UC-NRLF tBl 157 DON COUNT HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES 1255-1912. DOCUMENTS DEFT. LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES IN LONDON. Notes on the action taken between the years 1855 and 1912 for the better housing of the working classes in London, with special reference to the action taken by the London County Council between the years 1889 and 19 12. PREPARED, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL, BY THE CLERK OF THE COUNCIL. PRINTED FOR THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL BY ODHAMS LIMITED, And mav be purchased either directly or through any Bookseller, from P. S. KING AJSTD SON, 2 AND 4, GREAT SMITH-STREET, VICTORIA-STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W. Agents for the sale of the publications of the London County Council. 1555. Price is. By parcel post, is. 3d. ^ 1,000 IO.I.I3. IOC7Q C837 \ s HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES COMMITTEE, 1912-13. Cbairman, BERNARD HOLLAND, C.B. Wce-Cbafrman. R. M. SEBAG-MONTEFIORE. Chairman of tbe Council. Major-General LORD CHEYLESMORE, K.C.V.O., D.L. lt)fce=abatrman of tbe Council. J. HERBERT HUNTER. Beputg-Cbatrman of tbe Council. HARRY GOSLING, J.P. ADLER, Miss N. COOPER, Colonel R. J., C.V.O. ENSOR, R. C. K. GEE, STEPHEN. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWEN, Sir ARTHUR, M.P. HADDO, The LORD, D.L. HARRIS, PERCY A. HUNTER, THOMAS. JACKSON, CYRIL. LEVITA, Major C., M.V.O. NAYLOR, G. K. REYNOLDS, WALTER. Cbainnen of tbe Ibousins of tbe Working Classes Committee, 1889-1913. 1903-4 EARL CARRINGTON (Marquess of Lincolnshire). 1904-5 W. WALLACE BRUCE. 1905-6 J. E. SEARS, M.P. 1906-7 W. WALLACE BRUCE. 1907-8 Sir WILLIAM LANCASTER. 1908-9 The Hon. WALTER GUIN- NESS, M.P. 1909-10 W. RAYMOND GREENE, M.P. 1910-11 Lt.-Col. A. G. BOSCAWEN, M.P. 1911-12 Sir ARTHUR GRIFFITH- BOSCAWEN, M.P., J. C. HILL and G. K. NAYLOR. 1912-13 G. K. NAYLOR and BERNARD HOLLAND, C.B. !889 EARL COMPTON, M.P. (Marquess of Northampton). 1889-90 EARL COMPTON, M.P. 1890-1 EARL COMPTON, M.P. 1891-2 EARL COMPTON, M.P. * 1 892-3 R. M. BEACHCROFT. * 1 893-4 A. L. LEON. * 1894-5 Rev. C. FLEMING WILLIAMS. * 1895-6 W. WALLACE BRUCE. 1896-7 A. L. LEON. 1897-8 ALFRED SMITH. 1898-9 W. WALLACE BRUCE. 1899-1900 Sir JOHN DICKSON- POYNDER, Bt, M.P. (Lord Islington). 1900-1 D. S. WATERLOW. 1901-2 D. S. WATERLOW. 1902-3 Sir WILLIAM J. COLLINS, M.D. * During these years the Committee were known as the Public Health and Housing Committee. 4! 7624 PREFACE. In the latter part of the year 1900, the Council published a work entitled The Housing Question in London, which described in some detail the action taken by the legislature, the Metropolitan Board of Works and the Council with regard to the housing of the working-classes in London. Amongst other features the volume contained plans and full particulars of every scheme undertaken by the Board or by the Council up to that date. During the period which has since elapsed, the Council has continued to deal with the various phases of the problem and especially to develop estates under the powers conferred by Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. It was felt that a complete and concise account of the attempts made to deal with the housing problem from 1855, the date when the Metropolitan Board of Works was constituted, until the present year would be of interest to the general reader and the student of municipal affairs, and of use and assistance to municipal authorities, at home and abroad. Accordingly, 'on i6th May, 1911, the Council authorised the preparation of the present volume. The accounts of schemes, etc., already described in The Housing Question in London, are given in a summarised form, but full references to that work are provided. The architectural descrip- tions of the buildings have been supplied by the Council's Archi- tect, Mr. W. E. Riley, F.R.I. B,A. I have to acknowledge assistance afforded by Mr. J. C. Spensley, lately the Assistant Statistical Officer, in the chapters on workmen's trains and the present aspects of the housing question, and by Mr. S. G. Burgess, the Housing Manager, in the chapter on the management of the Council's dwellings. Except where the contrary is expressly stated, it may be assumed that all the dwellings provided on behalf of the Council were designed by, and erected under the supervision of, either Mr. Riley or, before 3ist March, 1899, Mr. Thomas Blashill, F.R.I.B.A., his predecessor in the position of Architect to the Council. LAURENCE GOMME, Clerk of the Council. County Hall, S.W., January, 1913. CONTENTS. l. Action taken by Parliament Common Lodging Houses Acts . . . . . . . . 7 Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts . . . . . . 7 Nuisances Removal and Sanitary Acts . . . . . . 8 Torrens' Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Cross' Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Select Committee, 1881-2 .. .. .. .. .. 10 Artizans Dwellings Act, 1882 .. .. .. .. 10 Royal Commission, 18845 I]C Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1885 and 1890 .. n Public Health (London) Act, 1891 . . . . . . 12 Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1894 and 1900 . . 12 Joint Select Committee, 1902 . . . . . . . . 12 Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903 . . . . 13 Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909.. .. .. 14 Private Member's Bills, 1911-12 .. .. .. .. 16 II. Statutory powers of Council . . . . . . . . . . 17 III. Action taken by the Metropolitan Board of Works .. .. 22 IV. Policy of the Council with regard to Housing.. .. .. 24 V. Schemes undertaken by the Metropolitan Board of Works and completed by the Council Tench-street, St. George-in-the-East . . . . . . 31 Brook-street, Limehouse . . . . . . . . . . 31 Trafalgar-road, Greenwich . . . . . . . . . . 32 Hughes-fields, Deptford . . . . . . . . . . 32 Cable-street, Shadwell . . . . . . . . . . 33 Shelton-street, St. Giles 33 VI. Schemes undertaken by the Council under Part I . of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 Boundary-street, Bethnal Green . . . . . . . . 35 Plans and illustrations . . . . . . 35-8 Churchway, St. Pancras . . . . . . . . . . 39 Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . 40-1 Clare-market, Strand . . . . . . . . . . 41 Garden-row, Roby-street, Baltic-street and Honduras- street, St. Luke 42 Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . 43-6 Webber-row and Wellington-place and King's-bench-walk, Southwark . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Plans and illustration . . . . . . 479 Aylesbury -place, Clerkenwell, and Union-buildings, Hoi- born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Plans and illustrations .. .. 51-2, 119-22 Burford's-court, Tucker's-court and Favonia-street . . 53 Nightingale-street, Marylebone . . . . . . . . 54 Providence-place, Poplar . . . . . . . . . . 54 Tabard-street, Grotto-place and Crosby-row . . . . 55 Plans . . . . 56, 58-9 VII. Schemes undertaken by the Council under Part II. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 Brooke' s-market, Holborn . . . . . . . . 2 Mill-lane, Deptford .. .. .. .. 6 -. Ann-street, Poplar . . . . . . . . . . 6~ Falcon-court, Borough * * 64 VIII. Proceedings of the Council under Part III. of the Housing o'f the Working Classes Act, 1890 Green-street and Boyfield-street sites, Southwark . . 65 Borough-road and Green-street, etc., site, Southwark. . 65 Illustration . . . . . . . . . . 55 Millbank estate, Westminster . . . . . . 55 Plan and illustrations . . . . . . 67, 69 No. 97, Southwark-street . . . . . . . . . . o Totterdown-fields estate, Tooting . . . . . . . . y O Plans and illustrations .. .. 71, 125-30 White Hart-lane estate, Tottenham . . . . .' . 72 Plans and illustrations . . . . 74-5, 1317 Norbury estate, Croydon . . . . . . . . . . 75 Plans and illustrations . . . . 77, 138-42 Caledonian estate, Holloway . . . . . . . . 78 Plan and illustrations . . . . . . 79, 80 Wedmore-street estate, Holloway . . . . . . . . ' 78 Illustration . . . . . . . . . . 81 Brixton-hill estate . . . . . . . . . . . . -78 Illustration . . . . . . . . . . 81 Old Oak estate, Hammersmith .. ... .. .. 82 Plan 82 Hughes-fields, Deptford . . . . . . . . . . 83 IX. Rehousing in connection with improvements, etc. Battersea-bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Blackwall- tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Long-lane and Tabard-street . . . . . . . . 85 Kingsway and Aldwych (including widening of the Strand fe at Holywell-street) 86 Plan and illustrations 86-8 Rotherhithe-tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Westminster improvement . . . . . . . . . . 90 York-road ; Battersea-rise ; Garratt-lane and Tooting High-street (formerly Merton-road) . . . . . . 91 Mare-street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Illustration . . . . . . . . . . 92 Nine Elms-lane . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Fulham Palace-road and High-street, Fulham . . . . 92 Plan and illustration . . . . . . 93, 95 Greenwich Electricity Generating Station . . . . 93 Preston's-road and Norfolk-street site, Poplar . . . . 94 Voluntary Re-housing . . , : . . . . . . 94 X. Lodging Houses Parker-street House, Drury-lane . . . . . . . . 97 Carrington House, Deptford .... 97 Plans and illustrations . . . . 98, 123-4 Bruce House, Clare-market . . . . . . . . 99 Plans and illustrations .. ..99-101, 143-5 XI. Management of the Council's Dwellings . . 103 XII. Travelling Facilities Workmen's trains . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Workmen's tramcars . . . . . . . . 109 Motor omnibuses ... . . . . . . . . 1 10 XIII. Present aspects of the Housing Question in London .. ... 112 APPENDICES. I. Particulars of schemes executed by the Metropolitan Board of Works .:. . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 II. Particulars of schemes undertaken by the Metropolitan Board of Works and completed by the Council . . . . 147 III. Particulars of schemes undertaken by the Council under Part I. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 148 IV. Particulars of schemes undertaken by the Council or by the local authorities under Part II. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 . . . . . . . . 149-50 V. Particulars of schemes undertaken by the Council under Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 VI. Particulars of accommodation compulsorily provided by the Council in place of accommodation destroyed in con- nection with bridges, tunnels, street widenings, etc. . . 152 VII. Accommodation provided in Council's dwellings . . . . 153-4 VIII. Rents charged in Council's dwellings .. .. .. .. 155-6 IX. Accommodation provided and total rents charged in Council's dwellings year by year . . . . . . . . . . 157 X. Occupations of tenants of Council's dwellings . . . . 158-9 XI. Working-class accommodation provided by local authorities 1602 XII. Working-class accommodation provided by trusts and philan- thropic societies . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 XIII. Working-class accommodation erected or demolished during the years 1902-1911 .. .. .. .. .. 164-5 XIV. Summary of the main provisions of the London Building Acts with regard to working-class dwellings . . . . 166 XV. Extracts from the evidence given in 1884 by the Earl of Shaftesbury before the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes . . . . - - 167-8 Index . i.-v. HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES IN LONDON. CHAPTER I. ACTION TAKEN BY PARLIAMENT. Although the overcrowding, filth and insanitary condition of many districts in what is now the county of London must have been fully known not only to philanthropic societies and workers but to Parliament itself, no effective steps were taken by the legis- lature before 1851 to deal with these evils. In that year the late Earl of Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley) called special attention to the disgraceful state of affairs then existing, not only in London, but in the great majority of large towns throughout the kingdom.