The San Francisco call., 1910-03-02
MENACE. TO CITY IN
BUILDINOLAW CHANGE
Plea Made for Light and Air in Con
struction of ModernDWelling Houses
Rx.LANGLEY PORTER

II HE place OF any city in the SCALE
of civilization can be. fairly judged
by the character of its housing
laws. The city of. San Francisco at the
present moment has one of the best
laws in force anywhere. This law was
| not put on the statute. books without
much work. A. committee of public
spirited citizens. at much sacrifice to its
individuals, labored for a year. or more
to perfect it. Every side of the ques-
tion-the financial, the fire protection;
| the public health, the owners, rights,
the tenants rights and the publfc's
rights-were considered. The best
practice of other eitieswas carefully
studied and as carefully adapted to
local conditions. ALI citizens and ali In
Iterests We're welcome to representation
at the: committee meetings and all
criticisms were given fun and polite
consideration. The names of the men
who composed that. advisory cornmi +
tee testify that the committee was
cospetent Ito deal with the. subject
from every side. w. r. Wilson.
plumber. j: T. Horgari.. chief building
Inspector p. H. Shaughnessy, chief of
fire department. F.. H. Porter. :chief I'M
spector Of underwriters ~. d. Galloway,
scfvil engineer; r. ii. Matthewson.
building constructor; Nathaniel Blais-
del. architect. =: :. :.
|. After months of toll these men adj
vised. the, supervisors to pass the law
in substantially it's. present forIn.-e In.
spite Of the fact that this law is the
result of long: study by~this competent
co9mittee and blythe building commit
tee. of the supervisors, and that it is
one Of the best building laws in exist
~ence, certain of its vital provisions are
the subject of attack and are in danger
of giving way to amendments. danger.
Gus to the public health. especially. to
the health of children and their.
mothers. +. -. =:
These vital provisions are contained.
in sections 205 and zoe of the building
laws. Section 2O5 in effect says: NO
building which shall be. intended .or~de--
signed for or used as the home or resi-
denee of three. or. more separate and
distinct families or households shall
ner lot or more than 20 per cent. of any
other lot; provided that the space oc-
cupied by fire escapes shall not be
deemed part of the lot. -
Section 2O6 provides that: Amy.
room in any such building will have at
least one window opening. upon a street.
or upon a court or yard which shall:
open to the sky 1t also provides that
Timer courts; if such are part. of the
building design, shall occupy. for. one
story building so square feet, for two
stories 60, for three stories S0S but if
the courts are lot line courts only three.
quarters of these areas need. be re-
served"
Those who would amend these sec
tions seek to. have the law. say that a
corner lot may be entirely covered;
be covered, and that if a log be less
than 20 feet in depth. the building may
fill all of it but 10 per. cent. Much of
the argument for the amendments and
gainst the excellent provision of the
law as it now stands is~made by peoplea
who do NOT realize. that the light courts
and air. shafts of the. building are in
cluded in the percentage .of the lot"
which the law demands shan remain
uncovered Many think that The whole
of this space. must be left in yards.
This is not so: If it,. were, then the
law would work a hardship and should
be amended
Before. we indorse any change. IN !
these provisions let us ask ourselves.
who will benefit. bu such a change. Re
member that these provisions relate only
to buildings designed to accommodate
three or more families. Rememb ber*:.
also that the prevailing type of DWELL
ing going up on many of these lots is !
the four apartment fiat, a:three story :
building, each story containing four >:
three or four room apartments, the.
building covering all but.1O per. cent
of a So. so or 40 foot lot. In such a.
building, especially where the blocks.
are solidly covered with them,. as is
rapidly becoming the case in North Q
beach, there will be very many mOre<.
sunless, i'll ventilated inside rooms
than there will be outside rooms. These.
yardless dwellings must and do back
close up one to the other. The courts.
and shafts are never by any chance So
planned that two come together. The
result is that they become mere ffties
into which sun never enters ..
Now the science of public health has
shown beyond a doubt that direct sun
light in rooms is the greatest: health
insurance we have and that tubercu-
Eosis, scarlet fever, diphtheria. measles,
nleumonia. bronchitis and all deadly
diseases due to germs multiply and are
made more deadly in sunless, badly (
ventilated rooms. Every one knows
how quickly a plant kept from the air
and sun gets pale and spindly and. dies
So it is with the babies brought up in
such rooms; their. blood .tlins, they.
grow pale and sicken, and zoe many of
them die. Women, too. confined as they