The Topeka state journal., 1897-10-07
FOR FIFTY CENTS ADAY
Boarding and Lodging Will be Fur
nished in q Million Dollar Hotel

niShed in O Million Dollar Hotel.
New York, Oct. 7.-One' of the most
interesting and serious sociological ex-
periments ever attempted will be put
in operation about the goth of the pres
ent month by the opening of Mills
House No. Il This is a large hotel,
ten stories and a basement in height,
about 200 feet in length and 100 in
depth. It occupies the entire block on
the south side of Blocker street be-
tween Sullivan and Thompson streets.
The land and building together repre-
sent an investment of over 81, ,000, 600.
Mr.. D. 0. Mills, the banker and phi
lanthropist, who is erecting the build
ing, has also in course OF construction
Mills House No. 2, at stanton and
Chrystie streets, which will be conduct
ed on the same plan as the Bleecker
street hotel, and a row of model tene-
ments on Sullivan street. The three
investments will entail an expenditure
of 81, ,000, 600.
mills House No. l. is intended for
the accommodation of deserving and
respecta bic men whose income will not
permit them to go to expensive hotels
or boarding houses. 1t is not a charl-
ty. Mr.. Mills is desirous that it be
understood that men who become
guests of the hotel pay well for the ac-
cOmmOdatiOns they get. He declares
that he expects the investment to pay
financially. His object is to show that
Selt-reSpectInS men OF small means can
be given fine accommodations at sur
priSinSly low prices.
The uniform rate per night for any
room of the ], ,564 in the building will
be 20 cents. Many permanent board
ers are expected, but the rate will not
be reduced for them. The price for the
room will include also the privilege of
reading and lOunging rooms, writing
tables, hot and cold water baths, and
tables where games may be played.
The building will be heated throughout
with steam heat and lit by electricity.
A TaV~ ton 17p
tial part of the plan of the building,
where meals will be furnished a la
carte at from ten cents upward. The
food will be wholesome, the cooking eX-
cellent, and the price of every article
will be kept at the lowest possible
point. The intention is to give all of
the comforts of first-class hotel at
prices no greater than those of the
cheapest lodging houses on the BOWery.
A unique feature is a large room con-
tanning a dozen WaShtubS, with hot and
cold water, here the men may, If they
choose, wash their own linen. There
is also a room where twenty foot baths
are ranged about on the floor. with
twenty chairs beside them. Many of
the patrons of the hotel will be can
vasserS, or men seeking employment,
who will range the streets for mile af-
ter mile. and come back weary and
fOOtsOre There are also fifty bath
rooms in the buildings, equipped with
modern rain baths, and these, too, will
be entirely free to the guests.
Each room is seven and a half feet
by five, has at least one window, and
some have two, looking either upon the
street or into one of the courts. In
each is a cot, of enamelled iron, with a
mattress of woven wire. The mat
tresses are of the South American hair,
and are of the same kind, it is said, as
used at the Waldorf. On each mattress
are a hair and feather pillow. with
sheets and blankets to suit the season.
Beside each bed will be a strip of Brus-
sells carpet, and in each room there is
chair. In the basement is a room
where trunks may be stored, and also
a large room where there are arranged
tiers of lockers, each with a separate
key, where the men may put away their
belongings.