ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to open a window on to daily Victorian middle-class life in Dublin by showing how architects negotiated the boundaries between different members of the household. It focuses on three sets of contemporary drawings, which throw new light on the functional requirements of the semi-detached house. The first is an unrealised design for two houses in Rathgar dating from 1851, the second is for houses in Northbrook Road built thirty years later, and the third is for homes in Shrewsbury Road in 1900. These rare drawings provide insights into Victorian house design at three snapshots in time, from the mid-Victorian period to the emergence of a new Edwardian era. In particular, it considers the way in which domestic space was manipulated to articulate the relationships between the different members of the household: between master and servant, male and female, adult and child.
