The Spaces of the Hospital explores the role and significance of hospitals as agents of change in London c1680-1820.
The Spaces of the Hospital examines how hospitals operated as a complex category of social, urban and architectural space in London from 1680 to 1820. This period witnessed the transformation of the city into a modern metropolis. The hospital was very much part of this process and its spaces, both interior and exterior, help us to understand these changes in terms of spatiality and spatial practices.
Exploring the hospital through a series of thematic case studies, Dana Arnold presents a theoretically refined reading of how these institutions both functioned as internal discrete locations and interacted with the metropolis. Examples range from the grand royal military hospital, those concerned with the destitute and the insane and the new cultural phenomenon of the voluntary hospital. ¿
This engaging book makes an important contribution to our understanding of urban space and of London, uniquely examining how different theoretical paradigms reveal parallel readings of these remarkable hospital buildings.
"[T]he book is an excellent and easy read, full of fresh insights about a hugely significant and understudied building type." - Annmarie Adams, Journal of Architectural Education, McGill University
"By devoting each chapter to a different aspect of the hospital, Arnold highlights an unusually wide range of responses to it, encompassing patrons, inmates, visitors, and property owners. Through a variety of interpretive keys and sources - from the metaphorical notion of dirt to Mauss's theories about gift-giving, from archival documents to William Hogarth's paintings - she showcases creative modes of analysis that stretch beyond the usual questions and disciplinary boundaries of architectural history." - Kimberley Skelton, Architectural Histories
