Lazarettos in the Early Modern World: John Howard and the Architecture of Quarantine
Known as a philanthropist and advocate of prison reform in the last decade of his life, John Howard turned to inspecting and improving maritime faclities for quarantine. Although the last major outbreak of plague in the British Isles took place in London in 1665, outbreaks on the Continent at Marseilles, France, in 1720; in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1760; and, in the Levant, at Aleppo, Syria between 1760 and 1762 (Russell, 1756). showed that plague remained a contstant threat. The result of Howard's study was An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with Various Papers Relative to the Plague, published in 1792.
John Howard, An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with Various Papers Relative to the Plague. [London]: [Publisher not identified], [1792]. Rare and Distinctive Collections, CU Boulder Libraries.
The work to the left is titled ““Plan for an Ideal Lazaretto” by John Howard. It originates from his second edition of the book An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with Various Papers Relating to the Plague, published in London in 1791. Howard was an English philanthropist and prison reformer, with this piece being the result of his travels to lazarettos across Europe with the goal of improving their overall functionality as well as habitability for residents (ODNB, 2004).
The print originated in the published book and is taken from a design sketched by Howard. It was inserted along with other prints of lazaretto designs and landscapes depicting these facilities. This particular print displays a bird’s-eye view of Howard’s own architectural design for a theoretically perfect lazaretto (quarantine facility). The scale and layout are precisely composed for potential replication, with detailed labels on the right-hand side corresponding to letters on the sketch which contain valuable information on the exact placement of architectural or technical elements of the facility. The intended audience for the print was quite well educated due to it being contained in a niche published work and specifically those who would be able to finance or construct a similar lazaretto in England, which was the ultimate purpose for Howard’s design (Ransom 1938, 116).
“Plan for an Ideal Lazaretto” reflects how eighteenth-century British society was looking for new ways to prevent contagion from the plague. John Howard intended to improve on the lazaretto concept that he had observed in Venice. This consisted of facilities outside of ports where inbound people and goods would quarantine over forty days to dissipate the “pestilential miasmas” that were believed to spread the plague (Snowden 2019, 71). Some of these facilities were planned or constructed after being recommended by Howard, but none used the design seen in the print. His advocation for strict port quarantine did however influence the Quarantine Act of 1825 (McDonald 1951, 24). Howard’s print also shows how he did not intend to simply copy the Venetian style lazaretto, it was refined into a key part of the new “English system” of quarantine. The label [A] on the design indicate a land-based sanitary cordon, defined as “guard posts at regular intervals”, along with the technical leap forward of such a facility being a permanent and purpose-built (Snowden 2019, 71-72).
John Howard’s print of a perfected lazaretto design can be compared with two other works. The engraving of an older, smaller Venetian-style lazaretto is contained in An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe with the title “Naples”. This piece is a landscape artwork from Howard’s travels, and it differs in that there is no detailed plan of the facility. It does however provide some good context for why he wanted to polish the concept in England. The other work is titled “Lazaretto, Philada. quarantine station May 11th 56”. This is an 1856 landscape sketch depicting the inbound approach to a lazaretto in Philadelphia, which appears to incorporate many of the features shown in Howard’s “ideal” plan: it is purpose-built, self-contained, and well organized for functionality and habitability.
- Michael von Emster, Fall '22
The lazarettos, pictured above, were influential in the development of the ideal lazaretto described above by John Howard, who worked to develop quarantine to protect cities against the plague. The first image is of the floor plan of a lazaretto in Venice, Italy. The Venetian state officials introduced lazarettos first to manage the plague outbreaks. They were considered isolations in space, where quarantine was considered isolations in time (Linkov et al., 2014). John Howard himself stayed in a lazaretto in Venice because it was "the mother of all lazarettos" (Weinreich 2022). The Venetian lazaretto plan shows numerous rooms, passageways or hallways, a burying ground, some wells, and a church. Lazarettos were managed by an individual known as a prior, who stayed in the lazaretto with those quarantining and ensured that all patrons obey the rules (Howard 1789, 13). Following Howard’s visit to the lazaretto in Venice he states, “there is such remissness and corruption in executing safe regulations, as to render the quarantine almost useless (Howard in Ransom 1938, 116).
Pictured next in the carousel above is the Marseille lazaretto plan, which is much more detailed, and includes a legend with each room described. Actually the very first lazaretto John Howard visited was that in Marseille (Ransom, 1938). Howard describes the inside of the Marseille lazaretto as including twenty-four large rooms, a chapel, tavern, gallery, and more (Howard, 1789). The Marseilles lazaretto has many more amenities than the one in Venice. Howard did not comment on the cleanliness of this lazaretto.
Howard states that “the quarantine of passengers who come with a foul bill, or in one of two first ships from the same place with a clean bill, is thirty-one days, including the day they go out” (Howard 1789, 4). Traditionally, quarantine was forty days (OED). The duration of quarantine, however, varied throughout the years. In 1663, Samuel Pepys wrote that “the plague, it seems, grows more and more at Amsterdam; and we are going upon making of all ships coming from thence and Hambrough, or any other infected places, to perform their Quarantine (for thirty days as Sir Rd. Browne expressed it in the order of the Council, contrary to the import of the word” (Pepys, 1663).
All of the lazarettos that Howard studied were to bring awareness to how countries were combating the plague and what officials were doing.
- Aspen Allsop, Summer '23