San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-09-12
IN CROWDED TENEMENTS.
MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE LIVE
IN THEM IN NEW YORK.
The Difference BetweeR Apartment Flats
and Tenement Houses-SOme of the Lat
tor That Swarm with OOcupants-Facts
known Only to tho Unlisted.

How does a tenement house differ from
the fat or apartment house3 1t does no
differ at all, except that the buildings digni
fed by the name Of flats" and departments
are a better class of buildings and are occu
pied by better class Of people. Strictly
speaking, a tenement house is one that il
occupied by more than one family, so thai
all the handsome fat buildings may be
classed under this one term with all the ten
| emeHt houses in the city.
This is speaking legally; but, of course
| every one knows that as to details there is a
| wide difference between the ordinary tene
ment house and a first class fiat house. In
the latter every attention is paid to insure TO
each tenant privacy, comfort and elegance,
while in the former but little attention is
| paid to these things, comparatively speaking
| and for obvious reasons Luxury cannot be
| had fer the rent that is paid by the occu
| pants OF these tenement houses, and they are
| of a class who neither know of nor want the
eleganGieS Of life
STARTLING FIGURES.
A census was taken by the police of New
York of all the persons living IA tenement
houses; that is, in what are generally called
tenement houses, and not the flats occupied
by the better class of people In these tene-
ment houses, then, of which there are 81, 800,
the population is over 100000, comprising
264,91 families. Many of these houses are
what are called double deckers," which have
a hall in the center and four flats on each
floor, and are from four to six stories ia
height.
The fats average about four rooms each
and the rents are from SIC to $50 a month
In these houses the plumbing is excellent
owing to the inspection by the health officers
and in many instances it is said to be better
utan the plumbing in large number of pri
waite houses that do not come within the
jurisdiction of the health board. And it is
said that the death rate is higher in private
houses than in the tenement houses, i'll spite
of the OverCrOwdlng.
But these are not the worst kind of tene,
ment houses, they are the best The build
ings not originally intended for teHementS.
hut altered over for the ha5itatiOn of fami
lies, are apt to be dark, unhealthy and I'M
comfortable. The most densely populated
tenement district is south of Tompkins square
and east of Second avenue, and down in Hes
ter, Ludlow, Bayard and Essex streets and ia
the neiGhbOrhoOd of Baxter street. But none
Of these tenement houses are so large as some
of the big apartment houses uptown. The
biggest tenement, known as 1.-THE big fiat
and running from Elizabeth to Mott street
was probably the largest tenement house in
the city
In 1t were gathered people Of all natiouali
ties and religions and Of no religion and no
morals But this building was taken down,
and now a big manufacturing establishment
fills its place. Often under one number are
included four or five houses, in an allcyway,
of four or five Stories each story containing
four flats, and into one of these small fats,
besides the family, will be crowded several
bOarders, whose small sum for board or iodg
ing or both, helps defray the expenses of the
rent,
"GONOVAN'S LANE
Such a community Is at No. II Baxter
street. Entering at this number, passage
led TO the three houses iu the rear, and be.
yond them into Pearl street. This was for
merly called "DonOvan's lane" and was q
favOrite thoroughfare for thieves and worse
characters, who ran through here TO escape |
the police. twas the board of health that |
suggested the building of high brick wall at
the houses in the rear of No. II, to close up |
this thoroughfare, and it was done. But an
excellent representation Of the spot was given |
in "Pique, that was played some years ago |
In one scene Fanny Davenport is out in
snow storm and sinks down at the corner of |
one of these rear buildings. There were,
probably, only a few who saw that play Hho |
knew that the scenery was an exact copy OI |
portion of Baxter street tenement house
No. IA now includes five houses, the ouse on |
the street being the largest of them. 1t is |
- iyD a