“Pleasant and wholesome place”, “Vast and well ventilated house”: location and spaces of boarding schools in the Imperial Court of Rio de Janeiro (19th century)

Abstract

The article presents a historiographical understanding of the dispositions of boarding schools buildings as well as speeches regarding the hygienic conditions of these spaces, located in the Imperial Court of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the second half of the 19th century. The documentary research resulted in the collection and analysis of information from different sources, especially in advertisements published in Almanak Laemmert and in medical theses defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro. The boarding schools were located on streets in the center of the city, considered unhealthy, or on the outskirts of the city, as recommended by the doctors. As for the spaces, they were installed in residential houses and townhouses which were modified for boarding school services and in buildings originally planned and built to become a boarding school. The buildings of large boarding schools had dormitories, a cafeteria, wooded patios for recreation, an infirmary, a chapel and a wardrobe. Notwithstanding the medical-hygienic criticism, some of these buildings had running water, tanks for bathing and washing clothes, swimming pool, gas lighting, sanitary facilities.