Addictive Architecture: The Crystal Palace, Gin Palaces and Women’s Desire

Abstract

This article critically examines the Crystal Palace, which was originally built in 1851 for the Great Exhibition in London, and public drinking spaces such as gin palaces from the perspective of visual culture studies informed by feminist theory. Many nineteenth-century commentators concerned with alcohol consumption argued that the Crystal Palace would function as an alternative to the public house for working-class people. However, some Victorians believed that the Crystal Palace was an example of “addictive architecture” just like any public drinking space, because the structure seemed to encourage people to seek immediate gratification through consumption. Both the Crystal Palace and gin palaces are considered here in light of anxieties about desire in general and women’s desire in particular. Graphic representations of both architectural sites are discussed in order to support the argument that women were often perceived as powerful, even dangerous consumers, whether of alcohol or material culture. It is proposed that not only did women’s desire for alcohol (among other things) motivate them to enter ostensibly “masculine” spaces, but also that this desire, which sometimes evolved into addiction, was a powerful motivator for women’s mobility through the streets and architectural spaces of nineteenth-century London.