* Owing to his endeavours, two Acts were passed, commonly known as Lord Shaftesbury's Acts, viz. the Common Lodging Houses Act, 1851, and the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act, 1851. Common Lodging Houses Acts. The Common Lodging Houses Act, 1851, aimed at the improve- ment of the accommodation provided in common lodging houses. The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis was made respon- sible for the administration of the provisions of the Act in London, and he was required to keep a register of all common lodging houses within his jurisdiction. The Act further provided that regulations should be made,subject to confirmation by the Secretary of State, for the proper conduct of these houses, and for the separa- tion of the sexes. It also made provision for the houses to be inspected and to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. This Act was amended by the Common Lodging Houses Act, !853, which safeguarded against the registration of improper persons as keepers of common lodging houses, and required the keepers to furnish to the supervising authority information respect- ing persons frequenting their houses. Further provisions were made as to water supply and other sanitary arrangements. The responsibility for administering the Acts was transferred from the Commissioner of Police to the Council by the Local Government Board's Provisional Orders (No. 12) Confirmation Act, 1894. Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts. The second of Lord Shaftesbury's Acts, viz., the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act, 1851, aimed at the erection of more houses for working men by facilitating the establishment in populous districts of well-ordered lodging houses. This Act was an " Adop- tive Act," and, as such, required a special resolution before it could be put into force by a local authority. The responsible authorities in London were originally the vestries, who had to * The condition of affairs at about this time was strikingly illustrated by the Earl of Shaftesbury, in his evidence in 1884 before the Royal Com- mission on the Housing of the Working Classes. Extracts from this evidence are given in Appendix XV. 8 appoint commissioners for carrying the Act into effect in each parish concerned. After the passing of the Metropolis Manage- ment Act, 1855, the powers passed to the vestries and district boards included in Schedule A of that Act. The Labouring Classes Dwelling Houses Acts, 1866 and 1867, amended the Act of 1851 with regard to its financial provisions. Nuisances Removal and Sanitary Acts. In the meantime, the Nuisances Removal Act, 1855, had been passed, giving to the vestries and district boards power to take steps to abate over-crowding in houses occupied by more than one family. Fuller powers were given by the Sanitary Act, 1866, which enabled the Secretary of State, on the application of sanitary authorities, to declare the enactment in force in any district, and to authorise the making of regulations for dealing with houses let in lodgings, including the fixing of the number of persons occupying such houses, registration, inspection, cleansing, etc. Torrens' Acts. In 1866, Mr. W. T. M. Torrens, Mr. Locke and Mr. Kinnaird introduced a Bill to provide better dwellings for artisans and labourers. On the suggestion of Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Bill was referred to a Select Committee, and the result of their enquiries led in 1868 to the passing of the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Act, the first of the series of Acts known as Torrens' Acts. The Act applied to individual houses and fixed upon the owner the responsibility for maintaining his houses in proper condition. The vestries and district boards were made responsible for the administration of the Act in London. Medical officers of health were required to report to the authorities by whom they were appointed whenever they found that any premises in their respective districts were unfit for habitation. The Act prescribed the steps to be taken to obtain the execution of the necessary works by the owner of the premises, or, failing that, by the authority itself. In the event of neglect on the part of the authority, the Secretary of State was empowered to intervene. Provision was also made for the entire demolition of insanitary property and the payment of compensation in connection there- with, but limited the expenses to be incurred under the Act in any one year to the produce of a rate of 2d. in the . In 1879, the second Act of the Torrens' series (the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Act (1868) Amendment Act), was passed, with the expressed object of making provision for compensation and re-building under the principal Act. An owner of condemned property could require the authority to purchase it, but the Act stipulated that any property so acquired must be held on trust for trie improvement of houses occupied by the labouring class in the district, and further empowered the Secretary of State to inter- vene in any case of neglect in this respect. The Metropolitan Board of Works was authorised to act in default of any vestry or district board neglecting its duty under the Acts. Cross* Acts. Prior to the passing of the last-mentioned Act, the Artizans and Labourers Dwellings Improvement Act, 1875, was passed. This was the first of the series known as Cross' Acts, and so called after Sir Richard Assheton Cross (subsequently Viscount Cross), who was principally instrumental in securing their adoption. The dis- tinction between Torrens' Acts and Cross' Acts lay in the fact that the former had reference to separate houses, while the latter dealt with whole areas which were so insanitary as to be fit only for demolition and re-construction. The authorities responsible for the working of the two series of Acts differed, and in London the duties under Cross' Acts were imposed upon the Metropolitan Board of Works and (for the City of London) the City Commissioners of Sewers. The initial procedure under the Act lay with the medical officer of health of each district, who was required, whenever he saw cause, or upon the request of two justices of the peace acting within the area for which he was medical officer, or of twelve London ratepayers, to make official representation stating the facts with regard to any area in his district, and whether, in his opinion, such area was, or was not, an unhealthy area for the purposes of the Act. Upon the receipt of this representation the Metropolitan Board of Works was required to consider the matter, and, if satisfied that the area represented was unhealthy, and that their resources were sufficient, to pass a resolu- tion to the effect that the area was unhealthy, and that an improvement scheme ought to be made. The Board had then to draw up a scheme for dealing with the area by the provision of accommodation in suitable dwellings for at least as many persons of the working classes as had been displaced, such dwellings, in the absence of special reasons to the contrary, to be situated in the limits of the area or in its vicinity. The Act defined the steps to be taken in connection with an enquiry into the scheme by the Secretary of State, and for the issue by him of a provisional order, to be confirmed by Act of Parliament. The Board was not entitled to undertake the actual work of re-building the houses, without the express approval of the Secretary of State, and, in cases where this approval was given, the premises were to be disposed of within ten years of completion, unless the Secretary of State determined otherwise. The Board was, however, em- powered to impose conditions and restrictions as to the elevations and other matters connected with the erection of the houses. Other sections of the Act dealt with compensation payable in respect of the compulsory acquisition of property, and arbitration in cases in which the amount of compensation could not be agreed. A few years' experience of the working of the Act showed that the mode of procedure was dilatory and costly to the ratepayers. The Board, thereupon, made representations to the Government,* and in 1879 an amending Act (the Artizans and Labourers Dwell ings Improvement Act, 1879), was passed, which lessened, though * See p. 22. 10 it did not remove, the defects of which the Board complained. Section 4 of this Act modified the previous requirement as to the housing of persons displaced, and gave the confirming authority permission at its discretion to allow of their being provided for else- where than within the area or the immediate vicinity thereof. Select Committee, 1881-2. The conviction was, however, steadily growing that but little had been actually effected under the two series of Acts, and in 1881 a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the matter. The Select Committee issued an interim report in the same year containing conclusions relating principally to the means which should be adopted for facilitating sales for the purposes of re-housing and for lessening the expense of carrying out schemes. It was suggested that the basement and ground floor of any building erected in connection with a re-housing scheme might be let as shops or workshops. It was also stated that, in considering the question of accommodation to be provided, the confirming authority would be j ustified in giving a liberal interpretation to the power authorising the provision of dwellings elsewhere than within any particular area, or its immediate vicinity, and might take into account, as in part ful- filment of the obligation to provide equally convenient accommoda- tion, any suitable facilities of transport to a reasonable distance at reasonable prices. A further suggestion was made to the effect that immediate attention should be given by the vestries and district boards to any insanitary area too small to be included in any scheme. The final report of the Select Committee was issued in the follow- ing year, and contained a recommendation that an amending Bill should at once be introduced for the purpose of relaxing existing Acts in respect of the number of persons to be accommodated, r urther recommendations were made as to compensation and as to the necessity for amending Torrens' Acts. Artizans Dwellings Act, 1882. As the result of these reports the Artizans Dwellings Act, 1882, v/as passed. This Act was divided into two parts, the first con- solidating and amending Cross' Acts, and the second Torrens' Acts. The Secretary of State was authorised to dispense with the provision of accommodation for not more than one-half of the persons of the working-class displaced by any scheme under Cross' Acts. Any representation relating to not more than ten houses was required to be dealt with under Torrens' Acts. The acquisition of buildings which obstructed ventilation or other- wise rendered other buildings unhealthy was authorised. A further provision empowered the Metropolitan Board of Works to act in 'default of any authority neglecting its duty under Torrens' Acts. II Royal Commission, 1884-5. Before long it was felt that even further steps must be taken to mitigate the evils caused by overcrowding and insanitary dwellings. On 4th March, 1884, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into the whole matter. The late Sir Charles Dilke was chairman, and among the Commissioners were H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., Cardinal Manning, The Marquess of Salisbury, Earl Carrington (now the Marquess of Lincolnshire), the Rt. Hon. G. J. Goschen, Sir Richard (afterwards Viscount) Cross, and Mr. W. T. M. Torrens. The Commissioners went exhaustively into every aspect of the question, particularly into the terrible evils of overcrowding, and their first report dealing with London and the country at large was issued in 1885. The Commissioners attached great blame for the condition of affairs to the authorities for their failure to take advantage of the existing laws, and recommended more stringent action. They also made recommendations for the amendment of existing legislation, and considered the question of the provision of travelling facilities under the Cheap Trains Act, 1883. One sug- gestion, closely affecting the Metropolitan Board of Works, was to the effect that the sites of Millbank, Coldbath Fields, and Pentonville Prisons should be utilised for the purpose of erecting dwellings. Part of the site of Millbank Prison has since been devoted to this purpose,* but the site of Coldbath Fields Prison is now occupied by the Post Office, and Pentonville Prison still stands. Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1885 and 1890. The report of the Royal Commission was followed by the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1885, amending previous Acts dealing with this subject. Among other provisions it substituted the Metropolitan Board of Works i or the vestries and district boards, as authorities under the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts, and authorised the sale, at a fair market price, of any portions of the sites of the three prisons in the event of their removal. When the Council came into existence in 1889, the question of housing the poor was at once taken up. It was apparent that the consolidation of the various Acts was necessary, and the Council attended by deputation before the Secretary of State to urge this. Shortly afterwards the Government introduced and passed the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. The Act consists of seven parts, but two of these (Parts V. and VI.) relate to the application of the Act to Scotland and Ireland respectively. Parts I. and II. are consolidations, with amendments, of Cross' Acts and Torrens' Acts respectively. Part III. consolidates and amends the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts, and provides for the erection of dwellings other than under the provisions of other parts of the Act. So far as London is concerned, the authorities responsible for puttiner it into force are * See pp. 66-70. 12 the Council, the City Commissioners of Sewers (since 1897 the City of London Corporation), and the vestries and district boards (since 1900 the metropolitan borough councils). Part IV. contains supplemental and financial provisions. Part VII. relates to the repeal of preceding Acts and contains temporary provisions. The Act forms the basis of the Council's powers in the matter of housing persons of the working classes, and it is dealt with in more detail in the chapter containing this information.* Public Health (London) Act, 1891. Many of the recommendations of the Royal Commission of 1884-5, not included in the Housing Act of 1890, were embodied in the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This Act imposes upon every sanitary authority in London the duty of causing inspections to be made of their districts with a view to ascertain w T hat nuisances, including overcrowding, exist. The authorities have also to abate such nuisances and to secure the proper sanitary condition of all premises in their districts. The Council is authorised to act in default of a sanitary authority. The sanitary authorities have also to make and enforce by-laws (i.) for fixing the number of persons who may occupy a house, except a common lodging house, let in lodgings ; and (ii.) for the registration^ inspection, draining, cleansing and ventilating of such a house. Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1894 and 1900. Subsequently two further Acts were passed, one (the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1894) amending the financial provisions of Part II. of the Act of 1890, and the other (the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1900), empowering authorities (other than rural district councils) under Part III. of the Act of 1890, to acquire land for housing purposes outside the area over which they have jurisdiction, and permitting metropolitan borough councils, if they so desire, to become authorities under Part III. of the principal Act. Joint Select Committee, 1902. In 1902 attention was drawn to the fact that several railway companies, by acquiring property without first obtaining parlia- mentary powers to enable them to do so, or by acquiring land through secret agents, had attempted to evade their responsibilities for providing accommodation for persons of the labouring class displaced in connection with various schemes. A Joint Select Com- mittee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons was ap- pointed " to consider the Standing Orders relating to houses occupied by persons of the labouring class and the clauses usually inserted in Private and Local Bills and Provisional Order Confirmation Bills in pursuance thereof ; and to report whether any amendments should be made in such Standing Orders and Clauses, and especially *See pp. 17-20. 13 whether any and what provision should be made for better securing the re-housing of all persons of the labouring class who may be displaced in connection with the undertakings to which the Bills relate, whether displaced under the powers given by the Bills or otherwise." The Select Committee submitted two model clauses and three corresponding standing orders dealing with London and all places outside London respectively, and suggested that, when finally settled, the clauses should be embodied in a public General Act. They also stated that they had come to the conclusion that in London it was desirable that every case in which houses of the labouring class were to be taken should be notified to the central authority (the Home Secretary), while, outside London, it was sufficient that the attention of the central authority (Local Govern- ment Board) should be called to cases in which thirty persons belonging to the labouring class were displaced. The Select Committee laid particular stress on their recom- mendation that any new houses should be suitable for persons of the labouring class, and not too ambitious in character and design. Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903. Following the report of the Select Committee, the Housing of the Working|Classes Act, 1903, was passed, providing that in cases in which any land was acquired, whether compulsorily or by agreement, under the powers given by any local Act or Provisional Order, or Order having the effect of an Act, by any authority, company or person, or where such land was acquired compulsorily under any general Act, other than the Housing Acts, the requirements with respect to the provision of dwelling accommodation for persons of the working class set out in the schedule to the Act, should apply. The schedule prohibits any authority or person acquiring dwell- ings in London or elsewhere occupied by thirty or more persons belonging to the working class from entering on any such dwellings until the Local Government Board has either approved a housing scheme or decided that a scheme is not necessary. Any scheme must afford accommodation for such number of persons, not exceed- ing the aggregate number of persons of the working class dis- placed, as the Board may require. In calculating the number of persons to be accommodated, the Board is required to take into consideration not only the number of persons occupying the working men's dwellings which the promoters of any scheme have power to'acquire, but also the number of persons of the working class who, in the opinion of the Board, have been displaced within the previous five years owing to the acquisition of land by the promoters. The scheme must also provide that for a period of twenty-five years any lands acquired under the scheme shall be appropriated for the purpose of dwellings for persons of the working class, except so far as the Board dispenses with that appropriation. The Board may also require a certain standard of dwelling house to be erected, 14 or fix conditions as to the mode in which the houses are to be erected. The Board may also make it a condition of approval that the new dwellings or some part of them shall be completed and fit for occupation before possession is taken of the dwellings acquired under the enabling Act. Other sections enable the Board to carry out its duties under the Act and to enforce its decisions. The Act makes provision for the transfer, by means of an Order in Council, of the powers and duties of the Secretary of State under the Housing Acts to the Local Government Board. In pursuance of this provision an Order in Council was made on 27th February, 1905, transferring to the Board all the powers of the Secretary of State under such Acts. The Act also sanctions the extension of the maximum period for the borrowing of money from sixty to eighty years. Further provisions are included for the enforcement of schemes upon local authorities who have failed in their duty, for the amend- ment of the procedure in confirming improvement schemes, for the modification of schemes in certain cases, and for the closing and demolition of houses not capable of being made fit for human occupation. Under this Act also there is power to provide and maintain any building adapted for use as a shop, any recreation ground, or other buildings or land which, in the opinion of the Local Government Board, will be beneficial to the persons for whom the dwelling accommodation is provided. Special provisions affecting London were inserted, including powers for the metropolitan borough councils to pay, or to con- tribute towards the payment of, any expenses which the Council may incur in the exercise of the powers of a borough council, or on the representation of a borough council in connection with schemes under Part II. of the Act of 1890. Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. Notwithstanding this legislation the housing problem continued to be frequently before Parliament by means of questions and private bills, which did not, however, become law. In 1907, the King's speech foreshadowed further legislation on the subj ect, but nothing was done during that year. In the following year, however, the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Bill was introduced, the aims of which were described by the President of the Local Government Board (the Right. Hon. John Burns) as follows : " The object of the Bill is to provide a domestic condition for the people in which their physical health, their morals, their character and their whole social condition can be improved by what we hope to secure in this Bill. The Bill aims in broad outline at, and hopes to secure, the home healthy, the house beautiful, the town pleasant, the city dignified, 15 and the suburb salubrious. It seeks, and hopes to secure, more homes, better houses, prettier streets, so that the character of a great people, in towns and cities and in villages, can be still further improved and strengthened by the conditions under which they live. ... On its housing side, the Bill seeks to abolish, re- construct and prevent the slum. It asks at least I do for it the House of Commons to do something to efface the ghettos of meanness and the Alsatias of squalor that can be found in many parts of the United Kingdom. It hopes to take effective steps to put down many of the unpleasant features of our purely industrial towns. It hopes to render model dwellings similar to those that are so prevalent in Germany less frequent in the future than now. . . . The Bill seeks to dimmish what have been called by-law streets with little law and