The sun., 1901-08-03
A THOUSAND UNDER one ROOF.
MODEL TENEMENT NAY ~ TINE
BE An ELECTION DISTRICT.

E1pt section. New Under Construction.
WIN shelter $50 Families ~ Apartment
- and - . Week -Coayeniences
Untlrcamed Of In Doublc-Deckers
State contain less inhabitants than will be
sheltered under one roof when the new
model tenement at Avenue A. Seventy
eighth and Seventy-ninth streets Is CON-
pleted. The plans for the structure have
already been fled with the Building Depart
ment by Harde 4 Short, the architects,
and the work Of excavating for the founda-
tlons Is well under way
The plans were practically the first to
I've fled under the new Tenement House
law and are probably fair indication OF
what may be expected in all future tene-
msnt building in New York. They mark
the passing Of the old 2S-foot front double
decker, replacing its dark tunnel-ike halls
and stuffy rooms with well-lghted and
superbly ventilated apartments, in which
the poor may dwell not only in comfort.
but with the same degree Of privacy as
may be secured in the more expensive
nathouses in the so-called fashionable
sections OF the city.
The exterior Of the building will be In
keeping with the interior and there will be
no suggestion in the facade or the entrances
Of the unwholesome and repulsive con-
ditions Of the tenements that grow so tall
and lean on the lower East Side. The pub
lie halls, which were held responsible for
% much of the vice and immortality OF the
Red Light district, are done away with
almost entirely. The front will be OF golden
bufI-colored bricks with Indiana limestone
and terra Gotta trimmings. the entrances
will be Of polished colored granite. The
fronts will be Of simple but good design
ornamented with bay windows. balconies
and fire escapes. The vestibues will be
waipscoted with solid marble and the floors
OF the entrance and staircase halls will be
OF colored inlaid tiles.
The building will have the entire block
front on the avenue and will be six stories
high, of semi-freproof construction. There
will, be iss separate apartments of three
and four rooms each. Reckonina five
persons TO a family this means that the
bullying will shelter nearly 1000 souls
When it Is completed work on second
section In the rear, fully as large as the
frst and separated from it bv a 2O-foot
roadway. will he undertaken so that in
time the tenement may of itself constitute
. whole election district. The cost Of the
first section. exclusive OF the ground, is
estimated at $50 900
The first floor will contain nine stores on
the avenue, none Of which will he rented
for saloon purposes. One of the stores
will be a large modern bakery. On this
floor will also be a number of shower and
tub baths for the Use Of tenants and six
teen apartments. Each Of the upper
floors will be divided into thirty-four
apartments. There will be four main
entrances and eight staircases. The latter
will be enclosed In heavy brick walls and
will have absolutely fireproof floors, stairs
doors. windows and roofs. The only pub
lo corridors in the building will be the
first story.
entrance halls, each apartment openine
aim is to have each apartment in itself
Q complete private home, with plenty OF
light, air and ventilation. Each will have
an entrance hall, private toilet, large COM
bination kitchen and dining room, parlor
and one or two bedrooms. The four-room
apartments are to have private bathrooms.
The huge building is 30 planned that
there are no interior vent shafts OF any
kind. All toilet rooms and staircase halls
will have windows, the latter on each floor,
and the living rooms will have from one
TO three windows opening directly on the
street or yard or large open courts. There
will be no rear apartments in the sense
in which the term is used in connection
with old-style tenements. Every set Of
rooms will have an outlook TO the street.
either direct OF from the yard or court.
1t will not be necessary for any Of the
tenants TO use pound Of coal; in fact
no provision will be made for burning it
anywhere in the building except in the |
cellar where the furnaces and boilers are
Every apartment will be supplied with a |
gas range and the entire building, includ-
ing the halls and staircases will be heated
by steam. Hot water will also be supplied
70 the tenants from the cellar without extra
charge. In each kitchen there will be two
white crockery wash tubs and the plumbing
will he or the most modern kind
Liberal provisions are made for closets
dressers, shelving and hanging hooks |
There will also be dumbwaiters and n com
plete laundry and steam clothes-drying
apparatus in the cellar feature of
the tenement will be dust chutes leading
from every apartment to the cellar. Since
there are no coal stoves, the sweepngs
can't be burned above stairs therefore
a furnace for consuming them will be set
UP in the cellar. There will also be re-
frigerator space in each private hall and
pipes In the floor To carry Of the water.
In the cellar there will be storeroom
for each tenant, also general storerooms,
workshop, a garbage room specially
ventilated 30 there will be no odor, boiler
room and coal storage Each apartment
Will be separated from the others by sound |
proof floors and partitions, an innovation
that would be welcomed in many OF the |
high-priced fiat houses Of the town Other |
conveniences will be letter boxes speak |
ing tubes and electrical vestibule door |
openers |
The roof will he Of plastic slate and the |
building walls will be carried above il 30 |
that II can readily be turned into n roof |
garden or play place for children. Plastic |
slate Is a composition. black in color, which |
presents perfectly smooth surface and |
grows hard instead Of soft under the rays |
Of the sun. The rent will be equal TO 81
a week for each room, that IL, 81 a week |
for three-room apartments and - a week
for four-room apartments. The rent il |
to be collected each week instead Of each |
month.
The aim of the City and Suburban Home
Company. which IL erecting this model
tenement is not any more phianthropical
than was that of ID. o Mills, who, by the
way, u a member of the company, when
he built the Mills hotels. The company
OWNS several other model tpnemanta popn |