CityLab Daily: What Happened When the Office Came Home
Also today: When child welfare cases police women in their own home, and a second Covid wave emerges in the U.S.
A space-age home office of 1963 boasts a stereo alcove and swoopy aluminum-and-rosewood desk.
William Grigsby/Conde Nast via Getty Images
Do not disturb: Until white-collar employers figure out how to safely bring their staff back to the office, teleworking will likely be here to stay. But for urban dwellers sharing a small apartment with roommates, and for parents with children at home, carving out a dedicated workspace is tricky.
This isn’t a new problem. Until the Industrial Age brought us the centralized office building, most offices were home offices. Affluent landowners managed their affairs in ornate Victorian libraries while immigrant families in tenements ran small businesses from their apartments. In postwar America, men and women claimed guest rooms and kitchen desks for working from home. But the popularity of proper home offices faded in the 2000s, as laptops made it easier to work from couches and coffee shops.