansion lent themselves to over' crowding, each room being easily sublet' One roomed dwell' ings were the centrepiece ofinvestigation: to the reformers the¡ represented a domestic nadir, not iust becâuse ofthe uncomfor'\ table density of their occupation, nor solely as a hcalth hazard i

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utderstood, th1 lt:]; te ,l¿¿o in bedsteads. At thelr 4 childre.n and wife t,is ãæ, N¿xt to them a widow; and a girl ol I of r liul. child, And at the t4 years old. cbiidren -.In all there we: llVz ft broad.and 7 lònC

six Pence Per

week''"

Sleep, after all, was an ert iound the rePresentation of diflìcult, were often master: doned to sleeP, not least be' and

unguarded. SimilarlY

distrubution of sleePin Ivledical Officers' rePorts, act

rnissions and in housing Pr measure to substantiate ur forge a link between overc: ro resort Io PsYchologY'to : ditions of minds subjecled but ofideas, and so onrr sexuality needed no elabo:

irself

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declining into habirual Pr .':.!.

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cest.r.r Visitors rePorted na ty dress" with the sâme tt:

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reþoned sleeping arrangc . evidence of indecency:

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No. 10 Carrier Street, Sl. Giles', Eack atl¡c. 16 f¡gures w¡Îh no discrimination of age or sex

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'd¡essed people of both se Before us is a singular mat panial nudity. Another ma

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cither, 'for where overcrorvding cxists in its sanitary sensc, almost always it exists evcn more perniciously in cenain moral sensesr'2e ln a crowded room every detail ofdaily life was made public and familiar. Things which modesty and propriety would keep apart - cooking, undressing, sleeping, working, washing, bathing, defecating, urinating, fomicatingr dying and giving birth took place in close proximiry. In rooms empty of furniture but 'never free of inmates'!0 where neither comfort nor innocencc could flourish, indeed it wæ frequeotly supposed that only crime could grow out qf rhis pooli¡g of raw ex-

perience.

Housing literature is shot through with innuendoes and in-

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ferences about the perils of intimacy involving men and r¡¡omen, parents and child¡en, youlhs e¡d the elderl¡ lodgers and relations, friends and strângers in bcds, on the floor, under beds, in every conceivable coniunction and combination. Investigators could reveal g¡otesque instances of overcrowding but were as much c¡ncerned with the moral implications of flesh pressed against flesh as with thc more obvious/sc,omforts ofpiling too many bodies into a confi¡ed space¡flere, for instarice, is the Parish Surgcon's accoult of No. 8/ Tyndall's Buildings in the Gray's Inn 'In the lst floor, front room, the inmatqs were/arranged as 2 follows: a man, his wife, and six child¡en at the left c-omer; children at the top and 4 at the bonom ofthe bfd: it must be

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Rookc¡io aod Modcl Dwcllingr 3l u¡derstood, ¡hat all the pa¡ties to be described in future, do.nor st¿zþ in bdsteads. At their feet, was a single man, beside them, a oan, his wife and 4 children, including a girl of 15 years ofage. Next to them a widow; and a mother and 4 children, consisting a girl of l8 years ofage, and 2 boys t6 and ofa little child'

at their feet làid a man, his wife and 3 -allAnd In the¡e pcrsons! were 26 children - the room is l3fi long - lLVz ft broad and 7 ft high. The rent is 2 sbillings and week'.t¡ 14 years

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old.

