ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 focuses on places designed to house those suffering from leprosy (or Hansen’s disease as Leprosy was subsequently was referred to as), an infectious bacterial disease which, with its appearance on the skin, carried a social stigma meaning sufferers were isolated from the rest of the population often for the remainder of their lives. During the nineteenth century the building of leprosaria arose not necessarily from any increase in the spread of the disease or an improved understanding of it, but due to fears associated with the exotic tropical environments from which many cases emanated, coupled with racial prejudices. The isolation and segregation of sufferers occurred in colonies, leprosaria or smaller stand-alone buildings. Such buildings were characterised by their scale, ventilation, sole occupant accommodation and separation from society at large.
