A Humbug Home: An Examination of the Model Cottage at the Great Exhibition of 1851

Edward Hollis

A Humbug Home: An Examination of the Model Cottage at the Great Exhibition of 1851

Edinburgh College of Art

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

''What has a Prince to do with building cottages? What has the royally high to do with the villanously low, sir? When the Prince becomes a bricklayer, what are the bricklayers to be?''

As their name implies, the Model Cottages at the Great Exhibition of 1851 were constructed for display rather than inhabitation, and they provide an opportunity to consider not just what the modern interior was, but what it was imagined and hoped to be. To some, the cottages were a hygienic machine, to others, a threat to the liberal social order.

Celebrated as social architecture, the cottages have not been studied as interiors. This paper will explore the rooms inside them through contemporary representations, fictional and factual, reflecting on the relationship between the ‘real’ home and its aspirational model, the modern interior and its commodified image.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Visualising the Nineteenth Century Home
Place of Publication	London
Publisher	Ashgate Publishing
ISBN (Print)	978-1472449634
Publication status	Published - 5 May 2016

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

interior design practice
history
theory

1 Book
1 Conference contribution
1 Article

The Memory Palace: A Book of Lost Interiors
Hollis, E., 5 Sept 2013, London: Portobello. 368 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
The Memory Palace: Telling the Story of the Interior
Hollis, E., 1 Apr 2012, Interior Education Futures: Contemporary Insights. Rodgers, P. & Adams, R. (eds.). Oxford: Libri Books, p. 17-31 14 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Open Access
File
The House of Life and the Memory Palace: Some Thoughts on the Historiography of Interiors
Hollis, E., 1 Jul 2010, In: Interiors: Design, Architecture and Culture. 1, 1-2, p. 105-117 13 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Edward Hollis
- ehollis1exseed.ed.acuk
- Edinburgh College of Art - Personal Chair in Interior Design
- Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Person: Academic: Research Active

Cite this

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abstract = "''What has a Prince to do with building cottages? What has the royally high to do with the villanously low, sir? When the Prince becomes a bricklayer, what are the bricklayers to be?''As their name implies, the Model Cottages at the Great Exhibition of 1851 were constructed for display rather than inhabitation, and they provide an opportunity to consider not just what the modern interior was, but what it was imagined and hoped to be. To some, the cottages were a hygienic machine, to others, a threat to the liberal social order.Celebrated as social architecture, the cottages have not been studied as interiors. This paper will explore the rooms inside them through contemporary representations, fictional and factual, reflecting on the relationship between the {\textquoteleft}real{\textquoteright} home and its aspirational model, the modern interior and its commodified image. ",

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N2 - ''What has a Prince to do with building cottages? What has the royally high to do with the villanously low, sir? When the Prince becomes a bricklayer, what are the bricklayers to be?''As their name implies, the Model Cottages at the Great Exhibition of 1851 were constructed for display rather than inhabitation, and they provide an opportunity to consider not just what the modern interior was, but what it was imagined and hoped to be. To some, the cottages were a hygienic machine, to others, a threat to the liberal social order.Celebrated as social architecture, the cottages have not been studied as interiors. This paper will explore the rooms inside them through contemporary representations, fictional and factual, reflecting on the relationship between the ‘real’ home and its aspirational model, the modern interior and its commodified image.

AB - ''What has a Prince to do with building cottages? What has the royally high to do with the villanously low, sir? When the Prince becomes a bricklayer, what are the bricklayers to be?''As their name implies, the Model Cottages at the Great Exhibition of 1851 were constructed for display rather than inhabitation, and they provide an opportunity to consider not just what the modern interior was, but what it was imagined and hoped to be. To some, the cottages were a hygienic machine, to others, a threat to the liberal social order.Celebrated as social architecture, the cottages have not been studied as interiors. This paper will explore the rooms inside them through contemporary representations, fictional and factual, reflecting on the relationship between the ‘real’ home and its aspirational model, the modern interior and its commodified image.

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KW - history

KW - theory

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

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ER -

A Humbug Home: An Examination of the Model Cottage at the Great Exhibition of 1851

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Fingerprint

Research output

The Memory Palace: A Book of Lost Interiors

The Memory Palace: Telling the Story of the Interior

The House of Life and the Memory Palace: Some Thoughts on the Historiography of Interiors

Profiles

Edward Hollis

Cite this