six pence Per Sleep, afier all, was an ero(ic condition. Victorian anists who found the representation ofsensuality in waking subiects most dillicult, were often masters ofthe alluring, supine figure abandoned :o sleep, not least because in that state the body lay open and unguarded. Similuly the close scrutiny ofbeds and the exacr distrubution of sleeping bodies in rooms to be found in Medical Oflicers' reponq in evidence to parliamentary com. missions and in horuing pamphlets gave a perfectly obiective measure to substantiate undisclosed suspicions. In order to forge a link between overcrowding and crime it was necessary ¡o reson rc psychology - to make referenct to the 'ordinary con. ditions of minds subjected ro gross indelicacy', rhe association of ideas, and so onrt but the link beween overcrowding and sexuality needed no daboration. The spectre thar presented itself to the reformerslpas one of wholesale carnal inãulgence,

declinìng into habinrat promiscuiry and beyond that to in. r' Visitors reponed nakednesq ,.scan. cest. "nea¡ unãiess" and ty dress" with rhe seme u¡flinching anenrion to detail as the reponed sleeping ¡xlangements, for them another glaring

evidence of indecenc¡ i 'as we enter. . . \Íe a¡e struck with. . . a group ofhatÊ dre-ssed people of both sexes collected around the fireptace. Before us is a singular man, ofadvanced age . . . in a stäte of panial nudity. Anorher man, ofmiddle age, somewhat similarly

conditioned, makes his escape âs \re enter, into an adiacent ioom, wherein, being without a door, we observe places for 2 or 3 beds on the floor'.ri . ., Still, the real truth could only be got from brazen or ìep.ntent confessions Thèse were fcw and far between, though J. Riddall Wood. had been able to i¡ace rhe career ofseveral piosritutes . back to a domestic sourcq one of whom 'had lodged with her married sister, and slept in the same bed with ber and her husband; that hence improper'in¡ercourse took place and.from that she gradually became more and more deprâved.'t6 i Tñ. .*poi*., mixn¡re and dirtiness óf ne ¡n on. o, .u.n ti two rooms, and the obliteration of vimre it entailed, wâs a cen-'

tral theme in the description ofpoverty. Beyond indignation and pathos it offered a key forrhe reform ofmoraliry through domestic a¡chitecture. Since the moral problem of the slum dwelling could be tied down to its multirude ofentries and exits and the indiscrimina¡e use ofits undifnerentiated rooms, the ar. chitecn¡re of reform would work by specifying movemenr and distinguishing spaces.

The domestic requireoents of body and soul were frst translated into a thoroughly coordinated building in the blocþ of4 Model Houses for Familiæ designed by Hcnry Robens forl the Great Exhibition of 1851, under the i¡fluence of Edwin I Cbadwick, under 'the auspices of Lord Shaftsbury and under the patronage ofPrince Alben. Produced when housing philan. tfuopy was in its ranpant early phase, its unstinting provision ofspace and services was inevitably pared down in practice,lt yet it represents, æ only an eremplary proiect can, the various ways in which a¡chitecture was to be deployed against low-life. Two cridcal divisions were sown inro the plan; one between

families and the o¡her betwee¡ the members of each family.

f¡nitisg The Model Houses for Fa¡nilies were arranged in pairs¡i round an open stair that cor¡Id extend to âs many storeys as¡l ûecessary. As Dickens notictd, turning the stairs i¡side out was a novel manipulation perforued in part to faciliøte veotilation¡¡ but also so that'cach farnily may go bome without crossing all

r' Taking the access stair outdoors placJ' it firoly rvithin ¡þ¡ ptrblic reaÛn. Its unoccupiable ci¡cula. tion space put a neuralized gap between every household. Familic were placed urirhin ¡[gi¡ own setÊcontained territory, neighbour's threshold'.

discoonected fiom that ofneighbours. To this end privies and sculleries were also supplied within each apanment, an u¡usual luxury even for the urban middleclass at this time. Tbe separa. tion of family apanme!ß was argued as ur effective quarantine in case ofepidemicg but it nræ argued too as a precondition for a cenain sryle ofinrrovencd domesticiry not yet found amongst the poor. For both ¡easons Edrflin Chadwick had proposed detached pavilion dwellings for the low ctasses, amongst whom he bad observed 'greater noise their occupâtions,

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uproariousness their pleasures, extreme violence anger', together with a general lack ofresraint.rt

in their

Scrual r.clationships Inside, the Model Houscs rrere divided into a living-rooq) a¡d three bed¡ooms for parcnts, boys and girls, Tbere was only$ one door i¡to cach of thc bed¡ooms to ensurc.that they were I never used as th¡ough routes. As carly as l?9? the reforming magistratc William Monon Pi¡t had recorrmended the provi.

