Yale University, School of Architecture

Architecture of Deceit Author(s): Diane Ghirardo Reviewed work(s): Source: Perspecta, Vol. 21 (1984), pp. 110-115 Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567084 . Accessed: 01/03/2012 06:41Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

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Diane Ghirardo

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Friedrich Engels ,The Condition of the Working Class in England in i844 > Stuttgart i892 reprinted Moscow 1973 pp84-86

he town itself is peculiarlybuilt, so that someone live in it for yearsand travel can into it and out of it daily withoutever with a working-class into contact coming or evenwith workers-so long, that is quarter to his business to say, as oneconfines himself for affairs or to strollingabout pleasure. This comes aboutmainly in the circumstances that through unconscious, agreement an tacit as muchas through conscious, explicit are intentionthe workingclassdistricts most theparts of the city sharplyseparated from reserved the middleclass . . . for can monied Manchester's aristocracy now to travelfrom theirhouses theirplacesof in business the center the townby the of all shortest routes,whichrun right through the workingclassdistricts,withouteven noticinghow closetheyare to the most whichlies immediately about squalid misery themon bothsidesof the road. This is whichrunfromthe the because main streets in out Exchange all directions of thecity are on almostuninterruptedly bothsides occupied of by shops,whichare keptby members the middleand lowermiddleclasses.In their theseshop-keepers shouldkeep own interests of up theirshopsin an outwardappearance and cleanliness respectability; in fact and whichare theydo so. . . . Thoseshops situatedin the commercial quarteror in the vicinity of the middleclassresidential districtsare more elegantthan thosewhich serveto cover the worker's grimycottages. up even Nevertheless, theselatteradequately servethepurpose hidingfrom the eyesof of and wealthygentlemen ladieswith strong and stomachs weak nerves misery the and thatform the completing counterpart, squalor the indivisiblecomplement, theirriches of well that this and luxury. I knowperfectly or manner buildingis more less of deceitful common all big cities. . . . I havenever to elsewhere a concealment such seen fine of sensibilityof everything that mightoffend the eyesand nerves the middleclasses. of that And yet it is precisely Manchester has beenbuilt lessaccording a plan and less to within the limitationsof officialregulationsand indeedmore accident-thanany through othertown.'

Architecture Deceit of

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Class in In The Condition the Working of in 844, Friedrich Engels England exposed the effects of capitalism on the laboring classes. In his analysis of Manchester he also offered one of the first sustained critiques of the built environment. Engels discerned a relationship among political intentions, social realities, and building. Although he was not the last to perceive the nature of this relationship, his approach to building has had little influence on the architecture, construction, and real estate industries in the twentieth century.

history offered by Kenneth Framptonor Manfredo Tafuri and FrancescoDal Co, who ? New York 1947p22 3

Diane Ghirardo 114

Diana Agrest and Mario Gandelsonas Building I Buenos Aires, Argentina

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