New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-06-19

for one, under proper regulations and SUI
'perintendence while the cost OF shelter
ing and preserving them will be reduced
ito a bagatelle. Instead of building or
buying fifty spacious and stately dwell
ipgs, costing, by the time they are thor
oughly finished and furnished, at least
$4,000 each, why not advance to sene
competent and responsible purveyor,
$4,000 each, taking stock for it in the
grand Hotel which the money will build
and furnish, and proffering an ample suite
of rooms to each family, entirely secluded
from observation by othersr There will
of course be public rooms for those who
choose to occupy tOhen they chooses bat
no one need leave his own apartments, I'M
less to visit the Library, Greenhouse or
Gallery of Arts; while he will be better fed
lodged and served than he would be in
house which imposed on him the trouble OF
seeing to everything, caring for every
thing.
We by no means intimate that Hotel
building has yet attained the perfect de-
velopment here contemplated-it certainly
has not. But we see clearly that all this
lies directly in the path on which it is now
advancing. Even now, there is no more
necessity for an acquaintance between two
families living in the same Hotel than be-
tween two inhabiting the same street;
while, on the other hand, if two families
in hotel choose to be intimate, they may
enjoy each others society abundantly
without shillings expense for the dresses,
carriage hire, entertainments, &C., which
are sad drawbacks on ordinary social inter-
course. No family can expect to make its
friends happy for few hours by an even
ing party without making itself miserable
for at least a week through the labors and
anxieties of preparing for it.
The development of the Hotel prin-
ciple with regard to the Rich and the
Thrifty is fixed fact. Nothing can ar
rest it. But there is even greater need of
its application to the habitations of the
Poor and there, alas the obstacles TO be
encountered are more formidable, and its
triumph is more remote. Yet it ought not
to be so. Nowhere is it more needed, no
where will its benefits be more signal, than
in the renovation of the homes of Poverty
and Labor in our City. Here are at least
One Hundred Thousand persons living in
garrets, in cellars, and in old, dilapidated,
tumble down rookeries, yet paying weekly
from the meager recompense of their ar
duous toll more money than would lodge
them comfortably in cool, airy, spacious
hotels or habitations. They die by thou
sands every summer, especially their chill
dren, because of the filth, closeness, foul
air and exposure to inclemency OF their
wretched novels, while paying one-third
of their gross earnings for the miserable
shelter that covers them. And the fevers,
smallpox, cholera, &C., annually generated
in their noisone dens are every year sweep
ing off other thousands of the comfortable
and wealthy classes, rendering lie precari-
Gus and disease ever threatening to all.
hall there not be an end of this p!
Take away block of tunlble-down
rookeries any where in the Sixth Tenth or
Fourteenth Wards, lay strong and deep
foundation, and build up strong to hight
of at least seven stories from the basement,
leaving large play ground in the center
for children, with fountain, trees, shrub
berry, &c. Let the first story, if required,
for unexceptionable stores, and have the
best wash-room, bath room, refectory, &c.
in the basement, with store-rooms below,
and communication by bells and hoistways
from the refectories to the lodging rooms
above. Heat the whole building thorough
ly by steam or water from the cellars or
easements, and allow no fires above /; but
have a gas-manufactory below, with
burner in each room, by which cooking
may be done if required. Hot and cold
water should be accessible in every room,
while the amplest Ventilation should be
not merely provided for but secured. A
library and reading room should be provi-
ded for all dodgers without charge, with a
warmed and Lighted reception room for
those who choose not to receive friends in
their private apartments. A few rooms
shall always be kept for hire to dodgers who
should receive calls from distant friends
and who would not choose to incur the cost
Of spare room at all times, when they