In the short work, “The Rats in the Walls” by H. P. Lovecraft, architecture has a grand significance, for the building Exham Priory is where most of the action of the story takes place. Its role is significant throughout the entire work, from when he first moves into the abandoned home of his family’s past that is said to be cursed, to when he is finally driven insane by the same building. This fictional structure has been owned by several generations of the protagonist, Delapore’s family, and entails many styles of architecture because of it. These styles include Gothic towers upon Romanesque structures, and a Druidic or Cymric base. The structure of Exham Priory itself is beautiful and mystic, but its beauty does not help the fact that it has a cursed and resented past. Throughout the story, Lovecraft uses the significance of Exham Priory to draw parallels between the structure and the Delapore family, to help explain strange occurrences in the building, and to suggest reasoning behind the actions of the characters.

After describing his family history and the history of Exham Priory itself at the beginning of the story, Delapore states how he has just restored the whole structure of Exham Priory without sparing any expense, and has moved into it. He has limited knowledge of his ancestral history, for after an unspeakable tragedy, one of his relatives fled to Virginia to start a new life. The architecture of Exham Priory is quite unique, and as the narrator mentions, “Architects and antiquarians loved to examine this strange relic of forgotten centuries” (75). The uncertainty of the origins of Exham Priory’s structure can be related to the uncertainty of Delapore’s past. Just as how looking from the outside, one would only see the Gothic and Romanesque sections of Exham Priory, examining only the history of the Delapores since they migrated to Virginia leaves out extensive detail of the family’s legend. Both Exham Priory and the Delapore family have more to them than just what meets the eye.  Delapore even states that, “of details, [he] has been kept wholly ignorant,” showing that his family’s story long before Virginia is even unknown to him since it is something that the family would likely want to forget, similar to how the previous architectural styles of Exham Priory baffle those who examine it (75).

Another notable characteristic about Exham Priory is that it was built over top of a prehistoric temple. Typically, temples are places of worship and holiness, but this particular temple’s rituals were not exactly pure. This temple was a place of dark and orgiastic events in worship of Cybele, and after the fall of the old religion, became the meeting place of a largely feared cult. Exham Priory was built atop of this, so there is no wonder why the house was considered accursed. All of the twisted, cannibalistic occurrences of the de la Poer’s past can be explained by the fact of where they took place. These horrific tragedies only happened to members of the family while they resided in Exham Priory, because once Delapore’s ancestor, Walter de la Poer, fled to Virginia, they ceased to occur. Delapore even considerers the “myths” about his family to be “especially annoying” and states that as “typical as they were of crude superstition, [they] repelled [him] greatly” (78). Prior to him moving in, there is no mention of any personal issues of his, and he only starts to hear things and lose his sanity after he moves onto the cursed grounds.

Because of its age, Exham Priory has many layers of architectural structure and style. This means that the deeper one travels in the house, the older and more forgotten the style becomes. Since Delapore has just renovated the entire home, “its interior [is] in truth wholly new and free from old vermin and ghosts alike,” yet later on in the text, he and a few others realize while exploring and investigating the sounds, that the ancient home still hosts many unusual qualities (79). Not only that, but as the story progresses and Delapore moves deeper into Exham Priory, more and more problems arise. As he descends, the “rats” that he hears become increasingly more prominent, until finally, he snaps. The first time Delapore hears them, it is at night with his cat. He claims to hear a “low, distinct scurrying as of rats or mice,” which is next to impossible because almost the entire home is new. Then, as his cat pounces, the tapestry on his wall falls, revealing part of the old structure. This first occurrence is not only the first time that he hears the rats, but also the first time that parts of the old home are revealed, suggesting that by further exposing the past and the old parts of the structure, the happenings will become more intense. This proves to be true, because the deeper Delapore travels and the more of the house that becomes exposed, the more he hears the rats and the stranger his cat begins to act. Finally, Delapore, Capt. Norrys and 5 other men descend into the sub-cellar; the deepest part of Exham Priory. It is here that they find horrific things, and where Delapore breaks into a cannibalistic episode driven by the sound of the rats, eating Capt. Norrys. Because Delapore never showed any of these characteristics prior to entering the old, haunted areas of the home, it can be speculated that the closer he gets to the cursed history of his family’s past, the more connected he becomes with it, and the more he begins to comply with the myths that he previously found to be ridiculous.

In its entirety throughout the story, Exham Priory is a representation of the Delapore/de la Poer family’s past, and all of the abnormal actions and crimes that they committed. It is a parallel for many aspects of the story as well. Its unusual layers of architecture are similar to the unusual, disjointed past of the Delapore family, its building grounds are an explanation of the cannibalistic actions of the Delapore men, and the deeper into the house the story went, the more the insanity of Delapore himself was revealed. Some may say that the family had issues to begin with, but it’s hard not to argue that Exham Priory was a large cause of their downfall. Although the family tried to escape their fate, for some reason they could not: Delapore still moved back into the house years later. Maybe Exham Priory and the Delapore family are so connected that the family will forever be subject to the horrific event that take place there, but the true source of their insanity may never truly be explained.