much monotony. It hopes to get rid of the regulation roads that are so regular that they lack that line of beauty which Hogarth said was in a curve. It seeks to improve the health of the people by raising the character of the house and the home and by extended inspection, supervision, direction, and guidance of central control to help local authorities to do more than they now do." In support of his contention for the need of the Bill, Mr. Burns quoted some interesting figures. He stated that the British people were becoming more and more a town people, and pointed out that whereas sixty years ago 75 per cent, of the population lived in rural areas and 25 per cent, in urban areas, these proportions had now been reversed. The rush of population attracted by higher wages and urban prosperity had been so rapid that it had been impossible for either individuals or local authorities to anticipate the demand and wholly to meet it. The Bill passed through all its stages up to and including the Committee stage, but was then withdrawn. In the next year it was again introduced and passed as the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. The Act comprises four parts. Part I. deals with the Housing of the Working Classes, including facilities for the acquisition of land and other purposes of the Housing Acts ; powers of enforcing the execution of the Housing Acts ; amend- ment of procedure for closing orders and demolition orders amendments with respect to improvement and reconstruction schemes ; and financial and general amendments. Part devoted to Town Planning. Part III. deals with the appointment of county medical officers, and county Public Health and Housing Committees, and the formation and extension of Building Societies. Part IV contains supplemental provisions with regard to commons and open spaces, land in the neighbourhood of Royal palaces or parks, repeal of previous enactments, etc. Fuller particulars of the Council's powers under this Act, s as they affect the work of housing the working class, will in a subsequent chapter.* * See p, 21. 16 Private Member's Bills, 1911-12. In 1911 a private member's Bill was introduced by Sir Arthur 'Griffith- Boscawen to provide for the better application and enforce- ment of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, but it did not proceed far. In the session of 1912 it was again introduced. The Bill as drafted sought to authorise the appointment, under the Local Government Board, of three Housing Commissioners who, in addition to general powers of enquiry and advice on housing matters, would have the power, a medical officer of health being in default, to make official representations under the Act of 1890 as to insanitary areas. Clause 3 would enable the Local Government Board, instead of applying for a writ of mandamus against a local authority, where that is the appropriate course, to apply for an order of the Court authorising the Board to carry out the duties of the local authority, any ex- penses incurred by the Board being a debt due to the Crown from the local authority. Clause 4 would enable local authorities proposing to acquire any area exceeding ten acres for the purposes of Part III. of the Act of 1890 to acquire, subject to the Board's consent, more land than is necessary if they consider that thereby they can exercise their powers more economically and suitably. Clause 5 would enable local authorities, with the consent of the Board, to acquire by agreement, for the purposes of Parts I. and II. of the Act of 1890, land not immediately required for those purposes. Clause 7 would relax the re-housing obligations under the Housing Acts by authorising the provision of rehousing accommodation in districts to which there are facilities for travelling cheaply instead of in the districts in which the persons were displaced. Clause 12 would provide for an annual Treasury grant of 500,000 for con- tributions, not exceeding half the cost, towards the cost of schemes under Parts I. and II. of the Act of 1890 approved by the Board and towards the cost of schemes under Part III. in which a deficiency might be expected. Clause 15 sought to raise the proportion of the value of a property which might be advanced under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. At the instance of the Government the Standing Committee of the House of Commons to which the Bill was referred struck out the provisions as to Housing Commissioners, and several clauses, including Clauses 3, 12 and 15 of those mentioned above, and altered many of the remaining clauses. Notwithstanding these alterations the Bill at the time of going to press has not become law. A Bill with regard to underground factories and workshops has passed the House of Lords and has been introduced into the House of Commons. The Bill seeks to require that no room, unless certified by a district council (in London the Corporation of the City of London and the metropolitan borough councils) to be suitable for the purpose in accordance with regulations made by the Home Office, shall be used for certain occupations, etc., specified in the Bill, if half, or more, of the height of the room is below the level of the ground. The Home Secretary would have power to act in case of default by a district council. 17 CHAPTER II. STATUTORY POWERS OF THE COUNCIL. The principal Act dealing with the housing of the working classes is the Act of 1890 as amended in several important par- ticulars by the Acts of 1900, 1903 and 1909 (Part I.). The main provisions of the Act of 1890 are contained in Parts I., II., III. and IV., and for the sake of clearness they are here briefly sum- marised as amended and amplified by the Acts of 1900 to 1909. Part I. places upon the Council the duty of preparing and carrying into effect, after sanction by the Local Government Board*, schemes for the re- arrangement and reconstruction of the streets and houses within unhealthy areas, which are of such size and character as to be of general importance to the whole county of London. Proceedings are initiated by an official representation made to the Council by a medical officer of health, either of a metro- politan borough or of the county. The attention of a medical officer may be drawn to the existence of an unhealthy area by two justices of the peace, or by twelve ratepayers, and it is then his duty to inspect such area and report whether in his opinion the area is insanitary. When a medical officer fails to inspect an area, or reports that it is not unhealthy, an appeal may be made, on certain conditions, to the Board, which is then required to appoint a medical practitioner to inspect the area and to report thereon. If he states that the area is unhealthy, the matter must be dealt with as though an official representation had been made by the medical officer. When it is stated that the Council has failed in its duty as regards an alleged unhealthy area, an appeal may be made to the Local Government Board, and the Board has the power, if it think fit, to require the Council to carry out an improvement scheme within a fixed time. The Council may make , a scheme for the improvement of an insanitary area if in its opinion this is the most satisfactory method of dealing with the evils existing in the area. (The Act of 1890 restricted operations under Part I. to cases in which the evils could not be effectually remedied otherwise than by a scheme for the clearance and re- arrangement of the area.) The scheme must provide for the demolition of the old houses and the pro- vision in suitable dwellings of accommodation for the persons of the working class displaced. The dwellings, unless there are special reasons to the contrary, must be provided on the area or in its vicinity. In special circumstances the Local Government Board may dispense with the whole or a part of the rehousing obligation. The scheme may also provide for the widening or the closing of existing thoroughfares, and for the construction of new roads. It need not be confined to the exact limits of the unhealthy area, * Before 1905 schemes in London under Parts I. and II. were dealt with by the Home Secretary. i8 but may include lands which the Council considers necessary for the efficiency of the scheme, or for providing accommodation for the people displaced. The Council may itself carry the scheme into effect, or may arrange for its execution by, or in conjunction with, the freeholder of the property. It may also purchase the pro- perty and sell or let any part of the area on condition that the purchasers or lessees carry out the scheme, or may engage w r ith any person or society to execute the whole or any part thereof. The express approval of the Local Government Board is required before the Council may itself undertake the rebuilding of the houses. Part II. of the Act of 1890 provides in two ways for the improvement of working class dwellings. In the first place, the Council and the metropolitan borough councils are em- powered either jointly or separately to undertake schemes for the clearance and rearrangement of unhealthy areas which are too small to be of general importance to the whole county. The procedure is similar to that under Part I. of the Act, but it is not essential that rehousing accommodation for the persons displaced should be provided, although the Local Government Board may require the provision of such accom- modation as may seem to the Board to be necessary. Secondly, it is the duty of each metropolitan borough council to cause inspection of its district to be made from time to time in order to ascertain whether any dwelling house is in a state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human habitation. Upon the existence of any such insanitary dwelling being reported by the medical officer of health, the borough council may issue an order for the closing of the premises, and after the closing order has been operative for three months the borough council is required to consider the question of the demolition of the premises with a view to the making of a demolition order. In these cases the property is not purchased by the borough council, and the cost of the necessary works of demolition or repair is borne by the owner, who has a right of appeal to the Board against the borough council's decisions. Metropolitan borough councils may also purchase and demolish obstructive buildings, i.e., buildings which by reason of their position stop ventilation to, or prevent measures being taken to remedy nuisance in respect of, other buildings. The metropolitan borough councils are required to forward to the Council copies of all closing orders, and representations as to houses unfit for habitation and obstructive buildings, and to report to the Council from time to time such particulars as the Council may require respecting any proceedings taken in such matters. The Council has power to act in default of a metropolitan borough council as regards the closing and demolition of any unhealthy or obstructive buildings, and to recover from the borough council the expenditure incurred. The power of borough councils themselves to make closing and demolition orders was introduced only by the Act of 1909 and is very far-reaching. Before 1909 proceedings had to be taken in a 19 court of summary jurisdiction, and the great difficulty experienced in inducing magistrates to order the closing of dwellings alleged to be insanitary undoubtedly had the effect of lessening the activity of the borough councils in this direction. The Act of 1890 provided that provisional orders relating to (i.) all Part I. schemes and (ii.) those Part II. schemes in which the whole area was not purchased by agreement or to which any owner objected should not be operative until confirmed by Parliament. The Act of 1903 extended the provisions relating to Part II. schemes to Part I. schemes. By the Act of 1909, provisional