ï ar park

Model Houses for 4 families, Henry.Roberts, erecled Knightsbridge barracks in l85l then moved to Kennington

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Robi¡ Ev¡ns had originally bcen devised in collaboration with Edwin Cha6 wick as a sanitarY Eer$ure: made or horrow brick, romÞ I conve¡sations, do not mrrsig laughing, crying, clúldren, ing pais æ distina iounds, and thc i¡habitants ofeach room enioy '

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stu*dwelters. Later this I

lwould harden i¡to a bclief that 'the habits and tætes ar'd idesires of tbe people are to a large extent hostile to im'

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rhip into t.p.t.te beds and bed¡ooms; not only wcrethe second

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/ rinued to sleep together;'r nõt only where the long list of model . rules for tenäts'-bchaviour widcly rcsented;rt not only were

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.Ñs.ä, but dema¡d fell shon of supply' Model

:å:: apart'

left standing varural conagæ for reasons of propriery{o ments and even wholc block wcre somedmes tenernenß crowded otherwisc of midst the in "' and this c?nt *.r. *n"io.iã, aloog with H.aol-õ.:vin poierty-and-bi-gb..rents alone' An to due always not was thatr 1857 alludes-to thisþroI .one evil consequence inseparable from the defìciency of editorial in Tñe Buil&t oiFeb. ?th / bedrooms is a low state of mo-ralig a breakdown of tbosc feel' blem:providing dweltin-gs thc industrior¡s classcs in large to bc most caretully pr.r.r".d in 'In -for ' ö;ii:ñö;h"'.ö, to,"ås, oo. oithe cbief efrorts necessary is to geÌ rid of tbe pre' oi p.ríons or uo-ti- ojr;gtñttr" o,;.,iri y" ' aå¡ri., - The number rfuee was ¡r"p"".ü rir-.{ ä allowed',for rhat iudicei which exisr, and make it diflìcuh to pcrsuade those who and Lave been.accustomed to certain dwcllings to cbange them for separarion --:';;; wbich, wirh ;iüilt is essentíal to morality others which are widently FT.t; T9 in conscquence persons s;reeorhe ând separarion inläiåt *"iar ror r.1*r own the inferior description o{h9uT propeny can point läiiä¡,.är.*îr,iä ø-ril;pt*Jõwnro tu¿¡ nininat who with a sort of triumpå to-the appreciation bv their tena¡ts, and or r.t.tior"rttips rtit.*.r iöffi;;;,hJ.t lää*ää;å. the nroru.s. gf their.äweuings.in congariln with some orthe ,h" aut¡o-rüi in a decent modìl buildinss_wbich havc bcen put up''in London.' äöå?r.ä,-åi. ioi.t Th. story. of Tyndall's Buildings, .qrth-.i¡s 'most diflicuh li;üt:-Tb; .hil¿r.ny ,oórn, *ä" both enrercd ,tr¡gt ..n rras Ged to illuslrate this telling state oF affai¡s' ot'o" ¡ .rroiá.a . oppo*rt¡,y the living room so ,n rypul_.,igl' actount of No. 8 has already bcen refer' Su¡geon's Pa¡ish ihe cise of parental watchfulness,r¡t without parens."toaçiÇ reá to. Godwin-'s editorial was wrinen afler an anempt had ing with their children. Tbe pa¡enrs' bed¡ooo .atr apaagemeut i" m*y-ãp.ãi made by thc Menopolitan Associadon to improve the cntered via the scullery, p-lace:preferablc to a dircct-âpproacb from the living room'r'¡ lt *Om-ately happened-that-the Association did not succeed becausc more secluded from i¡nocent or prying .y... in purchæing ti¡:Jfti:.f-*t aomariclpacc of and naming In this wa¡ by the subdivision v.tio* t""yi, led to mucb t¡6noYúî and difliculty' Not' and the careful, selective con¡ection of rooms, ..¡ii..i*i the necessary regairs and alteratioos were pro' ;;"tä d;"id.;'in Gavin's phrase, .rhe entir. grootrd,"oik withstanding, the cisterns and closcts werc arranged; the wid, ceeded improvem;;iü; social - ventilation upon which much of the moral¡nd cared fori wasbing places made in go*." clàned; cellars I.lL:* population must bc based.,.J In Roberrs, ¡rfoå.f nigbt be let- to families were whicb rooms house'\ form of hollow brick construction was uscd to t.ioøt.-tttt each ît[cd *ith partitious; in faa; thc chanse rude in

