A History of Domestic Space: Privacy and the Canadian Home - Hardcover

Ward, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0774806842 ISBN 13: 9780774806848

Publisher: UBC Press, 1999

Synopsis

Homes are our most personal, private places, at the heart of how we conceive of life outside the public sphere. A History of Domestic Space explores how domestic architecture has shaped and been shaped by family and social relationships over the past three centuries. The changing form, setting, and technology of the home have profoundly affected our opportunities for individual privacy within a family and family privacy within a community.

The earliest Canadian house form consisted of a single room. We've added and moved rooms and their functions according to the needs and wants of the changing Canadian family. In the eighteenth century, for example, most people would expect neither bed nor bedroom to themselves. When bedrooms did appear, they first opened directly off the main room, only later moving upstairs or down a corridor to the most private part of the home. The bathroom, which now often takes the form of a spacious en suite, began life as the humble outdoor privy. Among the most revolutionary domestic technologies, indoor plumbing has changed the interior of the home forever. Peter Ward examines the evolution of each room in turn - its placement, priority, and purpose - before turning to the exterior of the house and its meaning.

How have today's big houses and small families affected the bond between parents and children? Does the occupant of a high-rise apartment have more or less privacy than the occupant of a farmhouse? What did Canadians consider to be enough domestic space for one person in the eighteenth century? What do they think in the present? These are just some of the questions that Peter Ward considers in this beautifully rendered exploration of the Canadian home. Its unique perspective breathes life into the homes of the past and throws the door open to the homes of the present.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Ward teaches in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia.

Review:

... readers will enjoy this humanized view of Canadian architecture. Ward’s book is a welcome complement to the recently published Homeplace by Peter Ennals and Deryck Holdsworth. (Laurie Stanley-Blackwell CBRA 2239)

... packed with wonderful historic details about real Canadian homes and families ... both of these books provide fascinating nuggets of information ... about topics that have been obscured by our myth-making American neighbour. And they bring to life the unique texture of daily Canadian life that was buried in our mothers’, fathers’, and grandparents’ journals, letters, pictures and stories. (Frances Bula The Vancouver Sun)

Throughout, in direct, simple prose, Ward offers stimulating observations on and excellent documentation of the domestic landscape. The photographs and other illustrations are, likewise, highly informative ... highly recommended for all architecture, interior design, and material culture collections. (Paul Glassman, New York School of Interior Design Library Library Journal)

This is a history of domestic space in Canada. Peter Ward looks at how spaces in the Canadian home have changed over the last three centuries, and how family and social relationships have shaped – and been shaped by – these changing spaces. A fundamental element of daily life for individuals and families is domestic privacy, that of individuals and that of the family or household.

There are also two facets of privacy – privacy from and privacy to. Personal privacy sets the individual apart from the group, creating opportunities for seclusion. Family privacy draws boundaries between the household and the community, defending the solidarity of the home and providing a basis for family relationships. In both ways, privacy is intimately involved with the history of the house.

Over time, the changing size, shape, and location of the home have created widely different opportunities for family and personal privacy. Together with major shifts in household composition, family size, and domestic technology, they have gradually altered the conditions of everyday domestic life.

But the pattern of change has been far from uniform, for the nature, meaning, and experience of privacy in Canadian have varied widely over the past 300 years. This book explores some of those experiences and meanings, reflecting on their impllications for family and social life historically as well as in the recent past.

About this edition

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0774806842
• ISBN 13: 9780774806848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192