The Red Cloud chief., 1896-04-10

mcnts III London, Mr.. Marshall says.
Fist Of all should be mentioned the
provisions for the two great requisites
of light and air. Tho buildings will
h" four and five stories high. and each
building must be separated In all direc-
tons from any opposing building by
an open space ut least equal to its own
height. II was with the greatest diff
iiculty that the New York commission
secured the passage OF an act limiting
the ground area covered to seventy.
five Der cent. These official London
tcncmohtS will not cover more than
nfty-iive pcr cent. of the building-lots.
Habitabic rooms must not I've less
than eight feet six inches in height.
Rooms must have efficient ventilation.
"the principle on which ~'back-to-baCk'
houses are built being carefully avoid
ed This precludcs the construction
Of a building more than two rooms
deep. " such n rule were enforced in
New York. the city would be rcvolu-
tionizcd. The aim of tenement house
architecture in America Is to get ut
least two. and perhaps four, families on
each floor of twenty-five feet width.
The London houses. rs a matter of facT,
will be only II room deep. Living
rooms in them must he of not less thar
one hundred and forty-four feet super
fetal floor area. Bedrooms must be OF
not less than nincty-siN feet superficial
floor-arca nor less than seven feet nine
inches wide. Staircascs must have
horizontal ventilation direct to the open
air: corridors must be ventilated on I'll"
open air; staircascs and halls must no
lighted day and night. The last-namcd
regulation is with Il view TO preventing
the immortality and frequent accidents
which lack of light in such places is
known 10 produce in tencment-houses.
A proposed statute calling for light
after S q. m. until 10 p. m, aroused
much opposition in Albany.
After light and air. safety from fire
may be regarded al e next essential
If model tcnomcnt-h0usc construction
The London law provides that all walls
shall be OF "ire-resisting' material.
and that all staircascs must he fire.
proof. and so separated from apart
mems that they will not afford a Hue
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 learned that 1t VIII
nay to go beyond the law, and to make
the buildings absolutely frc-proof. The
first cost will be very little greater. and
will be far more than offset by the de-
creased cost of repairs and the greater
Dermancnce of the buildings. Without
going into technical details of construc-
ton, il may be said that stairways are
OF iron. stone, and cement: that noorS
are built with iron Orders and brick
arches: that the wooden surface Is laid
on solid cement: that ms little woodwor"
IL used in the rooms as possible; ana
that the plaster, eve of the partitions
between rooms Of the same apartment,
l., laid on iron or wire instead or on
wooden lathing. or the buildings COM
Melted it Is no idle boast for the archi-
tect to say that a fire might be started
in any room without en%dangering any
other rooms. The cost OF repairs is mus
reduced to a minimum and the life oil
the buildings Is increased until 1t Is
estimated at four hundred and NIFTY
years simply because it seems absurd
to name "A longer period. As a mat
ter of fact, the buildings, II nndistnrbed
will practically last forever.