. sion of 3 bed¡ooms .and by lg5l many

.it:

lprovemenl."t Ñot bnty werc therc families who actively.op I i þsed the distribution of tbeil nr¡merous, extended.member'

t¡É'

Horow brick construclion or Moder House. Henry

con' family sv¡. rus ¡ou¡J wuç the rst w¡P(y empty while dwetlings left rn moqer model q\peruügü bgúooms in I bed¡ooms

even limit temPt;doû and subduc passion amongst the tainted, ' it was all too ciea¡ that the reformed house was in icelf i¡suflì' '

satqrt ln¡&

nir.

Úithin each room, ñuniture and fittings (still uncommon in the homes of the really poor) spccilied yet rnore exactly the location and circumsta¡rces of domestic activity. So the Model Hoconfused, overlapping territories teening with lifc in the slum. But although the architecrural redefinition and segrega' tion of the fanily night save those not yet corn¡pted' might

Coum!

E*a1-^1*.rñi .;

oerfect Drivecy'.t' bf .ouri. fiom the Victorian poiat of view tbe moral family was to be the private family in both ia external,and in¡ernal relationships, 6ut it should be said that in all private ar' ransement;, no maner how 'perfect' therc is a supervening .,rriour. oi communciations. Hence, the wall and the dcor r¡¡ere the determining clemen¡s in tbe configuration of ¡efor n' ing architecrure; the wâll as the means of a gencral sequest a' tiõn, the door to give specific strucnrre to pcrsonal relation' ships.

fu-"ffi ,ffiR !b¡

iåi ¡'*

.in

or iäor o.r. til;h, ;;

\lÏ::ii"ä#;ì. ,T.îË;;-;;ä."t.¡ o*. Ë:;,ñäã,ìti

-'l '

\äi,it""|räiå;pi*"iih Vì

of"

t,, *paciry to abrcrb noir.,,rto:uþìi iudiciously

1î:-: th^:rtoi*Ï*t*i

One+oomed dwellings for th the aooearance and vholesn ana iåt a number of intr¡i

bene'fìcial arrangement. Al fett very linle diflìcultY ir was a scene ofdilaPidatior say, not easy now to colleo ed with a padlock, the teu

and imorant contemPt fo

mingled feelings of Evidently, the PeoPle wr because bf an obvious ali unredeemed, but that wæ The attack on existing dor of housing Provision. E* necessary to supplement I Home Reþrm, instructin:

causeã

Reformers noticed recalci of political agitation.from conditions.

And while it would be I

adherence to old waYs

Roo*cris and Model Dweüings

' .1 ' .;.. 'I i.. ...*,: l:-.. l.l

i'.

l)lIl':1,¡.lN(;S

Ì'(¡rr

'il¡f:

l¡OOll rx'l'OtTN.S.

r;-åÍil¡,iïl¡ '. -.¿..:..:a.r.¡:ii

.,:

I ;

I "-. ì. 1..,. lçø

--l--.| __l .....

