The Language of Houses: How Buildings Speak to Us

Summary (from the publishers): In 1981 Alison Lurie published The Language of Clothes, a meditation on costume and fashion as an expression of history, social status and individual psychology. Amusing, enlightening and full of literary allusion, the book was highly praised and widely anthologized.

Now Lurie has returned with a companion book, The Language of Houses, a lucid, provocative and entertaining look at how the architecture of buildings and the spaces within them both reflect and affect the people who inhabit them. Schools, churches, government buildings, museums, prisons, hospitals, restaurants, and of course, houses and apartments—all of them speak to human experience in vital and varied ways.

The Language of Houses discusses historical and regional styles and the use of materials such as stone and wood and concrete, as well as contemplating the roles of stairs and mirrors, windows and doors, tiny rooms and cathedral-like expanses, illustrating its conclusions with illuminating literary references and the comments of experts in the field.

Accompanied by lighthearted original drawings, The Language of Houses is an essential and highly entertaining new contribution to the literature of modern architecture.

 

Review: This work of non-fiction explores the effect building structure and style has on us and what that structure says about its inhabitants. Lurie explores both the inside and outside of homes, churches, museums, schools, prisons, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, stores, and offices. The focus is primarily on western architecture.

 

I have read other books that focus on the home and its evolution and function, including Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders and At Home by Bill Bryson. Unfortunately this book greatly disappointed me. Rather than providing illuminating insight into the psychology behind why our domestic spheres appear the way they do or the impact our surroundings have on us, this felt like a long-winded personal reflection from Lurie with very limited research or facts to buttress her claims. Furthermore, many of Lurie's observations felt like obvious points that hardly necessitate a book. For example, "a small house suggests a small income; just as a small church suggests a small congregation and a small store a limited number of customers" (13). Or her description of the objects on display in our homes, "These rugs and sculptures and vases may have been directly inherited, or may simply have been purchased to serve as symbols of origin" (95). At times, the simplistic observations made it feel as if I was reading a manual that had been written for someone new and totally unfamiliar with structures of the western world.

 

Additionally, I was surprised that so much of the book didn't actually deal with homes at all, making the title a bit of a misnomer. In fact, at least half of the book is devoted to the author's observations of other types of structures including nursing homes and schools. It also included various segue ways such as a detailed description of the exploitation of prisoners for cheap labor, which didn't really have anything to do with the prison as a building at all.

 

Lurie did share some interesting points, such as revealing just how much the average square footage of the American home has expanded since 1950, just as the size of the average American has also increased. This increased girth has also made large, oversized furniture popular to accommodate our obese frames. It was also interesting to read that the more closely a house resembles those nearby, the "more friendly the neighbors will be" (78). Thus why it's unwise to buy the largest house on the street.

 

Stars: 2