This data-set contains information of recorded ethnographic observations (utilising an adapted form of the AEIOU heuristic) from five urban care homes in the UK. These observations are formatted in both transcribed and coded tables and as scans of original field notes. The data set includes method statements describing the process of data capture. Affinity mapping was employed to open-code the data and develop a code book. Five high-level spatial qualities emerged: Spatial Legibility, Spatial Interconnectedness, Spatial Traversability, Spatial Diversity and Spatial Aesthetics.