Design
How the Tuberculosis Epidemic Influenced Modernist Architecture
Light, air, and hygiene were not just aesthetic preoccupations of the early Modernists: They were the best treatment for tuberculosis at the time.
Since the widespread use of antibiotics to treat tuberculosis started in the 1950s, most people have forgotten about the disease that was, at one point, the deadliest illness in America. But go back two or three generations in your own family, and chances are, you’ll find at least one relative who was affected by tuberculosis, also known as consumption or “the white plague.”
Death rates from TB peaked in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, exacerbated by overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and poor nutrition. Between 1810 and 1815, the disease accounted for more than 25 percent of deaths in New York City. In 1900, it was still the country’s third most common cause of death.