.r-. _ -

-\-l-'t:ì

í,1 ;_J, i.__

i.,'c---t''

j-\iil--

' i.'.:ì,r'ì:i:;î,: , ' .i ¡i.:\'.,;lr'h,

. ' -. ij-::.'ii,:¿,;;

',' i '!

'-¡7,1,.::.),';

¡.i.:al,i.ij \"1 ;ll

;:qi;S'$f.Í

lt-.ùk.

one-roomed dwerrinss for rhe urban Poor, Robert Kerr, rhe appearance and wholesomeness of the place was

1866

lc"'

;:ffin::,il:"itrå:ffiîîäitriåîf,l*ifilii of improved dwell' fiom compliant

wonderful: with grateful

words

tenants

ings in these early years. Ool *1 only surmise that slum' dwellers toorrere aware that the choice was not.iust beween¡ good-andbadhousingbutbctweentworadicallydifferentwaTfr \ ot'lifè. Philanthropic bgusing was given_sbape by middle<lass say,noreâsynowtåcoileatherent;ãndmanydoorsarefäiten-| cd wirh a padlock, rhe renanrs having left. This son of #ùiü / rgi";r9;;¡ ptófÀ¡oñ.¡ whisought ¡orembuld,!: t:-*-:til ana ignoråni .oni.rpt for the meaãs of beakh and comfon I chssF in thei¡ ow¡ recently crptaliTd image. Through hous{flr I ing they- gguld cenuc the family wiqin th¡ 'e1e and peace an-d' causeí mingled feelings of vexation and pþ.'ro E id;;,ü "rh. p39;Ë *;* not always cooperative, panly comfon'rt of a well'ordercd home; they thus hoped to talke life bd;;-äf ; ¿ictr"t¡on between ,.for..r, and ttri off the strects, out of public houscg places of amusemcnt and "'b;ñ nocn¡rnal resorts, isotate itr_parse it and Bowdlerizc it till all Irnredeemed, but that was not all. ff. .ttã.f, õn oisting domestic habits was, in fact, the obverse uproariousness, passion and violence were wrung out. This of torr¡"g-p."-ä;"i. 8".; Henry Robens haá tbought it wis, after all, ¡heir cxplicit aim. Vhen Robcrt-$crt, in a r¡ecessary io-supplement his architårurc with a pamphiet on miscalculated address to thc RIBA proposed that housing ntii-drn"r,, 'iå.,*oing rhe poor on their own eiev"tion. for the poor should comprisc one large room, becausc they lik' n.for¡¡¡.änoii..¿tt.ot"ñt"o..; historiansnotice theabsencg¡¡,ed living that wa5 looked forwa¡d to secing beck and front ofpotitical agitation from rhe p,oor themselves about housingflfdoors open all day and c¡iticized the 'dogura of the three it bedrooms'as propounded by Henry Roberts and L¡rd Shaft' c¡nditions.r¡ And while it would bc. foolish to read their silence and their sbury, hc was not well'réceived. The response was sur¡med up .dñ;;;;;î ;ìJ;;ñ rj.igrt of .onienrment with existing ar- uy t.'CtratneldCla¡k who told Ken thai 'it was a fallaþ to.say

ana yåt a nu¡nber of inhabitanrs seem'to have opposed tbis hneiìcial arrangement. Although tbe coueûor bãd formerty felt very linte difliculty in colleãing the renrs when.the placi, was â scene of dilapidation and ruin, it bas become, suange to

lYithout John, The Masses

'i¡o¡,

thc Rev' H' Wo¡slr [,rotcd frorì Dcvil's Ar tickcns, Chartcs 'The

l,wlinson' Sir Robcrt, Tå¿ " fti;auv Condition of the PeoP lio, .*r-P1., Beames, Thomas lerte; iato, p. ¡zo; Booth, AbrY'

ç'

ldcttcs tor Srmons, Jelinger iìrorrrut of the Dangerous Çla; 'èavi¡, !Iabitatíon,

P' 39'

tawtinson; ¡å¡4 P' 3' åavin, Habítation, P' 24'

ü.yh.*,

HenrY,'Home is Hor

262.