orders under Parts I. and II. now take effect without confirmation by Parliament. Compensation in respect of lands, etc., taken compulsorily under Parts I. or II., is based upon the fair market value, no additional allowance for compulsory purchase being made in respect of the in- sanitary property. This proviso does not apply in the case of property which is not in itself insanitary, but which is taken for the purpose of making a complete scheme. In fixing the amount of compen- sation deductions may be made on account of (i.) an enhanced value by reason of the premises being overcrowded or used for illegal purposes, (ii.) the bad state of repair in which. the premises are found, and (iii.) the property not being reasonably capable of being made fit for habitation. In cases of compulsory purchase terms of settlement are decided, failing agreement, by an arbitrator appointed by the Local Government Board. Part III. of the Act of 1890, empowers the Council and the metro- politan borough councils to provide dwellings for the working classes whenever they think fit to do so. Land and buildings, either inside or outside the county, may be purchased for the pur- pose, either compulsorily or by agreement. Formerly for the compulsory acquisition of property under Part III. a provisional order, confirmed by Parliament, was neces- sary. Now, under the Act of 1909, the local authority may submit to the Local Government Board an order for compulsory purchase. The Board may confirm this order which must incorporate the Lands Clauses Acts, but compensation in disputed cases is deter- mined by a single arbitrator and no additional allowance is made on account of compulsory purchase. In the case of objection to an order being confirmed, the Board must hold an inquiry. In London such inquiry is to be held by an impartial person not in the employment of a Government department, and if he reports that the land is unsuitable for the purposes for which it is sought to be acquired, or that it cannot be acquired without undue detriment to the persons interested or the owners of adjoining land, or that it ought not to be acquired except subject to conditions specified in his report, then if the Board confirms the order, otherwise than subject to such modifications as are required to give effect to the specified conditions, the order is provisional and requires confirmation by Parliament. Except in the circumstances last mentioned, the confirmation of the order by the Board is final, and no parliamentary confirmation is required. In assessing compensation, an arbitrator 20 must act on his own knowledge and experience as far as practicable, and must hear any authorities or parties authorised to appear and must hear witnesses, but, except as directed by the Board, he may not hear counsel or expert witnesses. The Council may, under Part III. of the Act (a) lease land for the erection thereon of workmen's dwellings ; (b) itself undertake the erection of dwellings or the improve- ment or reconstruction of existing dwellings ; (c) fit up, furnish and maintain lodging houses for the working classes ; (d) make any necessary by-laws and regulations for the management and use of the lodging houses ; (e) sell dwellings or lodging houses established for seven years or upwards under Part III. of the Act whenever such dwellings or lodging houses are deemed by the Council and the Local Government Board to be unnecessary or too expen- sive to keep up. Upon complaint being made to the Board that a local authority has failed to exercise its powers under Part III., the Board may, after holding a public inquiry, declare the authority to be in default and may order such things to be done as may in the opinion of the Board be necessary for the purpose of remedying the default. Before deciding that a local authority has failed to exercise its powers, the Board must consider the necessity for further working- class accommodation in the district, the probability that the required accommodation will not be otherwise provided and whether it is prudent from a financial point of view for the local authority to undertake the erection of the dwellings. Part IV. of the Act of 1890 contains several supplemental pro- visions of which the chief are (a) Any person voting as a member of a local authority on any question under Part I. or Part II. of the Act if it relates to any property in which he is beneficially interested is liable to a penalty of 50. (b) Where a building is purchased under Part I. or Part II. of the Act and is not closed by a closing order, a reasonable allowance to cover expenses in removing may be made to the tenant when the tenancy is for less than a year. The Act of 1903, in addition to amending the principal Act in certain particulars, deals with the rehousing obligations of promoters of private Bills, and provides that where dwellings occupied by thirty or more persons of the working classes are acquired under statutory powers other than the Housing Acts (e.g., in con- nection with the carrying out of public improvements, the con- struction of railways, etc.) the dwellings shall not be entered on until the Local Government Board has either approved a housing scheme or decided that such a scheme is not necessary. In fixing the number of persons to be rehoused, consideration 21 must be given to the number of persons of the working classes dis- placed within the previous five years in view of the acquisition of the property for the purposes of the scheme. The Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, in addition to amending preceding Acts in certain particulars, provides that in the case of a house in the county of London let at a rent not exceeding 40 a year, the house at the commencement of the tenancy shall be in all respects reasonably fit for human habitation, and further that the premises shall be kept in such habitable condition during the tenancy. If these requirements are not complied with, the local authority may serve notice upon the landlord to carry out the necessary works, or, if the notice is not complied with, may itself do the work and charge the landlord with the cost. The landlord may appeal to the Board against any such notice. Any underground room shall, unless it complies with certain conditions as to height, ventilation, lighting, etc., be deemed to be unfit for use as a sleeping place. The Act also prohibits the erection of back to back houses. This provision does not apply (i.) to tenements placed back -to back if the medical officer of health of the district is satisfied with the arrangements for ventilation, or (ii.) to houses abutting on streets of which the plans were approved before ist May, 1909, in any district where before the passing of the Act the erection of back to back houses was allowed.* The Local Government Board is empowered to compel a local authority to revoke any by-laws which in the opinion of the Board unreasonably impede the erection of working-class dwellings. Provision is made for the suspension, so far as necessary for the proper carrying out of a town-planning scheme, of any statutory enactments, by-laws, regulations or other provisions which are in operation in the area included in the scheme. The regulations made by the Board require that in such cases a full explanation must be given to the Board of the reasons which are considered to justify the suspension of statutory enactments, by-laws, etc. The Council is empowered to promote the formation or extension of societies on a co-operative basis which have for their object the erection or improvement of dwellings for the working classes. The Council may also, with the consent of, and subject to the regula- tions made by, the Board, assist any such society by grants or by guaranteeing advances made to the society. * See also p. 118. 22 CHAPTER III. ACTION TAKEN BY THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS. When the Metropolitan Board of Works was constituted in 1855, the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act, 1851, commonly known as Lord Shaftesbury's Act, was in force, but did not confer any powers on the Board. It was not until 1875, when the first of Cross' Acts was passed, for the clearance of insanitary areas, that the Board was empowered to act. During the next four years the Board initiated no fewer than eleven schemes, but the execution of these revealed several defects in the provisions of the Act. Owing to the method of compensation adopted under which the owners of insanitary property a condition often due to their own neglect were awarded sums representing the value of the property in good repair, the cost of the schemes was excessive, and the Board urged that the condition of the property ought to be taken into account in awarding compensation. Another defect arose from the requirements that re-housing accommodation should be provided, either on the site of the cleared area or in its immediate vicinity, for as many persons of the working class as had been displaced. It was evident that in dealing with an overcrowded area, it was not possible to provide houses on the same area to accommodate the same number of people under more sanitary conditions, while the acquisition of adj oining lands only displaced still more people. Moreover the people who were displaced could not easily be provided at once with new houses, and when ultimately the scheme was completed but few of the displaced families would return to the improved area. The Board, therefore, urged that it might be permitted to provide accommodation for such persons in other parts of London, and, if desirable, to dispose of the land on the cleared area for commercial purposes. Another argument urged in support of this proposal was that of cost. Sites in other districts could be acquired for a very much smaller sum than that representing the value of the cleared area. Thus, while no disadvantage would occur to the people who had been displaced, the benefit to the ratepayers upon whom the burden fell would be great. Another matter of disappointment to the Board was the difficulty of disposing of the sites subject to a rehousing obligation. The sites had been acquired at their full market value, and the Board pointed out that, in certain instances, including the area cleared under its first scheme (Whitechapel and Limehouse, 1876), every endeavour had been made to dispose of the lands, but that finally they had been sold at a price, calculated upon 20 years' pur- chase of the almost nominal rent of 3d. a square foot. The Board complained also of the delay occasioned by the procedure laid down by the Act, and made suggestions for the amendment of the Act in less important details. The result of the Board's representations 23 was the passing in 1879 f tne second of Cross' Acts.* This afforded some relief, but was far from remedying all the defects which had been forced upon the attention of the Board, for within a few months it issued a memorandum complaining of the lengthy and dilatory procedure which it had to adopt. In no case did the Board erect any dwellings. It was the practice of the Board at first to insert in the conveyances covenants restrict- ing the use of the land in perpetuity to the provision of working class dwellings. This was afterwards relaxed, with the approval of the Secretary of State, so as to restrict the use of the land to this purpose for a number (usually ten) of years. The conditions of sale and the purchaser's plans were always submitted to the Secretary of State. The Act of 1879 had empowered the Secretary of State to agree that re-housing accommodation for the persons displaced from an insanitary area need not be provided on the cleared land. As the result of the recommendations of the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1882, the Artizans Dwellings Act, i882,f empowered the Secretary of State to dispense with the provision of accommodation for not more than one-half of the persons dis- placed by any scheme under Cross' Acts. This enabled the Board to deal with "areas so situated as to be otherwise unsuitable for development, and the power of the Secretary of State in this matter was frequently exercised. The following is a summary^ relating to the sixteen schemes executed by the Board under the Artizans Dwellings Acts, 1875 to 1882 : Number displaced. Number | re-housed. Gross cost. Recoupment. Net cost. 22,872 28,352 1,669,998 35i> 108 1,318,890 Under Torrens' Act, 1868, the Board had no powers, but by section 12 of Torrens' Act, 1879, the Board was authorised to act in default of any authority neglecting its duty under the Acts, and to charge the cost upon such authority. The provisions of the Acts were somewhat obscure and, in view of the litigation to which the Board considered it might be subjected, this authority was not exercised. * See p. 9. t See p. 10. I For details see Appendix I., and for plans and further particulars s< Housing Question in London, pp. 112-164 and pp. 294-9. 