New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-10
PLANS HAVEN FOR "H0B0."
CITY TO BE HIS HOST.
Nezo S175 900 Lodging House for
Homeless To Be IN 25th-St.

Raymond F. Amrall, architect, of No. oil
Chambers-st, has completed plans for free
municipal lodging house. to cost at least S1Io,-
600. whose hospitality will raise the modern
hobo" to the dignity of a hotel guest and make
homelessness almost a luxury
1t is the first real, specially built, up to date
municipal lodging house in the country. and
probably only Father Knickerbocker, with his
long purse, could afford any such thing The
city has lodging house already. but it has been
habitation of slow growth, and lacks the COM
prehensiveness and aesthetic completeness of the
new building, which will soon be built in 25th-
ST, south side. about four hundred feet east of
1st-ave., and have a capacity for between six
hundred and seven hundred men and women.
The Art Commission is looking over the archi-
tects plans and seems to be pleased with them.
1t is expected that the construction of the
building will begin within the next six weeks.
From the human interest point of view the
thing that stirs the imagination most, perhaps,
is the dignity automatically bestowed upon the
homeless wanderer-the hobo" AT o'clock in
the evening, after a hard days work on the
settees in Madison Square. say, he repairs to his
new club in 25th-st.. near 1st-ave, and registers
with the clerk He leaves his valuabes with the
clerk, goes down stairs, turns over his soed
clothes to attendant and takes q refreshing
bath, hot cold shower. After his bath he
passes into a drying room, where he takes
brisk rub and then he goes to a nice clean bed.
Meantime science and philanthropy having
a sort of joint debate with his garments. Science
assumes that they are full of harmful germs and
philanthropy has provided disinfecting outfit
that certainly commands consideration. The
weary ones clothes are ticketed and placed on
pegs on a mechanical horse. which is cantered
into dsinfecting chamber. where formaldehyde
49,
the same time have been put through the laun-
dry, and while he is dreaming of regaining fort
unes, Father Knickerbocker's hired men and
women fix everything up nice and ready for the
morning, and bright and early they are handed
to the owner-germless and clean. The same
thing will happen to the habiliments Of the
women who go to the lodging house.
Another distinctive feature is the provision
for evicted cases. The experience of the Char
ity Department is that many worthy people
times elected from their homes and SUBJ
jected to great hardships. In the new city
lodging house separate apartments are planned
for evicted persons of good character, and for
one two nights at least they will be properly
housed and fed almost as well as guests in a
modern hotel.
The first floor will contain the superintend-
ents Office private offices for the doctors con-
Meeting rooms for consultation purposes and
mems and women's waiting rooms. In these
waiting rooms the doctors look over applicants
for lodging and determine whether they are well
or sick Afterward the well ones so to one set
of bathrooms in the basement and the sick to
another set Also on the first floor is the mems
dining room, kitchen, clerks dining rooms and
storerooms. In the basement the we'll and sick
have separate dressing rooms and as stated
before, separate bath and drying rooms The
womens dormitory, on the second floor, is 40
by 90 feet. The third and fourth floors are en-
tirely given up to mems dormitories. each floor
affording a space of 76 bv so feet.
The fifth floor contains private dormitories for
men. we'll general dormitory. The sixth
floor contains isolation rooms for suddenly dis
covered contagious diseases, a morgue, a sep
arate dormitory, % by % feet and quarters
for the paid and unpaid help about the premises
On the roof is a penthouse and a storage house.
There are passenger and freight elevators and
clothes lifts and chutes which facilitate the de-
livery of soied clean clothes to any desired
floor.