Viewpoints – Placecloud (English)

St Petersburg, Russia. What was a secret prostitute and why did the tsarist police deem them so concerning? This viewpoint answers these questions by examining an anonymous denunciation of a woman living at 25 Bol'shoi Prospekt in St Petersburg that was sent to the city police in 1905.

Vilnius, Lithuania. Brothels were everywhere in urban centres of the Russian Empire, and reactions to them were complicated and varied. This viewpoint focuses on one street in Vilnius in the early 1900s to examine the complex relationships between landlords, brothel madams, and the tsarist police.

Krāslava, Latvia. The Russian imperial authorities struggled to regulate the bodies of its populace in the chaos, dislocation, and destruction of the First World War. This viewpoint explores this challenge using the case study of Evgeniia Trifonova, a woman who snuck into the military barracks at Krāslava disguised as a military nurse in order to sell sex.

Liepāja, Latvia. Venereal diseases in the military were extremely concerning for the Russian imperial authorities. This viewpoint examines responses to epidemic rates of venereal infection in one port of the Empire, the Port of Emperor Alexander III in Libava (now Karosta, near Liepāja in Latvia)

Riga, Latvia. This viewpoint explores the forced registration of women onto the Russian Empire's police lists of prostitutes in the early 1900s. In Riga, forced registration commonly occurred in the city's hotels, and can be read as official attempts to kick back against perceived moral decline amidst urbanisation, industrialisation, and modernisation.

London, United Kingdom. The concept of feminist marxist architectural history is explored through Jane Rendell’s writing on Burlington Arcade.

London, United Kingdom. Jagonari Educational Resource Centre was a hub for East End women designed by the groundbreaking feminist design co-operative Matrix.

London, United Kingdom. East End Women’s Museum is the only museum dedicated to women’s history in England. It was founded in 2015 as a positive protest against the ‘Jack the Ripper Museum’ in Cable Street. A permanent building is set to open in Barking in 2021 - 2022.

London, United Kingdom. The story of the Focus E15 campaign and their occupation of an empty building in Carpenters Estate to provide a social centre in 2014.

Ealing Broadway, United Kingdom. Kensal House is a pioneering modern public housing project devised for working class families and designed by architect Maxwell Fry and housing consultant Elizabeth Denby.