24 CHAPTER IV. POLICY OF THE COUNCIL WITH REGARD TO THE HOUSING OF WORKING CLASSES. Until a clear knowledge had been obtained of the different phases of the housing question in London, and of such means as existed for grappling with the problem, it was only natural that the Council should refrain from laying down any new lines of policy. The early part of the Council's work, therefore, was marked, not by a sudden departure from the policy pursued by the Metro- politan Board of Works, but rather by greater vigour of administra- tion, coupled with painstaking inquiry as to the direction which any new attempt to deal with the problem should take. For instance, the Board had been empowered, subject to the consent of the Secretary of State, to appoint a medical officer, but had not thought fit to do so. A similar, but unqualified, authority was conferred upon the Council by the Local Government Act, 1888. One of the Council's first steps was to create the office of Medical Officer of Health of the County of London, and Mr. (now Sir) Shirley F. Murphy was appointed thereto in May, 1889. Information was then sought as to the existence of insanitary areas throughout the county, and attention was thus drawn in a few months to nearly 200 separate congeries of houses of varying sizes and condition. The Council had then to make up its mind as to the relative badness of the different areas and the consequent urgency for remedial action in each case. Most of these 200 areas were inspected by the Housing of the Working Classes Committee, when it appeared that a large number could appropriately be dealt with by means of closing orders under Torrens' Acts and this course was accordingly suggested to the local sanitary authorities. In quite a large proportion, how- ever, it was felt that any action that might be taken to get rid of these blots upon the sanitary condition of London would be seriously hampered if not rendered altogether nugatory by the insufficiency of the law. This fact, combined with the obvious necessity of consolidating the numerous Acts relating to the housing of the working classes, induced the Council in December, 1889, to make representations to the Government, which in conjunction with the report of the Royal Commission 1884-5, led to the passing of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890.* As soon as possible after the Act had been passed, the attention of the local authorities was drawn to its provisions, and a con- ference was held with a view to stimulating those authorities to take action. Following upon this, the Council gave instructions designed to facilitate the grant of loans to local authorities who * See p. ii. 23 applied for them to meet the cost of clearance and reconstruction schemes which they proposed to undertake. In order still further to encourage the local authorities to initiate reconstruction schemes for dealing with small areas under Part II. of the Act, the Council pledged itself also to contribute towards the cost of such schemes, provided that it was satisfied with the details and the need for assistance. The Council did not content itself with merely stimulating and organising the activities of the local authorities, for towards the end of 1890, it decided to deal with the Boundary- street area* one of the largest schemes of its kind ever undertaken. With the evidence which it had now accumulated as to the need for prompt and comprehensive action, the Council was able to realise that something more was required than the vigorous administration and painstaking inquiry which had marked its earliest efforts in the direction of housing reform. Between 1885, when the Metro- politan Board was substituted for the vestries and district boards as the executive authority under the Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts, and 1889 when it was superseded by the Council, it did not exercise the powers conferred by those Acts for the volun- tary provision of new accommodation for the working classes. Such accommodation would have taken the form of " lodging- houses," a term which is explained to include separate tenements and cottages as well as ordinary common lodging-houses. The Council saw that, by the provision of a model lodging-house, a great example would be set, and in 1890 it decided to erect the Parker-street lodging housef on one of the sites cleared by the Board. In 1891 the Council acquired the Dufferin-street dwellings,! and this action was followed in 1893 by the decision to acquire the Millbank estate. At first the Council, as a rule, took action under Part III. of the Act of 1890, only when such a course was necessary or useful for the discharge of its rehousing obligations. Before many years had passed it was evident that, owing chiefly to two causes, the supply in London of dwellings for the working classes was falling behind the demand. These causes were the rise in the value of land and the rise in the cost of labour and materials for building. It was becoming un- profitable for builders to erect working-class property and, further, the rise in the value of land often made it financially advantageous to demolish such property and to use the sites for factories, ware- houses or other large commercial buildings, or for highly-rented mansions and flats. The Council was much impressed with the need of remedying this state of affairs, and in order to do this, i decided in November, 1898, upon two courses. In the first place it resolved, quite apart from any obligations which it was under to erect dwellings, to take action under Part III. of the Act of 1890, provided that no charge was thereby placed on the county rate. Succeeding years witnessed the inception of schemes for developing large estates by the erection of cottages at Tooting, Norbury, Tottenham and Hammersmith. || * PP 35-9- t See pp. 34 and 97- J t See P- 2 ?' See pp. 66-70. !| See pp. 70-8 and 82-3. 26 Further, the Council resolved to supply, in connection with any housing scheme or street or other improvement, housing accommoda- tion, not necessarily in the immediate neighbourhood of the dis- placements, for a number of persons equal to that of the working classes displaced. It was anticipated that this would probably have the effect of increasing the cost of housing schemes and, as it was considered undesirable to expect the poor and crowded districts in which unhealthy areas most frequently occur, to pay any heavy proportion of this increased cost, the Council decided to execute at its sole cost all schemes under the Act which involved re-housing. One striking difference between the Council's and the Board's policies lay in the methods of dealing with the sites cleared under a scheme and set apart for the erection of new dwellings. The Board sold the sites on which such dwellings were to be erected, and left the erection of dwellings to the purchasers. There was no exception to this rule, and one of its con- sequences was the inheritance by the Council of a number of ineligible sites upon which the law said that dwellings must be built, but upon which not even a philanthropic body could be induced to build. It can readily be realised that these \vere bad materials with which to frame a constructive policy, and the Council therefore used every legitimate endeavour to dispose of the sites or to obtain relief from the obligation to build dwellings upon them. Success, however, did not attend these efforts and the con- structive policy had to be continued by dealing with sites which no one else would use for re-housing purposes. Nevertheless the Council faced the adverse circumstances and steadily pursued in these and in subsequent more favourable cases, the course of retaining sites in its own possession and itself arranging for the erection of dwellings. It must not be supposed, however, that the adoption of this policy by the Council was originally deliberate and considered. The Metropolitan Board was no doubt influenced, at any rate in part, by the terms of the Acts under which it took action. These enactments implied, even if they did not actually state, that the Board was expected in normal cases not to undertake the erection of buildings, but to entrust the work to others. Natur- ally therefore the Council at first took the clue to its course of action from the trend of the Acts of Parliament. So much influence had this, that, in spite of its constructive policy, the Council agreed that, in cases in which a responsible company offered to erect buildings, the best course would be to allow them to do so, and in February, 1891, having specially considered the alternative policies of building, or of letting or selling land with an obligation to build, it declined to adopt any general rule. The estimates agreed to in January, 1891, in connection with the Boundary-street area, were framed on the assumption that the cleared sites would be sold as the scheme proceeded. Indeed, the general adoption of the constructive policy may truly be said to have been due in large measure to the 2 7 force of circumstances in connection with the derelict sites inherited from the Board to which reference has already been made. Re- housing sites from the Brook-street, Limehouse, scheme, were offered at auction between 1887 an( i ^92, those from the Trafalgar- road, Greenwich, scheme between 1888 and 1891, and those from the Cable-street, Shadwell, scheme between 1890 and 1892, without eliciting any suitable offers.