Using What’s At Hand

The attic of an 1890s hospital:

This isn’t how it originally looked: the gypsum block you see here wasn’t even manufactured when the building was constructed. There is a full staircase leading to the attic from the top floor, so the space was probably used. Maybe it was storage, although without an elevator it would have been a pain to get stuff up there. Maybe it was rooms for patients. Maybe it was a dorm for staff. There are a number of possibilities and there was zero physical evidence left there, so it’s all guessing.

At some point after 1900, probably in the 1910s, these partitions were put up, dividing the space into a bunch of small storage areas. There is no particular reason for the use of gypsum block: its main selling point was that it could be used to create fire-resistant partitions (it was a precursor to gypsum board and metal stud partitions) and there’s no such thing as fire resistance when you have no doors and the partitions end well below the ceiling (in this case, the roof).

I suspect the reason gyp block was used is that someone had it handy. In looking back at old decisions, we sometimes undervalue the strength of random chance. Some contractor had gyp block sitting in his warehouse rather than terra cotta block, so that’s what was used here. Or the contractor was more comfortable with one material rather than another because of past projects. Or it was left over from another project within the building.

Not every decision – then or now – involves deep thought.