English 18th Century: Gallery 52 1939

This is a design for 'English 18th Century: Gallery 52' made by the architecture firm Eggers and Higgins. It is a pencil drawing showing a gallery interior designed in the 1930s, well after the 18th century it references. The drawing captures a moment in the construction of identity through architecture. In this design, we see a deliberate choice to evoke the aesthetic of 18th-century England, a period marked by rigid social hierarchies and burgeoning colonial power. Note how the portraits are neatly installed in a very traditional style. Who are these people? Whose stories get told in the halls of power and culture? The lone figure standing in the doorway provides scale, but also underscores the gendered and racialized dynamics of architectural space. Who is welcomed here, and who feels excluded? This architectural rendering invites us to reflect on the narratives we construct through design and the values we choose to enshrine in our built environment.