* Pressure was continually being exerted upon the Council to secure the fulfilment of the re- housing obligations resting upon these sites and the lapse of time and the many failures to dispose of them on any terms whatever,, slowly but surely pointed the way to the one solution of the impasse. Moreover, exception had been taken to the planning of dwellings erected on land sold by the Board, especially as regards ventilation and lighting. Although the Council in December, 1889, attempted to meet this by drawing up building, etc., regulations, such action could not completely solve the difficulty. Again complaints had been made from time to time as to the rents charged, either directly or owing to tenements being sublet, for accommodation in dwellings erected on land sold by the Board. The case of the Dufferin-street cos term ongers' dwellings, St. Luke, illustrates some of the difficulties which arose owing to the Board's policy. In 1877 the Board undertook the Whitecross-street, Finsbury, scheme, which involved the displacement of a number of costerm ongers ; the Board, however, promised that the new dwell- ings would contain accommodation for their goods and barrows. Accordingly in 1888 a site was sold for this purpose to certain parties on behalf of the "Watch Committee of C osterm ongers " at much less than its market price, the conveyance providing that buildings should be erected in a substantial and workmanlike manner, suitable for occupation as dwelling-houses for coster- mongers, with sheds and stables for donkeys, etc. No proper trust was constituted. The buildings erected were of a very inferior character, and the majority of the tenements were not let to costermongers at all. The only practical way out of the difficulty was that the Council should repurchase the land and buildings and maintain and manage them itself, and eventually this was done. When the Council, yielding to the force of circumstances, had decided to undertake the erection of dwellings, it became neces- sary for it to determine (a) what classes of the population should be provided for ; (b) the general character of the dwellings : and (c) the financial conditions under which these should be erected. As regards (a), the evidence laid before the Royal Commission of 1884-5, by such persons as Miss Octavia Hill and ! Curtis Lampson, showed that the difficulties with the very lowesi classes were not financial, but moral. The Council's investigations confirmed this and it therefore devoted its attention to the provision of accommodation for classes of the population a little above 1 very lowest. .,, Reference has been made as regards (b) to the * See pp. 31-3- 28 action in drawing up regulations on various points connected with the character of buildings to be erected on its land. The principal items related to the height and lighting of build- ings, the position and size of staircases, the size of rooms and the provision of baths and wash-houses. These regulations have been modified from time to time, but in their general outlines they are still in force. In the case of cottages the Council has agreed to the rooms being arranged so as to allow of the provision of the same number of rooms of varying sizes in lieu of all rooms being of a com- pulsory minimum size. As regards (c) the Council has decided that the rents to be charged for tenements in dwellings erected in connection with any specified housing scheme or area, shall not exceed those ruling in the neighbourhood and shall be so fixed that after providing for all outgoings, interest and sinking fund charges, there shall be no charge on the county rate in respect of the dwellings. The interest and sinking fund charges are calculated upon the cost of erection, plus the " housing value" of the site, i.e., its value, subject to the obligation to build thereon dwellings for the working classes. In order that the Council, before committing itself to the erection of dwellings, may rightly judge whether the financial con- ditions can be complied with, sketch plans are prepared showing the general arrangement and class of tenement proposed to be built. The gross income of these is then assessed according to the rents ruling in the neighbourhood where the dwellings are to be erected. All outgoings, including a contribution to a Repairs Fund, are then deducted and the amount upon which the net income thus arrived at will pay interest and sinking fund charges is calculated. The " housing value " of * the site is then deducted and the remainder called the " amount available " is the sum for which the dwellings, including all capital charges, must be erected. Cases in which the Council is compelled by statute to re-house on particular sites and is not able to sell or let those sites for that purpose at the fair market value are specially considered. When particular sites are found to be undesirable by reason of excessive cost, unsuitability, lack of demand for dwellings, or other causes, the Council considers the desirability of obtaining a modification of the scheme, with a view to the dwellings being erected on some other site or sites, and the original sites being freed from the restrictions attached to them. The difficulty, always considerable, of complying with these financial conditions has been greatly augmented by the general increase in wages and in the cost of , materials and by the decrease in the average daily output of a man. The Council tried to meet this by endeavouring to secure that the term of the sinking fund period should be increased from 60 to 100 years, or that the value of the site should be excluded from the sinking fund. Repre- sentations to this effect were made to the Government for a long time, but without result, as it was pointed out that already the Council was treated more favourably than other authorities through- 2 9 out the country. Eventually however, by the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1903, the maximum term of the sinking fund period was enlarged to 80 years, the precise term in the case of the Council being fixed by the Treasury. So far, however, the Treasury have agreed to the maximum term being applied only to the portion of the debt relating to land, the portion relating to buildings being, as heretofore, redeemable within 60 years. The cost of the land forms a comparatively small part of the total expense incurred in the erection of dwellings, so that the concession in the restricted form insisted upon by the Treasury is not of practical advantage. Following the provisions of Cross' Act, 1875, the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, provided that, unless the confirming authority otherwise determined, any dwellings erected by the Council under Parts I. and II. had to be sold on the expiration of 10 years from their completion. Consequently in 1903, 1905 and 1907, it was necessary for the Council to apply for permission to- retain the dwellings which it had erected. This permission was given. Section 40 of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, removed the obligation to sell or dispose of any lands or dwellings acquired or constructed for any of the purposes of the Housing Acts, and the Council has now therefore entire discretion in the matter. In conclusion, a further expansion of the Council's policy with regard to the housing question must be briefly referred to. The only power which the Council had of advancing money to enable persons to purchase the houses in which they live was that con- ferred by the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899. Any advance under that Act must be limited to four-fifths of the market value of the house and, owing to the cost of property in London, this provision may be said to have prohibited the working classes from making use of the Act. The Council felt that any plan which was to appeal successfully to those classes should provide for the advance of practically the whole of the purchase money. It accordingly formulated a scheme for granting leases for 99 years of single cottages erected on estates developed under Part III. of the Act of 1890. It proposed that leases should be granted to occupiers on payment of a deposit of 5, the lessee being required (i.) to pay throughout the term of the lease the equivalent of a ground rent ; and (ii.) to make equal payments for the first 15, 20 or 25 years, sufficient to repay the amount spent on the land and buildings (less the deposit and the capitalised value of the ground rent), interest, legal, etc., costs and establishment charges, etc. The in- tending lessee will have to satisfy the Council that he has a bona fide intention of living in the house, but he will be allowed, with the Council's consent, to let the house or to transfer the lease to an assignee. A lease will contain the usual covenants by the lessee, and the Council will have power to re-enter on non-payment for 28 days of the charges under the lease, or on breach of covenant The Council will also have power, in certain circumstances, to accept 3 a surrender of a lease and to pay as a consideration the amount by which the lessee's payments to the Council exceed a sum (to be settled, failing agreement, by arbitration) equivalent to the total of (i.) the fixed net rent calculated from the commencement of the lease to the date of surrender; (ii.) the expenses of granting the lease ; and (iii.) the cost of re-entering and of repairing the premises. It is estimated that the total extra weekly cost to the lessee if he wishes to pay for the building in 15 years will be from 35. 3d. to 43. for a four-roomed cottage rented at zos. 6d. a week, and from 45. 2d. to 43. lod. for a five-roomed cottage, rented at I2s. 6d. a week. If the 20 years' period be chosen the increased weekly cost will be from is. gd. to 2s. 4d. for a four-roomed cottage and 2s. 3d. to 2s. lod. for a five-roomed cottage. If the lessee chooses the 25 years' period, he will purchase the cottage for a charge approximately equal to the ordinary rent. The necessary parliamentary authority was obtained in the Council's General Powers Act of 1912, and it is proposed, as an experiment, to allocate for the purposes of the scheme, some of the cottages to be erected on the Old Oak Estate, Hammersmith.* If the experiment is successful the scheme will be extended to other cottage estates. * See pp. 82-3. CHAPTER V. SCHEMES UNDERTAKEN BY THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS, AND COMPLETED BY THE COUNCIL. (i) Tench-street, St. George-in-the-East. Official representations as to an area immediately to the east of Wapping Basin, were made to the Board in 1875 and 1882 by the medical officer of St. George-in-the-East. The death rate was 32.2 a 1,000 as compared with 22.5 in the neighbour- hood, and 21.5 in London. The Board approved the scheme on loth November, 1882, the local inquiry was held on i5th March, and the provisional order was issued on 2nd May, and confirmed by Parliament on i6th July, 1883. The property, which was occupied by 1,284 persons, was demolished in 1886, and Tench-street and Green-bank were widened in 1887. No adequate offer could be obtained for the vacant land on which accommodation had to be provided for 1,284 persons. Any other use of the site was forbidden by statute, so at the instance of the Board, as confirmed by the Council, parliamentary authority was obtained in 1889 to lay out the area as a recreation ground. The work, including the provision of a children's gym- nasium, the planting of trees, etc., and the laying-out of a large area with gravel, was completed in 1891. The open space is now known as Wapping Recreation-ground. (2) Brook-street, Limehouse. Official representations as to an area on the south side of Brook- street were made to the Board in 1876 and 1882. The death rate was 34 a 1,000, as compared with 23 in the neighbourhood. The date of the scheme as approved by the Board was loth November, 1882. The local inquiry was held on 8th March, the provi- sional order was issued on 2nd May, and confirmed by Parliament on i6th July, 1883. The premises were inhabited by 562 persons, and accommodation had to be provided for this number. The property was demolished and the paving, etc., works executed in April, 1887. The two rehousing sites were offered for sale in 1887, but without result. In November, 1891, the Secretary of State reduced the number to be rehoused from 562 to 281. Beach- croft-buildings, to accommodate 200 persons, were completed in September, 1894. The Council postponed dealing with the second plot pending a decision as to a street improvement suggested by the Limehouse District Board. Eventually this suggestion was dropped, and in 1900 eighteen cottages, known as Cranford-cottages, to accommodate 108 persons, were erected.f * Housing Question in London, pp. 165-7. f Ibid., pp. 167-71. i< IOO7Q 32 (3) Trafalgar-road, Greenwich. Official representations as to an area between Trafalgar-road and Old Woolwich-road, were made to the Board by the medical officer of Greenwich in 1877 and 1882. No death rates were obtained, but the great prevalence of typhoid, scarlet fever and smallpox was proved. The date of the scheme approved by the Board was loth November, 1882. The local inquiry was held on I3th March, and the provisional order was issued on 2nd June, and confirmed by Parliament on i6th July, 1883. The number of persons to be displaced was 378 and accommodation had to be provided for 380, but, owing chiefly to the difficulty of disposing of the site, this number was reduced to 280 in December, 1889, to 245 in June, 1895, and to 190 in August, 1896. The property was demolished in October, 1886, and the works, including widen- ings of Lower East-street and Old Woolwich-road, were completed in August, 1887. The rehousing sites were offered at auction in 1888 and twice in 1891 without result. Some of the land was acquired by the London School Board and the Council decided to erect cottages on the remainder. It was estimated, however, that this would involve a charge on the county rate and considera- tion of the matter was therefore postponed until it could be ascer- tained what effect the opening of Blackwall Tunnel would have on the rents in the neighbourhood. Eventually in 1901, 51 cottages, known as Hardy-cottages, with accommodation for 306 persons, were erected.