“Not a Shack in the Woods”: Architecture for Tuberculosis in Muskoka and Toronto

Abstract

This paper explores architecture as a primary source in the history oftuberculosis. In comparing five Ontario sanatoria built between 1897 and 1923,we identify a range of types and a growing resemblance of ex-urban TB sanatoriato urban hospitals. Existing literature on Canadian TB hospital architecture suggests the endurance of picturesque architecture, but the cottage plan wasonly one of the types deemed appropriate for consumptives in the early 20thcentury, even in Muskoka. Furthermore we argue that urban and ex-urban TB ideologies actually coalesce about 1923, best illustrated in the boldly modern architecture of Muskoka’s new Gage pavilion.