The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-04-11
ARTISANS HOMES.
HOW GLASGOW HAS IMPROVED SOnE
OF ITS POOR DISTRICTS.


municipalities arc not necessarily
wiser than other corporate bodies. GlaS-
gov has by 40 means solved the human
problem. But she has made some notable
experiments i'll the direction of bright
ening human life. But, with less than
half Il dozen blocks of municipal tene.
ments, she is still far from pointing the
way to n beatific condition. She is also
far from having become n socialistic city.
She had the opportunity to make expert
mcntS i'll the most wretchcd of her dis
tricts. The experiments have succeeded,
and private enterprise here, us elsewhere,
has made similar experiments and with
similar success.
Tho municipal tencmcnts or artisans
dwellings, rs they are variously called,
consist of blocks of flats OH either side
of the Saltmarllet. The buildings are
four stories in height. The ground floors
are occupied by shops. The houses are
usually arranged so that OH two floors
there are three tencmentS, n tenement of
two rooms being on each side of the
staircase and n tenement of one room be-
tween them. There are also several flats
of three rooms each. The tenement of
one room is IA by g feet. 1t is fitted
with 4 bed closet, which is expected to
answer the purpose of a second room,
scullery, large press or cupboard,
commodious dresser and Il kitchen range.
Such an apartment rents for $40 year
The two rOomcd fiat has Il small lobby
fitted with press, or closet. On one
side of the lobby is the living room,
which is completely furnished as
kitchen. A scullery adjoins. There is
also bed alcove i'll the room. On the
other side of the lobby and OH the front
of the house is the sitting room, to which
is also attached bed closet Such flat
rents for $40. 90 per annum The three
roomed flats rent for $50 Il year. Gas is
supplied by the city mt the usual rate of
GO cents per 900 feet. There is Il laun-
dry at the top of the house for the use
of the tenants. These artisans dwellings
are constructed in the most substantial
manner. The stairs are stone, and the
stairway walls are tiles or glazed brick
which is easily kept clean.
1t has long been objected that these
dwellings do not meet the necessities Of
the poorest class of laborcrs The rents
were too high for men who work i'll the
streets or on the docks and at other kinds
Of unskilled labor Glasgow had to con
slider whether it were possible for the
municipality to reach these men in anv
WAY. If it had been IL qucstion of letting
rooms to single men, the arrangement
could have been made easily enough
But the difficulty was to devise homes
for large families, and it usually hap
pens that i'll this part of the world the
poorer the man the larger is his family
Houses could be built, of course but
could the poorest class OF lahorcrs afford
to pay a rent which would return to the
municipality an interest Of >. 3 on /
per cent on it's investment? Could the
municipality compete in that respect
with the owners of rookcrics, where
families live in single apartments?
Much dclibcration was given to the sub
jcct. 1t was fonnd that the lnunicipalty
could put up Il block of substantial
buildings to meet the wants of the class
hitherto left untouched hut that it
would not be practicable to provide any
thing more than what are called Zone
toomed houses that is ia say, one
room to Il family. To be sure, the rooms
could be divided by partition reaching
within two or three feet of the ceiling.
'hcslccping quarter being thus separated
from the cooking quarter
1t was finally decided that hlocl; OF
single room tcncmcntS should he con-
structcd. A place was cleared at the.
rear of Il block of artisans dwellings.
and 4 plain building OF three stories w..,
erected, With -four single room tenement,
on each floor, two III the trout and two
behind These were let at rents w,ll
within tho means of ulskiilcd laborvre.
Tilc building was opened and il ha,
been filled ever since Thu experiment
is financially successful, but in other 70
spcctS there is little To be said for it, OF
course the apartments are larger, lighter,
healthier, better built than any single
room tcnemcnts in the old roOkories
Nevertheless the objections to The herd
ing OF a family in one room arc not there
by removed. They are merely minimizal
and in a very Slight degree It is not By
any means demonstrated that mmici
pality is justified in doing anything 20
pcrpctuatc the single room tonc.icntsys
tenn for families
The construction Of Glasgow's munic-
ipal tenement houses whether of tho
better class OF of the poorer. is admira.
bic. The stairways. being built entirely
of masonry, are consequently iircproot
The stairs themselves and the hall floors
are of stone, and the walls of the halls
arc faced with glazed tiles OF glazed
bricks, as the case may be, and, as have
said, are easily kept clean