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Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 100, no. 2585: Articles]: September 29, 1917

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REAL ESTATE AND (Copyright. 1917, by The Record and Guide Co.) NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 29, 1917 CONDITIONS LEADING UP TO THE TENEMENT LAW Early History of the Multi-Family House Construction —Some of the Abuses Which Were Later Corrected By WILLIAM H. ABBOTT First Deputy Commissioner, Tenement House Dept. ARTICLE ONE. ABOUT the year 1830, the Health De¬ partment of the City of New York found it necessary to comment on the high death rate. In looking for a cause, the Department attributed^ it to the crowded and unsanitary manner in which a large portion of the population lived. The city's population at that time was about a quarter of a million. Ten years later, it was found neces¬ sary to call to the attention of the Board of Aldermen the alarming in¬ crease in the death rate, due to various causes. It was evident that the freedom with which foreigners were admitted to this country, to become at once part of its permanent population, would have to be regulated. It was also realized that the importation of these emigrants, with their accompanying diseases, would soon plunge the city into a con¬ dition, from which only plague and pes¬ tilence could result. Homes had to be provided for this great influx of people. Buildings, which, in the past had been occupied by one or two families, were converted to house double that num¬ ber. Evils resulted from crowding many people into spaces designed for a few. New Type Necessary. The necessity for erecting a different type of structure became evident. The greed of the land owner, and after¬ wards the builder, produced a building which allowed each family but little more room and few conveniences. On account of the peculiar arrangement and design of the buildings, these struc¬ tures became habitations from which va¬ rious kinds of diseases, principally con¬ sumption, developed. The death rate increased correspondingly. As time went on land values ad¬ vanced, and builders erected higher structures in order that good returns might be obtained on the investment. Under conditions as they then existed, the average builder could not afiford to leave any open ground on the sides of his building. He was content to get what light and venti¬ lation he could from the street (which cost him nothing), or the yard, the latter al¬ ready obstruced, per¬ haps, by a rear build¬ ing on the same or adjoining property. Interior rooms had to be resorted to, in some cases, opening on small shafts, or connected by a win¬ dow to a long nar¬ row slip for air space, called a light shaft, but frequently no at¬ tempt was made to light or V e n- tilate the rooms. Typical floor plans of the day frequently provided for four- room flats, running from street to THE LONG SLIT SHAb^T. yard. Two of these rooms de¬ pended entirely on light and air ob¬ tained from the front and rear cham¬ bers. There were thousands of this type of room in existence in 1901, but happily, as the result of subsequent leg¬ islation these errors have been elim¬ inated. It is a maxim in the medical profes¬ sion that to prevent disease is much easier than to cure it. It is certainly more economical. When we remember that the great excess of mortality and of sickness occurs among the poorer classes, and that such excessive un- healthiness and mortality is a most pro¬ lific source of physical and social want, demoralization and pauperism, the subject of needed sanitary reforms in the crowded inetropolis assumed such important bearings as to demand the most serious consideration of all persons who regard the welfare of the community. Strange as it tnay seem, buildings containing these interior rooms were bj' no means limited to the built-up sec¬ tions of Manhattan, but could be found in isolated places in all the Boroughs. The lack of adequate legislation and laws undoubtedly explains one reason for their existence in localities where land was so cheap. Another reason might be found in the fact that build¬ ers and architects failed to show pro- gressiveness but were willing to "fol¬ low their leader." The square, oblong or triangular shaped shaft, as best fitted the idea of the builder were the prevailing type, al¬ though, when a greater number of rooms were required these splayed ends of the rectangular shaft produced the hexagonal or octagonal design, on which new line of direction the extra windows were built. One of the ''popular*' air-shafts was 67 inches long, and 11 inches in its greatest width. This served to light and ventilate nineteen badrooms. The shaft was a ready means of conveying disease germs from one floor to an¬ other, and it was no uncommon record to find six or seven families in one building ill with the same disease, con¬ tracted, more than likely, through the medium of these interior shafts. No Privacy Possible. The long slit or lot line shaft, varying from 16 inches in width to two orthjee feet, and located between two similar buildings, usually contained the win¬ dows of the bedrooms, which, being opposite each other, nullified the pri¬ vacy of one's own home, these slits be¬ ing so narrow it became impossible to clean them out at the bottom, or even to freshen their sides with whitewash. The ever increasing emigrant popu¬ lation was distributed among neigh¬ bors and friends in the form of "boarders," and although helping to pay the monthly rent for the family with whom they lived, morals were ruined, and de¬ generate and undesir¬ able citizens created. It was. therefo e, in order to check these deplorable conditions that the Governor of the State of New York in 1900 ap¬ pointed a Commis¬ sion to investigate the causes of con¬ gestion, the reason for the loss of so many lives by fire, dark rooms, and in general the housing conditions of the people of the city. As the result of the Comm i s s i o n ' s recommendation, a bill was introduced in the Legislature, in 1901. which was finally passed and became the T e n e- ment House Act. THE OBSOLETE 'i UiA:\Li L LAIl DE6EA0U i...;:!:!'I..1; .SilATT. RECORD AND GUIDE IS IN ITS FIFTIETH YEAR OF CONTINUOUS PUBLICATION.