The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-24
LIVE In TENEMENTS.
Do the Dwellers in GOtham's Magnifi
cent Apartment Houses.

quires Iron Doors and Frequent White
Washing for Palatial Houses, But
the Law Doesn't Go-Queer Phases OF
Life in a Great City.
People who rent a moderate priced flat
or apartment nowadays, says the New
York Tribune, get more oonveniences and
more misunderstanding abiding places
for their money than they could have Sc
cured at the same outlay a few seasons
| ago. The materials of which the cheaper
apartments are built may not be better,
but the finish and general effect are more
artistic. No longer are common woods
used in fms hing and stained dark to
make them resemble walnut and other
expensive but sombre trimmings; light,
notwithstanding woods, such as cherry,
birch and white maple, are used in their
original col, "a and the whole SCENE of
decoration is such as to bring out what
light there is in the inside rooms, instead
of darkening them still further.
In the matter of plum bling there is
marked improvement, even the lower
priced fats having the exposed nickel
plated pipes instead Of the old fashioned
kind. No builder now dreams of put
ting plainshedooppered bathtub In a
fiat, that description of tub which, when
the tin dressing wore off, left the copper
exposed and disoolored, with an I'M
hygienio suggestion of verdigris cIinging
to it. The tubs now are all of porcelain
lined iron. set up from the floor on indi-
Vidual feet, admitting free ventilation
| underneath, and, in nearly every case,
the bathroom walls are tiled. Well-built
| refrigerators are put in every house. Gas
ranges, too, are common, and bousekeep-
ers who have battled with the annoyance
Of coal coming up from below and ashes
carried down, with the attendant pre-
monitory and ear-piercing whistles and
shrieEs of the miscalled, "dumb" waiter,
appreciate this forward step most Of all.
Authorities who have looked into the
matter Of comparative values declare that
the man who hires fat for S37 month
gets more, in proportion, for his money
than the man who pays $83. OF co urse
the dweller in the S83 fiat has his letters
sent up to him on a tray, has a hall boy
to attend him or his guests to the ele-
vator, and has the general yestibule en-
trance, which serves for himself and
neighbors, adorned with Mexican onyx
and bronze. 1t is probable, also, that
his fiat is flreproof-that is as nearly
fireproof as building made necessarily
60, rvo. T.
water for his establishment is heated at
the general source Of supply. Here, how.
ever, his advantages over his S37 neighbol
stop. His private hail is but shade
wider, his rooms but a fraction bigger
than his neighbours. Each have six
rooms and bath, and the $57 fat has gas
| logs, gas range and steam heat, just
the same as it's more pretentious rival.
The dweller in the cheaper fiat hears
noises and movements, voices and strains
of M usic, other than those of his own
household. The occupant of the more ex-
| pensiye flat hears almost the same, for
the numerous pipes passing from his own
| to his neighbours rooms above and below
prove admirable conductors of sound. The
walls may be deadened, but the resonant
| pipes and tubes cannot be done away
with. The floors are different in these
respective apartments; those in the $37
fat being of plain pine, those in the
other of hard wood, 1nlaid; an advantage
indeed. The elevator, too, must be re-
garded as a boon; but. then, it is far
cry from $37 months to $685. and when
the S37 man reflects on this he cheerf ully
presses button to open his own door,
| willingly unlooks his own letter box
when Summoned to do so by the post
mans ring, uncomplainingly mounts the
stairs, and resignedly receives the sminis.
trations of janitor who gets only $40 a
month and his living rooms, instead of
$50 month and household quarters. 1t
must he mentioned, too, that the $S7 fiat
| is scarcely block away from the high
toned rival, and enjoys the privileges of
| very good location indeed.
| Regarding front doors that give access
| to individual apartments, the new law
| IN regard to "tenement-hbuss," by which
name the finest and most exclusive apart
ments are referred to, rs we'll as the
meanest and dingiest, has most signif-
can't provision. 1t declares that ''all en-
frances from stairs to halls shall be closed
off with iron, double swinging doors, and
it shall be the duty of every owner of a
tenement house to have such doors closed
every night not later than 10 O'Clock"
In view IF the fact that every house in
the city occupied by three OF more fami-
lies living indepen dently of each other
comes under the head of tenement
house, the handsomest, as well as the
most squalid, this stip ulation regarding
doors is singular.
"Imagine an apartment-house furnished
with grand staircase, having spacious
Railways tiled with marble and bronze
departments rented at 50. 700 year,, hav-
ing the front doors of the various oocu-
pants made OF iron, to swing both ways,
and looked at 10 O'Clock each night ' said
an architect dejectedly. Such doors
would ba aItistically impossible, and no
tenant of any taste would stay in an
apartment subjected to such jail-like en-
vironme nts This view of the case has
been put before the Superintendent of
Buildings, who is at present attempting
to enforce the provisions, but he says
calmly that that phase of the matter is
none Of bis business; that he is in office
to enforce the law, and that he expects to
do his duty.
"Thess iron doors were really suggest
ed as a safeguard against fire in the
| crowded tenement houses in the poor
| quarters of the city, and certainly were
not meant to be imposed on people of
| reason and Intelligence, who would take
all precautions against accident without
them.
"Another statute which menaces the
| firSt-class aDartrnont- housa owporc 10 tho