Daily Republican., 1889-02-02
MODEL HOUSES.
THE WORK OF A PHiLAN-
THRoPIsT.
Wilmington Takes the Palm From
Philadelphia as City of Homes for
Worlingmen- Enterprise of Mr.
McCOrkle.

For years II was the boast Of the citizens |
OF Philadelphia that It was not only the |
"City Of Brotherly Love-" but also the
city OF model homes for workiDgmen. |
But within the past few years Whining |
ton has been making great advances In |
providing neat aud comfortable homes |
for working people, and now stands with |
out rival in this respect, For a long |
time It was the custom of builders In put
ting up small houses to use the common
est material and have the work done In
the cheapest and most slIpshod manner.
These houses when finished were dis
posed of to wOrkingmen at enormous
PR flts, but about the lime the new owner
had his payments pretty well made he
would find it necessary to almost rebuild
his home.
But new ers has now aawped, for
which Mr. Thomas McCorkle is, In
great measure, entitled to the credit As
thls gentleman owned quite large tract
OF land In the eastern part of the city he
conceived the idea Of erecting number
Of comfortable homes for worklngmen,
aud alec resolved that nothing but the
very best material should be used In their
construction, aud the best mechanics en-
ployed to do the work. The consequence
is that he has erected some forty OF the
|
of Market street. The last houses con-
structed by Mr.. McCorkle are OIL Pine
street, between Ninth and Tenth streets,
and yesterday, by invitation of this enter
prising young builder, q number OF them
were inspected by a repor .er OF the RE-
PUBLICAN.
Mr.. MoCorkle has about closed his
building operations In the eastern part of
tie city, and hs celebrated the event yes
tcrday by sending out number of invi-
tations, which read as follows:
DEAR SIR: Ifyou would like to take a
peep into the homes of come of our work
ingmen, would be pleased to have you
call at my office, No, 906 Pine street, on
Friday, February LIST, 1889, to p, m.
Respectfully, T. MCCoRKLB.
was quite large company, including q
number of prominent citizens. Mr.. Nc
Corkle never does anything by halves,
and he had large table spread with
tempting refreshments. After Justice had
been done to these, several OF the houses
were visited, aud each one present ex.
pressed his pleasure at what he saw.
There are q houses in the block, all oi
which, except FIVE, are occupied as fol-
lows: Charles W. White, No 902; Mis-
NJ. |. Bowman, No. 906; Andrew j. ka
gan, No. 9O8; William !. Lee, No. 910
. William Il. Blackway, No. 914; Charles
= G. Webber, No. q; Aaron Kersey, No
924; Benjamin F. Clears, No. 026; Th. 0
: dole Il. Cornwell, No. 92S; r. W. It'd
j. marsh, No. $50; Edward A. Harper, No
= g32; James N. Seal, No. 934; Thomas 8
4 O'Daniel, No. 936; William j. Kirk, No
93s; Wesley L. al bert, bakery, on tn
=, corner of Tenth street.
! ,,E unpAa1 hnnapa Ia tW
i stories high, and contain on the fire
;, s. floor a parior, sitting room, dining roor
and kitchen. On the second floor ther
!, are bed rooms aud bath. They are sup
+. piled with hot and cold water. gas. elec
y tric bells and all other modern improve
& mente and co.veniences. There are larg
: and commodious hallwaye, from whicl
: ascend the stairs to the upper roome.
y Instead OF unsightly shutters, each hous
1 Is turned with blinds on the inside of tn,
v windows. The fronts are of pressed ant
! ornamented brick, and present a nea
}. and tasty appearance, while each OF thos
occupied is owned by the occupant, all
= whom are workiDgmen.
The reporter was taken through severa
!. of them, and found each furnished in
}. manner which would be beyond th
t widest dreams of the workingmen o
: any other country excep. this. They ar
-, model homes, and any man possessipl
u one has Just cause for pride. 1t VIII b
: we'll for other builders to profit by Mr.
}, McCorkle's example, as such homes
!. these conduce to make good men an
|; women, whose children, with the sur
y . ronudings, are sure to grow up good cit
zens. This block WAS built from plan
y drawn by Mr.. McCorkle when he was
3 student at the Franklin Institute, and 10
:. which he was awarded the prize owe
J. twenty competitors.