'in, Bu¡tdn vol.

' l¡ Victorian Familv Tea

that because

the poor'we¡er as a rule, fond of living in

one

room, persons tryiog to improve the conditions of their dwell' ings ought not toProvide more'so as to give them a higher idea oftheir condition.5' Kerr distingrrished between the modern sophisticadons of privacy required by the educated" atrd the rude commonality enioyed by the tower classes whose unrefìned and indelica¡e ibeirãviour-had been mistaken for degradation by oversensitive philanthropists, and in any cu¡e' dwettings on his plan would (I te less expênsive. His opiaions were of clurse reaaionary: it is diflìcult tö see how sucL sentiments could do other than hark . back to ¡he past, since the reformers had already a¡n:xed the future. It shàuld always bc remembercd that althougb many of the standards set by ßobens w€re more admired than . reproduced in tgth cenrulîõìki'ng class housing they would I eventually percolate into normal practice, some having long

since been superceded by yct more exacting arrangements. On the sidC of progress Henry Mayhw, in a tract cntitled 'Home is Home be it Nwer so Homely' astutely identified a plausible reason for the risc ofprivate domesticity and hence

for the subdivision ofhousel¡old spacc: 'Among those who are not comPelled to labour for their living,

there iJless enioyment ofthc ease of home; and consequeotly a greater love of society th¡n is found âmongst those who rerurn io it after a heavy day's work"' He recognised that a greater craving for society and amusement was to bl found in the upper stratà as well as the lower reaches wherever, that is, it had not ycr bcen displaced by ofsociety

it rcquired no great leap of the imagination to see the link bctween an in' the overliding compulsion to work. For him

ãustrioui population and a wcll'houscd population. Reformed housing wâs not so much 3 rcward for hard work as its.

"ä:HJäil'Äil*,

ofthe todging house). In so doing they set out to proíide moral termini in a still degenerãte social landscape. Pan oftheir purpose was to absorb dwelling (and, to a lesser exteni, that

*,,ackled

the problem orthc ramilv

socie¡y from public places into private places, yet th€re \¡/as to be anóther effon, fraired in similar laoguage, and using similar techniques, to give a moral structure to public space' The com' bined form of these rwo operätions was the bousing estate.

second pan 10

Liw

London 1883 p.

Labou

The term dangerous classes' u' ofthc ccntury was defìned bY and oersons whose conduct is ofthìt proximate bodY of Peo¡ and conrinuallY swell its numb

497.

It Bcames,

Iåc

Rooheies oJ Lo,

l¡

byos, H. J. 'The Slums of Vioorian London', Victorían Studics, Vol'

XI, p.

Liþ lt

Bcams, 17re Rooheríes ol Lontì Evik, etc. p. 9. 'The DeePer

RIBA Tran¡aaíons, lst serics Vol. XVII p. 40.

Ramblings, P'

Sims, Gcorgc R., Hou Thc Poor

tprnrt, London, 1857'

looth, Charles,

describe the moralising of public space from tbe cutting of New Oxford Street through St. Giles'(1847) to tbe opening ofthc Boundary Estate on the sitè of the old Jago (1900).

To.i.,, for ImProving the Cor ë.rin, Sanítary

this anicle is in preparation which will I

Footnotcs

v. p. 28?.

Veir, W.'St. Giles'Past & 18414, p. 2ó7.

tr.

