REAL  ESTATE





AND







NEW  YORK,  JULY  8, 1916





REMODELING    OLD    LAW    TENEMENT    HOUSES





How  an Owner Can Alter Old Structures and
Obtain Increased Rental Returns on Investment





By WILLIAM H. ABBOTT
First Deputy Commissioner, Tenement House Dept.





PART II.

POURING the past fourteen years of the
"-^ department's existence there have
been only about twenty old buildings that
have been altered into new law tenements.
Four of these old buildings were private
houses, three were loft buildings, two
were stables, and the balance were types
not recorded. As the finished product
is more of a new building than an alter¬
ation, no further reference to it will be
made in  this article,

I'lany improvements and alterations to







BEf^CiCE-   AUXERrtTlOf^S





old law tenements are of a minor nature,
and are made to accommodate a new
tenant. These might be called volun¬
tary, but the compulsory changes made
necessary to enable the owner to in¬
crease his income and keep abreast of
the high taxes and assessments are the
ones that I feel will be of most interest
to such an owner.

Within the past five years there have
been 15,000 alteration applications filed
with the Tenement House Department,
involving an average outlay of about
$1,000 a house. These include increasing
the number of apartments, changing wa¬
ter-closets from the yard and placing
them within the apartments, adding a
number of new rooms to the building,
replacing with new white enamel plumb¬
ing fixtures those that have become old
and dilapidated, occasionally introduc¬
ing a new light shaft near the center of
a building, so as to open up the interior
and dark rooms, and, after serious fires,
reolacing the public halls and stairs with
ones of fireproof material.

The farseeing and wideawake owner
has anticipated these conditions and has
met tlie inevitable. Now he is reaping
the harvest. The other class of owner
is still ploughing in the same old furrow,
playing a losing game, but not having
enough initiative or money to meet the
situation in an up-to-date manner. They
are becoming despondent and discour¬
aged at what appears to be ultimate
ruin.

To these owners I would say: Make
the returns commensurate with the out¬
lay; plan your alterations carefully and
judiciously, endeavor to decide what im¬
provement is most desired, then go to
work.

It will not be expected that all the
conveniences of the new law tenement
can be made in your house, but cover
the most important demands. If in¬
terior rooms are to be eliminated, in¬
stall an open shaft with windows to the
outer air; if the apartments are too
large, divide them up, but be careful that
the toilets are placed within the new
apartments and the best lighted room
is arranged for the general living room;
If the public halls and stairs are narrow,
dark and tortuous, re-design this impor¬
tant means of entering the apartments
and endeavor to get light, easy and
shorter stairs and passageways. One
dollar or two added to the rental of a
remodeled apartment may be regarded as
a good return- on a considerable outlay
and is being obtained by most of those
who have made the experiment.

The records of the department show
about 2,750 applications annually from
architects and contractors who are cm-
ployed by the owners to alter and im¬
prove their property. The greatest per¬
centage of alterations is for the removal
of water-closets from the yard and plac¬
ing them upon the various floors of tlie
tenement so as to be more convenient
to the occupants. Many times this rep¬
resents a second change to these fix-
lures, as by the reinoval of the original
school sink or privy vault the owner in'
order to save money erected the new
toilets over the site of the old ones,
even though the department advised him
to the contrary. It is the old tale—ex¬
perience is the best teacher. The in¬
experienced   owner   believed    he    knew





best and had to be taught by his own
loss, which sometimes was costly.

It may be of interest in this connec¬
tion to repeat other words of advice that
the Tenement House Department is still
giving, thereby saving some poor or un¬
fortunate owner a few dollars while mak¬
ing alterations that in a few years will
be of little or no use.

Do not spend any money on altera¬
tions affecting the preparation of food,
where such work is below the ground
level. Common sense might tell one that
this   is   unhealthy,   and   even   if   the   law







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