It was a pleasure to connect with Alexandra Lange, while she researched and wrote about the newly rechristened Edith Farnsworth House. The way we work as architectural historians/ historic preservationists/ storytellers has been shifting to acknowledge a structure is more than an object. It is an honor to be quoted in this article about the value of telling women’s histories.
“Sarah Marsom, a preservation consultant and creator of the Tiny Activist Project, says that telling more inclusive house stories “is architecture history that moves beyond the architect or style. It’s about what we cannot see, shifting the narrative from buildings being seen as art objects to them being seen as spaces that have served as places for people.” She remembers being scolded by an architecture historian for referring to a famous building as a “home,” focusing on the domestic, rather than as a “house,” the architectural term for a residence. “I think that this renaming of Farnsworth House is a simple step toward bridging the disconnect,” she added in an email.”