Thorotd, Rev. A. rü1. Iå¿ S¡

5. la

Gavin, Hccror, Saniøry Ramblíng; London 1848, p. 68. Gavin was concerned however that ccnain Inns and beer shops werc taking lodgers, 'Thus on a small scalc exhibiting tbe evils common to lodging houìes'. According to A. S. Wohl ¡he cngraving in qucstion had first becn published a ycar carlicr in a ¡r¡ct on Field Lanc (Thc Eternal S/zn, London 1977)' t Quoted

This aspect of rookerY life I hes been nicely described Undmlo r Id Harmondsworu It Mayhew, Henry, London

The

Euilda Vol.

1843, p. 32.

¡t Sir

Hector Gavin in Th¿ Habitations ol thc lwlusníal Cl¿ss¿¡, I¡ndon 1851, pp ó9 et. scq. was able to mershall 2ó sources to thk cffect.

Octaoia

Joþ¡ gimon, quoted by

8ell, E.

Dcnison, W. Bcckcrt, 'On Modcl leldging Houscs' in Melioria, ed. Viscount lngestrc, London 1852, p. 182.

¡¡

in Dyos

Mohrly,

& WolÍÍ, The Vicu

!t Gavin, Habitaions, P. 32. I

Holc, James, Homcs of the

Rookcrics a¡d Modcl

i¡or, Iohn, iuorcd

Th¿ Massa l7.r'¡åo¡¡,.I¡ndon 185?'

cuning:

from thc Rev' H' Vorslcy in G¿vin; Habitations etq P'71'

Vol' I' p 29?'

Beames, TÏomas, Thc Rooheies of Londoq I'ondoa l'^. "r-ole. i::"":'i;òl-B;"r1. Ábrv. lc¡tci to thc Builder, 1843, Vol. l. p. 235; {¡ I'i*åír, l.iiite.t c. rorí;o ¡0, th¿ Times as Regards the Condiion

i;;-t;;,;' ol the Dangaous

C/asses,

London, 1849'

'lz,in, Ilabitation, P. 39.

Èitt, William Moíon, Classes, Pro'

Líþ @

Labout

the Peop.tc,

Vol' X, London'

1903'

497.

l¡ Aürcss to thc Lanild Inter¿st on thc ol Habítations ctc., l¡ndon, 1797, p' 2l'

iloberts, Henr¡ &lode I Houscs lor 4 Familie¡ buik in ønn¿ction uith the 'Great Exhibítiory London, 1851. Ibídaa.

Ibid" at

Gavin, Habitadons, P. 30. aa

Chatles, House!økl l7ords, Vol. III pp 14&\' The Build¿r voL Vtíp. 343, iilustrates this. novel cavity system w-hich according to Barbare Chu now studying thå Chadwick Papcrs at UCL had bccn on Chadwick's mind somc time bcforc.

öi.k n.,

Iåc

Roohoí¿s

ol London' pp 4647.

¡a

Ìùeir, V¡. 'St. Giles'Past & Present' Knight's Londoq Vol' 1841.4, 9. 267.

III'

lst ed'

Thorold, Rev. A. W. The Sunday at Homc, n-d..' ¡ó

;.,,.:...#iåÈçi'o/ '.1v . ¡ ¡ : r-.i-_.

UCL Ms. no. 30 itcm 55. My tb¡nks to Barbara

.t-

_ -. lieams, The Rooheriæ oI Londo¡t, p. 22; Rawlinson , Social @ Naional Eoils, iti. p. 9. 'Thc óecp* Dcpth, No. VII', The Quivct, 1866, 9'

1: rrst

Dcliciency

Papers,

Cottages',

III.PP 33&9.

. ' ".'

lgth Carury Btitaín,

Gavín, HabitationT P. 41,

p.t.

'lns

t¡i

conduct ii obnoxious ¡o the intcrcss ofsocicty but oitb'.t proximatc body ofpeoplc who arc within rcach ofits contagion Timcs' and continually swell its numLcr'. Symons, J. C' Tactics lor the \

:ing

.nJf.rtont thote

John Nelson, lTorÅíng Class Housing 1969, chaPs. 3'6.

