JENNIFER WEBER
ARCHITECTURE
13.12.18
BOOK REVIEW
A NEW LANDSCAPE OF HEALTH, ELIZABETH DARLING
In the second chapter "A new landscape of health" from the book "Re-forming Britain: Narratives of Modernity before Reconstruction", author Elizabeth Darling starts off by describing the state of health of the people of Britain around 1890, showing that a large proportion of them lived in poverty and were severely weakened due to poor medical services, malnutrition, environmental pollution and many more. It was important to regenerate the people’s state and improve health in the whole country. Despite this, medics focused on bringing the people back to a stable, healthy state. Two different health centres are then presented in the text. Among the “Finsbury Plan” there was the so-called “Peckham Experiment” which as included in the name took place in Peckham, South London and was introduced by two doctor-biologists Innes Hope Pearse and George Scott Williamson with the goal to observe and increase the health of worker-class families.
Darling also describes in the second chapter the execution of the experiment which was divided into two phases. Phase one, which lasted from 1926 to 1930 and could be described as a family club in a converted house attracted 112 families in three years, which for Pearse and Williamson was clear evidence of the demand for such a club. The doctors then initiated Phase two in which, after much thoughtful architectural planning, the Pioneer Health Centre was finally opened in 1935.
The author Dr Elizabeth Darling is currently a reader in Architectural History at the Oxford Brookes University. This book reflects her interest in inter-war modernism, social housing and gender. (Oxford Brookes University, 2018) She dissects the human mindset at this century. Her profession becomes visible in her writing style, since historians usually remain non-bias to the public. With the help of the given information she lays it bare for us to judge, criticise and more importantly learn from and build upon.
One topic the author Elizabeth Darling addresses in her book is the relevance of gender roles in the Peckham Center. Doctor Pearse and Williamson both attached great importance to developing gender roles in their experiment. (Page 62) They described the role of a mother as quoted: ‘The mother, primarily a physiological selective machine for the nutriment of the infant, becomes no less the medium
CULTURAL CONTEXT
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