Infected Houses & Sanitized Spaces
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INFECTED HOUSES & SANITIZED SPACES: ARCHITECTURE, ADAPTIVE REUSE, & TOURISM OF THE EARLY 20th CENTURY TUBERCULAR ERA By Jenna D. Stout A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public History Department of History Middle Tennessee State University May 2017 Doctoral Committee Dr. Carroll Van West, Chair Dr. Mary S. Hoffschwelle Dr. C. Brendan Martin Dr. Lisa J. Pruitt ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My interest in tuberculosis architecture originated back in my home state of North Carolina where archival photographs of Asheville’s sanatoria inspired my investigation into the TB built environment. A public history internship at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Spring 2012 solidified my fascination with tuberculosis health tourism history and led me down the path to the MTSU Public History PhD Program. This dissertation would have been impossible without the support of a network of family, friends, and colleagues. Over the course of the past four years, Rachel Lewis and Kayla Pressley Seay have been a great source of friendship and cohort support. My doctoral committee members, Drs. Carroll Van West, Mary Hoffschwelle, Brendan Martin, and Lisa Pruitt, gave their time, guidance, and academic expertise to help bring this dissertation from an idea to a polished product. The MTSU Center for Historic Preservation (CHP) provided me with a built-in community of wonderful colleagues from my first days in Murfreesboro. Through the generous support of the CHP, I was able to spend my residency year researching sanatoria architecture and history at the Kentucky Heritage Council. Finally, I must thank three individuals particularly close to my heart. To my mother and sister, thanks for always supporting my educational journey. Finally, to John Harris, you constantly motivate me and I’m forever grateful for having you in my life. Thanks for appreciating my enthusiasm for sleeping porches! ii ABSTRACT In turn-of-the-century America, tuberculosis (TB) served as a palpable threat to the public. The “infected house theory” posited that tuberculosis infected the actual fabric of buildings, attaching further stigma and public health concerns to sanatoria, boardinghouses, and other architecture that housed consumptives. The razing of sanatoria represented an effort to make way for new housing, cleansed of the stigma of disease. Other spaces were adaptively reused, undergoing a sanitization. Through an architectural and material culture-based approach, this dissertation explores the process by which TB architecture shifted from perceived contaminated to sanitized spaces. It also discusses ways to interpret the forgotten white plague at historical sites with sun parlors, sun rooms, and sleeping porches in the South. Tuberculosis histories rarely look beyond the sanatorium. Yet, given that the majority of consumptives never saw the inside of a sanatorium, the tubercular architecture landscape largely consisted of constructed sickroom spaces tacked onto domestic buildings. This dissertation is a regional study on the tuberculosis sanatorium movement and architecture in the South. It contextualizes sleeping porches, boardinghouses, and tent cottages within the larger sanatorium movement. As a work of public history, this study further focuses on the preservation, adaptive reuse, and interpretation of consumptive spaces. Case studies shed light on how different sites deal with their consumptive legacy. These sites illuminate how health and disease can be interpreted and serve as a template for public historians. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….v INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………..........1 Miasmas, Germs, & the Search for a Cure: Modern Views of the Tubercular Era PART I – Creating a Therapeutic Space: The TB Built Environment……………………………………………………24 CHAPTER TWO………………………………………………………………...29 Selling a Cure in the Land of the Sky: Private Boardinghouses & Sanatoria in Asheville’s Tubercular Age CHAPTER THREE………………………………………………………...........57 An Art Deco Treatment: The Mid-Century State TB Hospitals of Kentucky CHAPTER FOUR…………………………………………………......................78 From Cure Porch to Cure-All: Sleeping Porches in the American Architectural Landscape, 1890 – 1930 PART II – Interpreting the Forgotten Plague: Tourism, Preservation, & Public History Practice…………………..............109 CHAPTER FIVE……………………………………………………………….112 Infected History: A Series of Tuberculosis Site Case Studies Case Study #1: The Thomas Wolfe Memorial, Asheville, NC…............113 Case Study #2: The Highlands Tent Cottage, Highlands, NC….............123 Case Study #3: The Julius Marks Sanatorium, Lexington, KY………...130 A Case for Interpreting Infected History……………………...………..143 CHAPTER SIX……………………………………………………..