'hc Buitde¡ Vol. V. P. 28?.

ofthc

wâs

r å

Chu for this ¡efercncc.

íÌrc tcrm dangerous clæscs, which was uscd ùroughout the lâtcr helf century-was dcfincd by Symons as 'not only criminals paupcrs

n.d' p' 58'

ön"¿t"i.k

Social Photoga?ht' lændon,

íiouse of l¡rds Sessional Paper 1842 Vol. XXVI p' 126; quotcd in Pike, E. Rapton, Human Docttments of the Industrial Reoolution in Bn'rar4 l,ondon, 1966, P. 288.

262.

Bcames,

(¡

l¡

Sc¿nes

&lalonþ p' .Ilryh.*, Henry, 'Homc is Home bc it Ncver So Homely',

,r'

lol.

t, lsh.do'r' Midnight

Hous¿hold Words,9o\.

åL¡h,. Charles,

éce Wohl, A. S. 'Sex & The Singlc Room; Incest Àmong thc Victorian Working Clases', Zr?ronbn Family, cd. Wohl, London, 1978'

ôi"k.nr, Ch¿¡les, 'Mr Bendigo Buster on tbe Modcl

It Gavin, Sanirary Romblings, P.4.

P.20.

ëavin, Habitatiory P. 24'

rprctrs, London, 1857.

üole, iö¡Z

AA Paper no. 7,

öLi.,y fo, tmproving the Condition of thc Labouring

Buildings and Tyndall's Buildings' nd.

ä.n,

ilwlinson, ibíd 9' 3'

,:. .'.:'.

A History ol St. Gila, Brit. Lib. intcrlcaved-copy, 'A visit with Pariih Surgeon Whitfìcld to Charlottc's

ta'

X*:;;n;:,:;n',^î';*1,:î:"f*tta¡yg!,!!ucnczoÍ'lne

ðobic, Rowland,

182'

'The Dcvil's Acre', Household Words' öickcns, Charles

Dwcllingr

This aspect ofrookery life with spccial rcferc¡ce to po!9e incursion has bein nicely describcd by Kellow Chesney in Thc Víctorian Und¿rworl4 Harmondswonh, 1972, pp l2+1t6. ¡t

Mayhew, Henry, landon Labour

lt Bell, E. Mobcrly, Octaoia

IIr'I

€¡ Th¿ Landon Poor, Yol' l, p. I l0' London 1942' p. 81.

¡t Si¡John Simon, quoted by ilohl, A. S.r'Unfit for Human Habh¿tion' ia Dyos & Wolff, Î,t¿ Víctorion Círy Vol. 2. p. 6lt. la

Gavin, Habitations, p. !t Hole, Jamcs, Homes

32.

öibdin, t¡wis,'Dwellings of thc Poor,' Quanerly Ræiø, Jan' 1884' p. i¿oí t.pto¿u.cd in R-ubinstein, David Victorian florzer, London' 1974, p. 177. al

Ë.uch.t, Lcon,'Mancheste¡ in 1844'

üia.ount lngrævc, Meliona, p. Vol XVII. Thc Bui!ù¡ Fcb. ?. 1857, Vol

tl öauldic, Etid.,

165r R.I.B.A. ransactioos,

lst series'

XIV 9.7?'78V2.

Cruct Habitartorr, London l9?4 introduoion, p'

XVI'

t¡ Mayhcw, Meliona, P. 261. thc problem of providing ôwcllings for the poor in Towns', RI8'4 Trannciions, lst scries Vol. XVII, 18é67' pp 39'59'

ön

The

Gentleman\}Io¡sq [.ondon, l8ó4'

laodon 1866' p.20'

Viaorían Homes, p' 261'

i{crr, Rob"n,

thc lVotking Ctasseg

Mayhcw, Mclíona P.261,

i lil , j{l

ITl

iijl tüi i ,tt L-:i j.1 '.

r.î . .;l

ì .-{t

$ig i1 iä