Take care

Health itself is now a source of anxiety, “wellness” a pressing individual responsibility. That the built environment can make us sick has become clear. It’s tempting to believe that architecture or urban planning could also make us better—cure or soothe our bodies, help us get in shape, alleviate our stress. This issue explores these connections and interventions and the specific assumptions that nourish them. It registers real progress; it also considers the nauseating likelihood that our best intentions might only introduce new complications.

The Tuberculosis Sanatorium of Paimio

Glasgow Improvements Act

Cities of the CDC

James Burgoyne Photographs the Streets of Birmingham

Corpus sanum in domo sano

Waste Creeps Back

Scary or Happy

Mapping Malaria in Italy

Health Governance and Responsive Architectures

Take care

Article 1 of 10

Glasgow Improvements Act

Photographs by Thomas Annan

In 1866, the miserable living conditions of Glaswegians crowded together in unsanitary housing pushed the Glasgow city council to adopt the Glasgow City Improvements Act. This legislation, at the forefront of one of the first public health reform movements, aimed to tear down the slums in the poorest neighbourhoods of the old city to allow for new urban development. The Glasgow City Improvement Trust gave the photographer Thomas Annan the task of documenting the condemned buildings and narrow alleyways of the slums before they were dismantled. The thirty-one albumen silver prints made by Annan between 1868 and 1871 were collected in an album.

Thomas Annan. Old Vennel, off High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 14 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:014

Thomas Annan. Tontine Buildings, Trongate. Plate 1 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:001

Thomas Annan. Tontrage, from Tron Steeple, 1868–1871. Plate 2 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:002

Thomas Annan. High Street, from the Cross, 1868–1871. Plate 3 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:003

Thomas Annan. High Street, from College Open, 1868–1871. Plate 4 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:004

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 37 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 5 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:005

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 65 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 6 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:006

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 75 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 7 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:007

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 83 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 8 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:008

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 93 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 9 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. PH1980:0358:009

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 101 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 10 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:010

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 115 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 11 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:011

Thomas Annan. Broad Close, No. 167 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 12 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:012

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 80 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 13 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:013

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 118 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 15 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:015

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 148 High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 16 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:016

Thomas Annan. Bell Street, from High Street, 1868–1871. Plate 17 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:017

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 29 Gallowgate, 1868–1871. Plate 18 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:018

Thomas Annan. Saltmarket, from Bridgegate, 1868–1871. Plate 19 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:019

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 18 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 20 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:020

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 28 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 21 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:021

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 46, Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 22 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:022

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 122 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 23 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:023

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 128 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 24 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:024

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 136 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 25 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:025

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 31 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 26 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:026

Thomas Annan. Close, No.61 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 27 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:027

Thomas Annan. Closes Nos. 97 and 103 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 28 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:028

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 139 Saltmarket, 1868–1871. Plate 29 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:029

Thomas Annan. Close, No. 157 Bridgegate, 1868–1871. Plate 30 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:030

Thomas Annan. Main Street, Gorbals, from Rutherglen Loan, 1868–1871. Plate 31 from Glasgow Improvements Act. 1866. Photographs of Streets, Closes, &c. Taken 1868–71. CCA. PH1980:0358:031

These works, along with more of Thomas Annan’s photographs of Glasgow, are part of our collection.

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Glasgow Improvements Act

Photographs by Thomas Annan

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