Hospital Furniture & Decoration
“It is surely incumbent on those in charge to employ all means at their command to hasten the recovery of the curable and lessen the monotony and irksomeness in the existence of those whose fate is a lifelong residence within its walls. The nature of the surrounding of an insane person must be admitted to have a powerful effect on him.”
(Burdett, 1891)
The Film
This film is based on extracts from the book “Hospitals and Asylums of the World”, a four volume work written in 1891 by financier Henry C Burdett. The film captures the philanthropic mood of the Victorian era. The humanity expressed by the formidable Mr Burdett and the painstaking care and attention to detail he brought to the design and furnishings of these new hospitals and asylums upsets our perceptions of these Victorian institutional spaces and their legacy in popular culture and imagination.