Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-03-16
LONDON TENEMENT HOUSES.
Laws That Govern Construction of Those
Dwellings In That City.


Dwellings In That City.
Mr.. Edward Marshall, secretary OF
the New York tenement house commits
sion, contributes all article on stamp
ing Out the London Slums" to The
Century. Concerning the laws govern
ing the erection of tenements III Lon
don, Mr.. Marshall says:
First of all should be mentioned the
provisions for the two great requisites
of light and air. The buildings Will be
four and five stories high, and each
building must be separated in all dlrec-
tlons from any opposing building by an
open space at least equal to its own
| height. It was with the greatest diff
Guilty that the New York commission
secured the passage of an act limiting
the ground area to be covered TO 70 per
cent These official London tenements
will not cover more than 30 per cent of
the building lots.
Habitable rooms must not be less than
s feet inches in height. Rooms must
have efficient ventilation, the prlncl-
pie on which back to back houses are
built being carefully avoided. This
precludes the construction of building
more than two rooms deep. If such
rule were enforced i'll New York, the
city would be revolutionized. The aim
of tenement house architecture in Amer
lea is to get at least two, and perhaps
four, families on each floor of % feet
width. The London houses, as mat
ter of fact, will be only one room deep.
Living rooms in them must be of not
less than IA feet superficial floor area.
PnlrOo,,1c no of less than OF
feet superficial floor area nor less than
feet inches wide. Staircases must
have horizontal ventilation direct to
the open air. Corridors must be venti-
lated on the open air. Staircases and halls
must be lighted day and night. The last
named regulation is with view of pre-
venting the immortality and frequent
accidents which lack of light III such
places is known to produce in tenement
houses. A proposed statute calling for
| light after s a. IN. until 10 p. IN.
aroused much opposition in Albany.
After light and air, safety from fire
may be regarded as the next essential OF
model tenement house construction. The
London law provides that all walls shall
be of fire resisting" material, and that
all staircases must be fireproof, and so
separated from apartments that they
| will not afford flue for the conduct of
fire from one floor to another, as has SO
often occurred in the tenements OF New
! York. But the county council has learn
ed that it will pay to go beyond the law,
and to make the buildings absolutely
fireprOof. The first cost will be very lit
! tie greater, and will be far more than
offset by the decreased cost of repairs
and the greater permanence of the build
ings. Without going into technical de
tails Of construction, it may be said that
! stairways are of iron, stone and cement;
! that floors are built with iron girders
! and brick arches that the wooden sur
face is laid on solid cement; that as lit
tie woodwork is used in the rooms as
possible, and that the plaster, even OF
| the partitions between rooms of the
same apartment, is laid ON iron or wire
instead of on wooden lathing. OF the
| buildings completed it is no idle boast
! for the architect to say that a fire might
! be started in any room without endan-
gering any other room. The cost OF re-
pairs is thus reduced to a minimum, and
the life of the buildings is increased un-
! til it is estimated at 400 years simply
because it seems absurd TO name longer
period As matter Of fact, the build
ings, if undisturbed, will practically last
! forever.