Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-01-10
Fla rs.

The owners of arartment-houses must not
count with too much certainty upon the perma-
hence Of the present public liking for that style
o: domictle. They have come into wild. IA sor
capitar has been invested in building them and
there are in this city now many hundred tamil
lies who live in flats" Many OF these families
have means amply sufficient to maiptaia a
much more pretentious style Of hoaseke eplng.
They choose to live in flats because their d0laS-
tic and social burdens are thus much lighter.
very expensive apartment-houses have been
built. Their architecture is OF very Ornamen-
tai character, and within they are fitted up with
great elegance. From s, ooo to g GOO, or more,
these buildings, The builders and owners OF
these hgh-priced flats have committed the
worst mistakes, and they viii suffer first and
most when their wealthy tenants at length dis
cover that polished marble columns on the OUr-
side and hand-rubbed black-walnut holdings on
the inside are no adequate compensation for
gross defects that sink their much-vaunted flat
to the level of an East Side tenement-house.
The conditions to be met in building an apart
ment house are not the same as those which
govern the architect of an ordinary city dwell
ing house intended for one family. Those which
are most important are commonly Ignored.
People who choose or are forced to live In a
great city where their house IS only slice OF a
long row OF houses, must relfnqlliSh many Of the
blessed privileges Of country life. People who
go still further, and consent to live in a hat =
that is, to share their slice OF the Use With
uI1Tee Ut IOuT OJneT 1aInlileS-tnuSJ SuOtilIt 10
still more sweeping abridgment of their COM
forts. The style OF fiat now in vogue denies
them two things that all Of GoIs cre ttures
have right tO-sunlight and pure air. The
men who plan and build flats seem to seriously
regard only those conditions which the land
lords interests impose. In dealing with those
which the health or the comfort OF the tenant
maids. The Old esse guam rid5rT is reversed
They make their flats seem fit for human habi
tation: That is to entrap the tenant Oaca
caught, they do not care whether he lives or
dies. so it happens that the dark, unventilat-
ed bedroom is a feature of every fiat. In
the ordinary pattern, the sleeping rooms Of
the entire family are strung out between
the parlor at the front, and the dining-rOom at
the back of the house. They have no windows
or other direct connection with the outside
world. They are ostensibly Lighted" and even
tilatedn by miserable fiue ascending to the
roof. Down this slender tube some few rays of
light struggle into the room on bright days, but
no ore but an architect hurrying to earn his fee
would ever pretend that it could remove the
foul air from the room and supply its place with
pure air. The carbonic-acid gas given off by
the lungs in breathing rises at first, because 1t
is expanded by warmth and is lighter than the
staItly cools and sinks to the floor. In we'll
ventilated room it would pass out and pure air
would cone In to take its place. This is impoS
sible in the bedroom of the average fiat. There
is no prov sion for the entrance OF pure air, and
the sit eI er breathes foul air over and over. A
window opening on narrow court Is little bet
ter than the 1lue. 1t Is totally incompetent to
create current that will constantly change the
air of the room. There are flats in which the
principal sleeping-rOOm Is beside the parlOr at
the front of the house. The persons occupying
this room can have plenty OF pure air to breathe
by leaving the parlOr door open and lowering
window. But The other members of the family
must be consigned to the dark boxes in the mid
die OF the fiat.
as foul air. Everybody knows that bed-cloth-
lag should be thoroughly aired and summed, If
the sun shines, before the bed is made, but not
one bed In fifty Is thus treated. People are In
curably careless in matters OF wrOng-dong that
do not bring their immediate penalty. The de-
cayed and unhealthy particles that the body
gives off In sleep are, unhappily, imperceptible
what an extent the clothing of the bed and the
air OF the room are loaded with them, a morning
publication OF both would become common
practice. Into the fiat bedroom the sun can
never penetrate. The great natural means OF
cleansing and publication is thus cut off. AIDE
Quate airing is impossible, and usually no at
tempt in that direction Is made. The nose, that
wholesome and indecent state Of these rooms
the moment it is thrust into one of them. just
how long reasonably healthy person can live
while sleeping in such room has not yet been
determined. It is being found out
every day by new victims, however, that such a
practice is incompatible with vigorous health.
livers and stomachs and kidneys are relieved
from load Of undeServed suspicion.
An apartment-house has recently been built
near the Park on the East Side, in which these
Objectionable features entirely disappear. The
plan Is perfectly simple The building stands
with its side upon the avenue, facing west
Every room in the house thus has one or more
windows overlooking the Park, and gets the
benefit OF the sun through all the long after
noon. Such a house Is a first-claSS Sanitarium
1t is obviously an expensive plan. The rents
are high. But it is the only model of fiat that
recognizes the sanitary needs of the tenant. As
years and experience lay bare the grave defects
OF ordinary flats, people who can will quit them
and return to the Old plan Of housekeeping.
Others, whose more moderate means make Lnem
less Independent, will continue to occupy them.
but with growing sense of their u1tiCne;s and
unhealthfulneSS. There Will always be tenants
for those now in existence and for Others to be
built, for men and women will live anywn re il
they can only live. These unfortunate Gre itures
can sometimes do much to ameliOrate their con-
ditions Many apartment-houseS have been
hastily and shabbily put up The cold wind
whistles through the uncemented joints, and
sucks through the spaces between the walls.
The plumbing is defective, and Sewer-gaS,
loaded with dfphtheritic and typhoid germs, fills
the rooms. Coal gas and smoke pour through
the flimSy walls Of the chimneys. For all these
serious evils there are remedies, and tenants
should compel the landlord to apply them. II
threats Of removal fail, the Intervention of the
board of health should be sought, and If that
fails to bring the landlord to terms, the tenants
should combine against him. Their united
action, if properly directed, cannot fail to Sc
cure the desired repairs.-[N T. Times.