New-York tribune., 1903-02-11
BROOKLYN TENEMENTS.

A great deal has recently been heard about
Brooklyn as a sort of apartment house Arcadia
Oh mol They didn't have tenements in Brook
iyn- They were private houses for three or
six families. Therefore there was no need for
tenement house law such as applied to Man
haitian. In that favored region tenement house
we beg pardon, combination dwelling house
owners and builders were all honest, enlfght-
ened men, who knew as well as the Tenement
House Department what decency and health
required, and If left alone would provide II In
conformity with Brooklyn conditions and
Brooklyns rent paying capacity. The present
law made impossible the erection Of paying
three story buildings with two apartments on
q floor, running from front to rear. Before the
meddlesome tenement house reformerS invaded
the borough it was possible TO provide thou
sands with happy homes, and there were no
slums to guard against.
That was the theory. What are the facts?
Commissioner De Forest went Summing in
Brooklyn on Monday with some officials and
others 1t was Summing, That is the only
word that will do, unless "pigstying" conveys
A more accurate idea of the conditions found.
The worst tenements TO be seen on the East
Side of Manhattan, high, dark and foul as they
are, do not compare for utter and indescribable
vileness with the pens where human beings
dwell in Atlantic-ave., near South Ferry, and
around the corner at No. 362 Hicks-st. In the
latter house in a dark cellar was a two room
apartment" entered only through a dark in
terror passageway. On bright day it was like
twilight in the front room, while the rear was
an absolutely black, unventilated hole, opening
by a narrow door into the other room. Here
three people lived in dampness, cobwebs and
filth. The rooms above ground We're Gifie, but
not much, better, while the yard was refuse
pile which the landlord had declined to clean
up az official request, and the sanitary con-
veniences were beyond description. This and
the Atlantic-ave. house had absolutely dark
halls and staircases until the new law forced
the cutting of skylghts. They are managed
by A. 81. Howe, as agent and he is said to be
one of the leaders in the effort TO preserve In
Brooklyn its ideal conditions unrestrained by
tenement house laws, which, it is said, may
''be well enough in Manhattan, but are unneces-
.'sary in Brooklyn" The Hfcks-st. house ought
to be vacated by the Board of Health as soon
as il has served sufficiently as an awful ex-
ample. and apparently there.are hundreds of
others In that neighborhood and elsewhere in
Brooklyn only less bad.
Another Brooklyn picture was presented by
tenement houses erected under the new law
which is SO much complained about They
were in Russell-st, Greenpoint. The row con-
sisted Of three of the typical three story, two
apartments to a floor buildings. Each apart
ment consisted Of five rooms and bath, and
every room was well lighted. Each apartment
had q court by IA feet, and at the inside
where two apartments came together, the court
was doubled TO be 16 by Il feet These apart
ments rented for S15 and SIG month, which
was cheap considering the number of rooms
Land and all, the buildings probably cost less
than $1,000 each. One of them was sold for
S11, 500. and produces a gross income of ST. ,104
u year, about 10 per cent on the investment
in view of such demonstration 1t is impossi-
BILE To maintain that tenement houses on the
Brooklyn plan cannot be profitably built under
the new law.
II is possible. indeed probable, that taught
by experience, the Tenement House Department
may see some notifications which would make
conditions easier without giving up anything
vital Through inadvertence in making last
years concessions to Brooklyn the requirement
Of fireproof bulkheads was not removed from
three story fats when the halls and stairs were
themselves allowed TO be non-freproof. That
law means useless expense and viii, of course
by common consent, be changed Perhaps some
diminution in the size Of courts might be al
lowed when two are built together but not