Chapter Three Reference

(above) Park Crescent, ca. 1812, Regent's Park, London. Designed by John Nash.
(right) Elevation and basement plan of a semidetached house (two dwellings attached side by side rather than vertically). The Builder's Practical Director, or Buildings for All Classes. Hagger (London, 1855).

The semidetached house (top right) and Nash's Park Crescent housing (left) illustrate Sharon Marcus's contention that the 19th-century British had a marked distaste for apartment living, which they identified as French, and went to great lengths to disguise multiple-occupancy housing as single-family units. Nash catered to this preference; note the pillars and separate entrances, which clearly demarcate each unit. Few could afford separate housing, however, and the semidetached house with one chimney disguises the fact that behind a single facade lived two families, not one. The mirror-image units in the basement plan and the two entrances reveal the truth.

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	The semidetached house (top right) and Nash's Park Crescent housing (left) illustrate Sharon Marcus's contention that the 19th-century British had a marked distaste for apartment living, which they identified as French, and went to great lengths to disguise multiple-occupancy housing as single-family units. Nash catered to this preference; note the pillars and separate entrances, which clearly demarcate each unit. Few could afford separate housing, however, and the semidetached house with one chimney disguises the fact that behind a single facade lived two families, not one. The mirror-image units in the basement plan and the two entrances reveal the truth.
Back to Working Group essay