…………..145 Interpreting Tuberculosis at Historic House Museums Practical Applications for the Sunroom………………………………...155 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………............164 Beyond the Stigma of Tuberculosis BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………............168 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Winyah Sanitarium, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map…….………………………38 Figure 2. Winyah Sanitarium, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map……....…………………….39 Figure 3. Winyah Sanitarium, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.……………………………39 Figure 4. No Sick Advertisement, 1913 Asheville City Directory……………………….45 Figure 5. No Sick Advertisement, 1918 Asheville City Directory……………………….45 Figure 6. Sherwood Sanitarium, Asheville City Directory, 1915…………….………….50 Figure 7. Appalachian Hall, 179 S. French Broad Avenue, Asheville………...………...51 Figure 8. The Elbermar (Sherwood Sanitarium), 35 Victoria Road………………...…...53 Figure 9. The Elbermar (Sherwood Sanitarium), 35 Victoria Road……………………..54 Figure 10. Main Hospital Building, London TB Hospital…………….…………………68 Figure 11. Façade, London TB Hospital…………………………………………………69 Figure 12. Madisonville TB Hospital……………………………………………………70 Figure 13. Solaria, London TB Hospital……………………………..…………………..71 Figure 14. “A permanent, protected porch, harmonizing with the house”……………..88 Figure 15. “No. 95 – Inexpensive Temporary Porch for Home Treatment”……….......93 Figure 16. "No. 92 – Well Built Porch with Roof and Canvas Sides for Home”………93 Figure 17. Addition Nos. 5 & 6, Aladdin House Catalog, 1916………………...……….95 Figure 18. Additions D & E, Aladdin House Catalog, 1922……...…………….……….97 Figure 19. Addition F, Aladdin House Catalog, 1922…………………………………...98 Figure 20. Sleeping Porch Opening from Bedroom……………………………………..99 Figure 21. Addition No. 102, Lewis Homes, Homes of Character, 1922………............100 v Figure 22. Addition No. 103, Lewis Homes, Homes of Character, 1922……………....101 Figure 23. “The Right Way of Placing a Bed in a Corner Room,”……………………..105 Figure 24. The Reynolds, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Asheville, NC, 1896………...115 Figure 25. Boardinghouse, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Asheville, NC……………...116 Figure 26. Boardinghouse, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Asheville, NC………...........116 Figure 27. Old Kentucky Home, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Asheville, NC………..117 Figure 28. Boardinghouse, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Asheville, NC……………...117 Figure 29. Addition No. 5, Aladdin House Catalog, 1916……..………………………119 Figure 30. Sleeping Porch and Sun Parlor Side Addition, Thomas Wolfe Memorial….120 Figure 31. Sample Old Kentucky Home Business Card, Thomas Wolfe Memorial…...122 Figure 32. The Millet Cottage, Millet Sanatorium……………………………………..124 Figure 33. View of the Highlands Hill Sanitarium Main Building and Tent Cottages...126 Figure 34. Highlands Camp Sanatorium…………………………………...…………...127 Figure 35. “Tents at Bug Hill, Sanitarium, Highlands, NC”...........................................128 Figure 36. Restored Tent Cottage Exhibit, Highlands, NC, 2006……………………...129 Figure 37. Julius Marks Sanatorium, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map……………………131 Figure 38. Administration Building, Julius Marks Sanatorium….……………………..134 Figure 39. “Colored Patients Building,” Julius Marks Sanatorium…………………….134 Figure 40. Nurse’s Quarters, Julius Marks Sanatorium………………………….……..135 Figure 41. Building D, Julius Marks Sanatorium……………….……………………...135 Figure 42. Superintendent’s Residence, Julius Marks Sanatorium.………………….....136 Figure 43. Children’s Building, Julius Marks Sanatorium……………………………..136 Figure 44. Nurse’s Quarters, Julius Marks Sanatorium……...…………………………138 vi Figure 45. Storage Building (Building D), Julius Marks Sanatorium………………….139 Figure 46. Nurse’s Quarters and Storage Building, Julius Marks Sanatorium.………...139 Figure 47. Storage Building and North Ambulatory, Julius Marks Sanatorium……….140 Figure 48. North Ambulatory (Sleeping Pavilion/ Patient Cottage)….………………...140 Figure 49. South Ambulatory (Sleeping Pavilion/ Patient Cottage)……………………141 Figure 50. South Ambulatory (Sleeping Pavilion/ Patient Cottage)……..……………..141 Figure 51. Diagram of Interior of a Sun Parlor or Conservatory……………….……....158 Figure 52. Sun Parlor, Thomas Wolfe Memorial………………...…………………….160 Figure 53. Sun Parlor, Thomas Wolfe Memorial.……………………………………...160 Figure 54. Sun Porch M-398, Morgan Woodworking Organzation….………………...161 Figure 55. “The Evolution of the Home Conservatory, at present in the Sun Parlor”.....162 vii 1 INTRODUCTION Miasmas, Germs, & the Search for a Cure: Modern Views of the Tubercular Era “Houses as built and furnished give the best conditions for implantation and growth of the tubercle bacillus.” - Dr. Lawrence F. Flick, 1903 In 1903, leading tuberculosis specialist Dr. Lawrence F. Flick declared consumption to be a house disease. His