Forget the dirty, grimy houses described by Charles Dickens, today’s buildings could learn a thing or two from their Victorian counterparts.

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is described as living in, “a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide and seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again. It was old enough now, and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices. The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, who knew its every stone, was fain to grope with his hands. The fog and frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house, that it seemed as if the Genius of the Weather sat in mournful meditation on the threshold.”

Through his vivid descriptions, readers today may be forgiven for believing that housing in Victorian times was either dark, dusty and foreboding or densely-packed and unsanitary. However, Libby Burton, Professor of Sustainable Building Design and Wellbeing in the School of Health and Social Studies at The University of Warwick, claims Victorian housing was far healthier than the houses we live in today.

Professor Burton’s area of research expertise is how the built environment affects health and wellbeing.

She said: “There were terrible conditions - that is true, there was overcrowding. Land was expensive - there was a population explosion and this all lead to unsanitary conditions in some areas. But what many people don't realise is that the Victorians were actually very good at designing their buildings for health and wellbeing.”

Professor Burton believes this is why Victorian architecture has stood the test of time and, far from dark and gloomy, there were many design tricks they used to maximise light.

She said, “In Victorian terraces you will never find a bathroom without a window. They have very good sound insulation so different activities can take part in different rooms. There was a clear demarcation of public and private space.”

Victorian architects also made sure their buildings had good ventilation, which they believed was key to health and wellbeing. In the 19^th Century the medical profession felt that housing was crucial to people's health and infectious diseases were a major problem.

The Victorians were also responsible for the rise of the public park. They realised the importance of having lots of green spaces for exercise and socialising.

Professor Burton added, “They created these garden suburbs away from city centres, places like Bournville in Birmingham, with community facilities that people could walk to.”

Listen to Libby Burton's podcast to find out what the Victorians did for us and why they may have lived in a much healthier environment than we do today.