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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.