The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-12
Result of Work Being Done By Mrs. Russel Sage
IS NOT A CHARITY WORK
The Man With a arge Family and small Salary Will Be Able to Purchase Home on Easy
 Payments

New York. December 11.-one of the
 most practical plans ever devised for the
 betterment of the living conditions of the
 person who is compelled to live on a
 moderate salary, will go into effect short 1 y after the first of the year, when the Sage model suburb at Forest Hills Gar den, Long Island, will be thrown open to settlement.
 Here the man with a large family and
 6 modest salary will be able to purchase g home by easy monthly payments. Those
 persons unmarried who are seeking com
 fort away from the crowded city will find comfortable quarters in specially de- signed apartments at reasonable rates.
 This new scheme is but a part of the
 great practical philanthropic work that
 is being carried on by Mrs. Russell Sage with the enormous fortune amassed by
 her late husband. The work Is being at tended to by the Sage Foundation Homes company, branch of the Russel Sage foundation.
 That no person who desires to take up
 his residence in the model suburb will in any way be considered an object of charity is made clear by the trustees
 who say that the scheme Is strictly
 business investment, and is not to be considered as being even remotely related to charity.
 When person wishes to buy one of the homes a small initial payment will be required, and the remainder of the payments will be arranged for on a scale running from $25a month up. To those who do not want to buy one of the houses built by the company, lots in the model
 suburb will be sold under such restric-
 tons as will bind the purchaser to erect home in keeping with the other houses in the village. es
 The site of this model suburb is located
 about nine miles from New York and Is laid out on a tract Of 142 acres. The proposed suburb will be similar in design to the English types of garden cities, with detached one and two-story houses. parking and an abundance of trees.
 One distinct departure from the usual suburban development found In the plans of Forest Hills Gardens Is that three sides of the square which will surround
 the railroad station are to be built up
 with apartment houses not furnished with kitchens. These non-housekeeping apart ments will be rented out by single rooms or In suites of two, or as many more as are desired, to tenants who do not desire to rent or buy houses in the model suburb.
 We designed these buildings" said Edward H. Bouton, the vice president and general manager of the suburban company, for the use of self-supporting men and women who, under ordinary conditions in the city. are forced to live in boarding houses and hall bedrooms, and for families who for one reason or another do not want to keep house. There will be restaurant on the ground floor of one of these three buildings. which
 will open into garden, and the garden will border on the village greenn'
 This village green" will be another distinctive feature of the new model sub
 urb, around which 1t Is hoped the vil- lage activities will center. The non housekeeping apartments will be connect ed with each other and with the rail-
 road station by covered bridges, so that
 the commuter in this model suburb will be able to go direct from his apartment
 to his train without any such inconven- fences as the comic weekly dash over the muddy suburban roads. A tall tower
 has been planned as an added architec- tural feature of the apartment houses, which will surround the station square. The Sage foundation has already appro- priated s1.250.0O0 for the development of the suburb, apart from the land pur- chase, on WHICH tneTo WhS CiOSe to Sl,VU,- 0o0 spent. Besides this another s5O0000 will be appropriated for additional street development. About 1900 houses will be built in the completed suburb, and, as far as possible, the company is planning to sell the homes only to persons who expect to live in them; that Is to say, speculators will not be welcomed, and character as well as reasonable financial responsibility will be investigated before sales are made.
 Although, according to the trustees, the venture is business one, it also has distinct educational purpose. In discuss ing this side of 1t. Robert W. DeForest, vice president of the Russel Sage foun- dation, said:
 Mrs. Russell Sage and those whom she has associated with her in the founda- tion have been profoundly impressed with the need of better and more attractive housing facilities in the suburbs for per- sons of modest means who could pay | from $26 q month upward in the pur- chase of home. They have thought
 that homes could be supplied like those | in the garden cities of England with
 some greenery and flowers around them. with accessible playgrounds and recrea- | ton facilities, and at no appreciably greater cost than is now paid for the same roof room in bare streets without any such adjacency.
 l 'IneY nave dDHUIIcQ the constant rep l etiton of the rectangular block in sub | urban localities. where land contours in-
 vite other street lines They have thought too that buildings of tasteful design, | constructed of brick, cement or other permanent material, even though of
 somewhat greater initial cost, were really more economical in their durability and
 lesser repair bills than the repulsive,
 chea ,Iy built structures which are too
 oftf. the type of New Yorks outlying dis .ricts.'' NJ If these expectations can be realized, | Mi. De Forest continued, the new suburb l /sili accomplish four results at which the trustees are specially aiming. It vii, | demonstrate that more tasteful surround
 ings and open spaces pay in suburban development, and thereby encourage more
 economical methods of marketing land, and 1t will secure an attractive income Il for the Sage foundation.
 Il As to why the first housing plan of the foundation neglected to provide for the
 laboring man, MT. De Forest said that
 the cost of land at Forest Hills Gardens
 and the character of It's surroundings
 precluded provision there for the day r laborer.
 The Sage foundation has not forgotter the laboring man. however, said the