Unseen boundaries: listening to domestic environments

In 1932, two years after the completion of her home (Gayfere House, Westminster, London), Lady Mount Temple wrote an SOS letter to her architect, Oliver Hill, expressing her frustration with the persistent noise in her dining room. This letter highlights a critical but often overlooked issue in the history of domestic architecture: the intrusion of noise into spaces designed for privacy and comfort. This article examines how noise disrupted the domestic environment during the interwar period, using Gayfere House’s ongoing acoustic issues as a case study. The interwar years saw increased attention to housing and domestic life, with state intervention aiming to improve living conditions. Despite these concerns, the role of noise as a factor shaping domestic spaces has received little attention in architectural and design history. By exploring the sonic landscape of Gayfere House, this research will show how noise undermined the intended privacy and functionality of domestic interiors, challenging the notion of the home as a protected, peaceful refuge. By considering the sonic dimensions of domestic life, we can access new ways of understanding the lived experience of interwar homes, expanding beyond the visual and material evidence that typically dominates architectural studies offering a more holistic view of the domestic sphere.