In Architecture in the Family Way: Doctors, Houses, and Women, 1870-1900, Annmarie Adams explores the middle-class home in nineteenth century England as a battleground among health reform minded women, doctors, and architects. Middle-class women positioned themselves as the healers of houses, which Victorians considered toxic and disease-ridden, and thus a potential mortal danger to their inhabitants. The considerable control women exerted over domestic spaces in this era waned in later decades, as male architects asserted their authority over hygienic housing. After reading Adams’ fascinating book, I never looked at houses –with their nooks and pipes and vents – in quite the same way again.