The sun., 1919-08-31
OLDLAW FLATS ARE
BEING MODERNIZED
Hundreds That Are Now Va
cant Will Soon BE Habitable
and Well Lighted.

An interesting reminder that efforts
are being made to modernize many Of
the 10000 vacant "Old Law" New York
tenements mentioned in the report OF
Abram /. Elkus, chairman OF the State
Reconstruction Commission, is furnished
In the records of the New York Edison
Company. which show that electric
lights are being installed in many Of
these renovated FLATS"
The use OF electricity for illuminat.
ing purposes in old tenement buildings
Is not exactly a novelty. but its intro
dnction into the Oldest types and even
Hose OF the more modest sort Is re-
sEarded as an indicationoof wholesale
attempt OF the part ~ the owners 20
bring their abandoned buildings up to
date and to make them attractive to
tenants of the better class.
One OF the most unusual OF these con-
tracts relates to the lighting of the first
Of group OF old brown stone residences
still standing on Columbia street
Should this venture OF undermining the
existing buildings prove successful the
entire row will doubtless undergo the
same process. The usual fate Of such
buildings is must less desirable. APP
parently they are taken over by some
foreigner, who promptly fills them up
with others OF his race. with no formal
alterations OF any kind to suit their
changed usage.
A typical East Side tenement Is the
building on Chrystie street, near Hester
which contains thirty-eight apartments.
All of these. as we'll as the public halls.
are to have electric lighting. little
further uptown, on Second avenue. SINH
Jar installations are being made by the
owners.
west side Affected, Too.
Another active section is the middle OF
the town, In the immense stretches of
tenements and cheap apartments east
of Third avenue and west OF Seventh
avenue. both of which received special
attention in the detailed reports OF the
State Commission. On few blocks be-
tween Forty-second street and Fifty
ninth street there are nine old tenement
buildings undergoing improvements, in
GLIDING electric lighting. while five more
are arranging for electric lighting OF
public halls. 1t is the usual experience
of the lighting company that as soon as
electricity Is once brought within the
building II is only a matter of few
months before wiring Is laid into the in
dividual apartments.
On the West Side, In a similar ter
ritory, some twenty of the old tene-
ment structures are being wired
throughout for electricity, and halls are
being wired in eight others. Some OF
the addresses concerned in these i'm
provements are 342, S44. 346 West
Thirtieth street. S13 and 315 West
Forty-fourth street, S4s and $50 West
Thirty-ninth street, 42S and 4s0 West
Forty-third street, 313 and 3l5 West
Forty-eighth street, Sss and ss6 Eighth
avenue, sos, 315 and S29 East Fifty
seventh street, and 422 and 424 East
Fifty-eighth street.
Besides a row OF old time tenements
belonging to the Goelte estate at 421 to
AL Park avenue, which are being trans
formed into apartments more in keeping
with the present value OF their site. the
Bast Eighty-sixth street office Of the
New York Edison Company reports
twelve old tenements capable of housing
200 families ndergoing renovation.
In the central part of town there Is
much wiring Of halls and stairs in old
tenement and apartment buildings both
20 the east and west OF the higher priced
sections. Some OF the locations affected
are $40. 334. 336, 33s and $40 West Sew
enteenth street, 423 and 425 West Sew
enteenth, $50 West Sixteenth. 456 West
Eighteenth, 231 to 237 East Twenty
sixth. 20S East Twenty-hfth and l5s
East Twenty-eighth streets. Older apart
uo luOoc al AoS eiih
ISL East Twenty-fifth street. 100 East
Twenty-fifth ana l61 East Twenty-elghth
street arc being wired throughout. while
private houses In, the Same blocks are
undergoing renovation.
Work Touches Fifth Ave. Section.
At least six fine old houses on Eighth
and Ninth streets just east OF Fifth ave-
nue. are being renhodelled into apart
ments OF the more expensive type. while
much further east, even east OF Secono
avenue, tenement apartments are re-
cevng renvvauon, mcIuuIng the intro
duction or electTicity. 1nese include
buildings on Eighth street near Third
avenue. Eleventh street as far east as
6l4 East Twelfth street at 5i4 and GOT.
and East Thirteenth street at b37.
Throughout The Bronx great activity
among the owners Of the older tenement
apartments is reported Near wales
avenue and East Is5th street eight