The Construction

In 1993, House was Rachel Whiteread's most ambitious work to date. Like many public sculptures and memorials, House was a cast. But unlike the bronzes which commemorate triumphs and tragedies, great men and heroic deeds, House commemorated memory itself through the commonplace home. Whiteread's in-situ work transformed the space of the private and domestic into the public — a mute memorial to the spaces we have lived in, to everyday existence and the importance of home.

The house was carefully coated in a de-bonding membrane and then splatter-gunned, room by room, with two layers of concrete - fine white Locrete (used on the white cliffs of Dover) and then 10cm of mesh-reinforced concrete, with special reinforcing bolts at the corners. The external interior was gradually sealed up, the last person leaving through the roof. — Kester Rattenbury, Building Design, 29 October 1993

These photographs show the construction of House.

(Above) Coating the concrete interior. Rachel Whiteread, House (1993). Photograph: Edward Woodman

(Below, in sequence) Interior room during construction. Rachel Whiteread, House (1993). Photograph: Edward Woodman; Hallway interior during construction. Rachel Whiteread, House (1993). Photograph: Edward Woodman; Interior construction in preparation for concrete casting. Rachel Whiteread, House (1993). Photograph: Edward Woodman; Interior staircase during construction. Rachel Whiteread, House (1993). Photograph: Edward Woodman

 

Person in protective clothing spraying debonding chemical in a room before concrete casting of the house
Interior of room coated in chemical during casting process
Hallway partly coated in chemical with one side still uncoated with patterned wallpaper
Four production team members in living room preparing the walls, window and fireplace area for concrete casting
Interior staircase during construction stage