The History of Interior Design? Of Some Interior Designers, From around the Victorian Age to 2000

"The History of Interior Design"
John Pile, Architecture Week (2000)

"In the modern world, human life experience is largely played out in interior spaces. We may love the out-of-doors for the sense of open air and sky, for the escape it offers from life inside enclosure, but the very joy of being outside reflects the reality that so much of life is spent inside.

"Buildings and their interiors are planned to serve the purposes and styles of the times of their origins, but they exert their influence on the activities and lives that they house as long as they continue in use...."

This article is, I think, more for someone interested in the history of interior design, than for a casual reader. Actually, it's for someone who's interested in particular interior designers, like

• Charles Rennie Mackintosh
• Antoni Gaudi
• Gerrit Rietveld
• Alvar Aalto
• Pierre Chareau
• Philip Johnson
• Walter Gropius
• Herman Hertzberger
• Charles Eames

The article is illustrated by a number of thumbnail photos like the ones in this post. If you want to see the full-size picture, Architecture Week expects you to subscribe. I can see their point.

By focusing on specific individuals, the author does a pretty good job of showing the development of interior design in the west, from the late 19th century, past the glass-walled mid-20th century, to the late 1900s.