Heating, lighting, and plumbing provide comfort and convenience to the modern home. How did the historic row houses of Capitol Hill accommodate these modern interventions? This lecture will highlight how houses and occupants' lives changed in the decades after the Civil War. As fireplaces evolved into central heating, lamps became electrified, and outdoor privies moved indoors, new designs of row houses were called for, influenced by changing ideas about sanitation and the germ theory. While these conveniences became perceived as necessities, they were not distributed evenly across economic class and geography. This examination of heating, lighting, and plumbing will look at the broader ideas concerning public health as well as the specifics of introducing new facilities into row houses with an emphasis on Capitol Hill.
Alison K. (Kim) Hoagland is the author of several books on architecture, including The Row House in Washington, DC: A History (University of Virginia Press, 2023) and The Bathroom: A Social History of Cleanliness and the Body (Greenwood Press, 2018). A long-time Capitol Hill resident, Hoagland was Senior Architectural Historian for the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service and then taught History and Historic Preservation at Michigan Technological University.
Admission is free but a reservation is requested due to limited capacity. Reservations can be made starting October 27. Seating will begin at 6:30 pm; the power point presentation will begin at 7 pm.
Hill Center
Old Naval Hospital
921 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
