The Townhouse and London Worker: Towards an Archaeology of the London Home

Summary

The townhouse is an icon in the London landscape.  Constructed on mass throughout the city, the townhouse was often designed as a flexible space to accommodate the ever changing needs of the Londoner.  Across the social spectrum, the complex negotiation between domestic, commercial and industrious space defined the evolution of the townhouse.  For the working or modest middling classes, the town house often became a multifaceted space accommodating trade, industry, lodgers, and owners, whilst even for the genteel and social elite the town house became an arena for work in politics and business.  This research explores the potential of English Heritage’s Architectural Study Collection as a lens for investigating the town house and it’s a-typical interior.  Through the creation of micro biographies for objects, rooms and buildings this paper seeks to offer an impression of the diverse and complex mediation between domesticity and work in London town house interiors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeologies of Workers’ Housing   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 257