The Meaning of Home

Windows to wardrobes, fireplaces to door knockers, Edwin Heathcote explores the history and symbolism of the elements of domestic architecture.

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We are so familiar with the features of our homes – the rooms, fixtures and myriad little decorative details – that we have forgotten how to look at them. We might explore a church, read a book or watch a film, and attempt to decode its symbols and references, but we rarely look at our homes with the same critical eye. Yet from the most ordinary apartment to the most extravagant mansion, every home is a deep well of meaning.

From windows to wardrobes, fireplaces to door knockers, Edwin Heathcote attempts to fathom the elements of our everyday domestic lives. He explores how, over time, ancient ritual elements transmute into practical features, and how some of these, charged with latent symbolic meaning, have persisted in modern dwellings despite having lost their original uses. Home will never quite look the same again.