* (4) Hughes- fields, Deptford. An official representation with regard to a large area to the south of Deptford Cattle Market, was made to the Board by the medical officer of Greenwich in 1877, but amended in 1882. This amended proposal related to about 479 houses, inhabited by 3,700 persons. The Board thought that action should not be taken, but the Secre- tary of State in April, 1884, asked that the matter might be recon- sidered. A fresh representation relating to over 400 houses was made to the Board in October, 1884, and a scheme was prepared in the same month. The death rate in the area was 24 a 1,000 as compared with only 20 in the rest of the parish, while, out of 41 cases of small-pox in the parish, 26 occurred in the area. The local inquiry was held on 3rd March, and the provisional order was issued on 23rd April, and confirmed by Parliament on 22nd July, 1885. The scheme contemplated the displacement of 1,786 persons, the provision of accommodation for not less than this number, and the execution of certain street improvements. The land was cleared in April and the works were completed in December, 1888. In view of the amount of vacant accommodation in the neighbourhood the Secretary of State in January, 1891, reduced to 893 the number of persons for whom accommodation had to be provided. Part of the land, now known as Hughes Recreation-ground, being no longer * Housing Question in London, pp. 172-5. 33 needed for rehousing purposes, was laid out as a playground for children. The Council in July, 1889, had decided itself to erect dwellings, but the Secretary of State would not give his consent to this course. In March, 1891, two plots were sold to the Provident Association for the erection of dwellings to accommo- date 240 persons, and the Council then sought to be relieved from the remainder of its obligations. The Secretary of State did not agree to this, but assented to the Council erecting dwellings, pro- vided that the work was commenced by 24th June, 1893. This was done and Hughes-fields cottages to accommodate 666 persons were completed in January, 1895.* (5) Cable-street, Shadwell. An official representation as to an area on the south side of Cable- street, was made to the Board in 1883 by the medical officer of Limehouse. The Board in 1884, decided to take no action, but the Secretary of State in July, 1885, having suggested that this decision should be reconsidered, a second representation was made, and the Board on I2th November, 1886, approved a scheme in regard to the area referred to therein. The death rate was 44 a 1,000, as compared with 25 in the rest of Limehouse. The local inquiry was held on I7th March, and a provisional order was issued on 23rd May, and confirmed by Parliament on I2th July, 1887. The scheme contemplated the displacement of 970 persons, the provision of accommodation for this number, for the widening of Victoria-street (now Dellow-street) and for the formation of two new streets. The land was cleared in November, 1889, an d the street works completed in 1891. The Trustees of the Guinness Fund were willing to pur- chase one of the rehousing sites, but considered the Council's building regulationsf to be too onerous, and the negotiations which continued for more than a year eventually proved abortive. In order that the height of the new buildings might be lowered, the Secretary of State in January, 1892, reduced to 720 the number of persons to be re-housed. This number was further reduced in October, 1892, to 485, and in that month, on a memorial from the Vestry of St. George- in-the-East, the Council decided itself to build. The Secretary of State consented, and Dellow-buildings and Bewley-buil dings, to accommodate 520 persons, were begun in November, 1893, and completed in March, 1896. Lowood-buildings and Chancery- buildings, to accommodate 278 persons, were begun in September, 1899, and completed in May, 19014 (6) Shelton-street, St. Giles. An official representation as to an area on the north-east side of Drury-lane, containing 108 houses occupied by 1,722 persons was made to the Board in 1883 by the medical officer of the St. Giles' District. The Board thought that action should not be taken, * Housing Question in London, pp. 175-80. t See pp. 27-8. J Housing Question in London, pp. 180-5. 34 but the Secretary of State, in July, 1885, suggested to the Board that the case should be seriously considered, and the Board, on i2th November, 1886, approved a scheme. The death rate of the area was 37.2 a 1,000 as compared with 24.1 in the district, and 20-8 in London. The local inquiry was held in March, and the provisional order was issued on 23rd May, and confirmed by Parliament on I2th July, 1887. The scheme provided for the displacement of 1,208 persons, but, owing to the cramped situation of the area, the number to be re-housed was fixed at only 660. This was the first instance of the requirements as to re-housing being relaxed. The scheme provided also for a widening of Shelton-street and, by a modification sanctioned by Parliament in June, 1891, for a widening of Parker-street and for the reduction to 608 of the number of persons to be re-housed. The land was cleared in November, 1889, t> u ^ in view of the modification, the works could not be completed until February, 1892. Part of the re-housing land was reserved for the erection of a lodging-house* and the remainder was offered at auction in June, 1892, without result. The lodging- house to accommodate 324 (afterwards increased to 345) persons was completed in January, 1893, and Aldwych-buil dings, Cotterell- buildings, Lindsey-buildings, Powis-buil dings and Wimbledon- buildings, erected by the Council to accommodate 284 persons, were all completed by October, 1896. Twenty workshops also were provided.! The buildings, with the exception of the lodging-house, were designed by Mr. Rowland Plumbe. * See p. 97, f Housing Question in London, pp 185-9. CHAPTER VI. SCHEMES UNDERTAKEN BY THE COUNCIL UNDER PART I. OF THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES ACT, 1890. (i) London (Boundary- street, Bethnal-green] Improvement Scheme, 1890. The Boundary-street area lying to the south-east of St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, was the first large scheme undertaken by the Council under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. The neighbourhood was developed about the end of the eighteenth cen- tury, and it is interesting to note that some of the streets (e.g., Vin- BOUNDARY STREET AREA, SHOREDITCH. cent and Mead) were named after Nelson's admirals and captains. As long ago as 1839 Dr. Southwood Smith gave a melancholy account of the district. It is dealt with also in Mr. Morrison's tale A Child of the Jago, " the Jago " being identical with " the Nicol," the name formerly applied to the area between Old Nichol-street and 36 Mead-street. In one street alone there were at the same time no fewer than 64 persons who had served varying terms of penal servitude. In 1890 official representations as to the condition of the area were made under Cross' Act by the medical officers for Bethnal- green and Shoreditch, and these were renewed after Cross' Act had been superseded by Part I. of the Act of 1890. The death rate in the Bethnal-green portion was 40 a 1,000. as compared with 22.8 BOUNDARY STREET AREA AS RE- DEVELOPED. in Bethnal-green, and 18.4 in London. The Council approved the scheme on 4th November, 1890, the local inquiry was held in March, and the provisional order was issued on nth May and confirmed by Parliament on 3rd July, 1891. This provided for the formation of 4O-feet roads and rectangular building sites. A modified scheme was subsequently prepared for laying out the area on a system of streets radiating from a central open space. It was found that this modification would enable more and pleasanter accommodation to be provided at a slightly smaller cost. These modifications were approved on 25th November, 1893, I4th May, 1895, and 4th August, 1897. 37 BOUNDARY STREET ESTATE. GENERAL VIEW FROM CHERTSEY BUILDINGS, BOUNDARY STREET ESTATE.-GENERAL VIEW FROM IFFLEY BUILDINGS. 38 The number of persons displaced from the area was 5, 719. The Council was required to provide accommodation for not less than 4,700 persons, of whom 144 were to be accommodated on a site acquired for the purpose in Goldsmith-row. The new accommodation was as follows : Dwelling accommodation on the area for 5,380 persons ; on the Goldsmith-row site, for 144 persons. Re-housing accommodation was therefore provided for 5, 524 persons, which was only 195 less than the number displaced, and 824 more than the scheme required. These figures are calculated on the basis of two persons a room, which is somewhat more stringent than that actually allowed by the Council. In addition, 18 shops and 77 workshops were provided. The 5,524 persons were re-housed in 1,069 tenements, making an average of 5-2 persons to each tenement. The GARDEN BETWEEN* HURLEY BUILDINGS AND CULHAM BUILDINGS. first half of the area contained rooms of the following approxi- mate areas : Living rooms, average 144 square feet ; bedrooms, average 96 square feet. In the later buildings these sizes were increased to : Living rooms, average 160 square feet ; bedrooms, average no square feet. Every habitable room has at least a 45 deg. angle of light horizontally and vertically, and the buildings are so arranged that nearly every room commands a pleasant outlook. The entrance avenue and the circus are 60 feet, and the 39 other principal streets 50 feet wide. There are three public gardens between various blocks of dwellings, of an aggregate area of nearly three quarters of an acre. Only two of the blocks contain washing accommodation, as this is provided in a central laundry, containing 42 troughs, 42 drying horses, three centrifugal wringing machines, three box mangles, and one roller mangle.- Behind the laundry is a small annexe, containing 12 hot and cold slipper baths and one cold shower bath, and over the laundry are two club-rooms for the use of the tenants. The scheme was completed in March, 1900, and on the 3rd of that month the estate was formally opened by His late Majesty King Edward VII., at that time Prince of Wales, who was accompanied by Queen Alexandra. A full account of the scheme and of the opening ceremony is given in the Housing Question in London (pp. 190-213). (2) London (Churchway, St. Pancras) Improvement Scheme, 1895. Considerable correspondence with regard to many houses in the Somers-town area had passed between the Council and the vestry of St. Pancras as far back as 1889, and in 1893 the Secretary of State decided that the portion of the area lying between Seymour- street, Drummond-street, and Chalton-street should be dealt with by the Council and that the remaining portions should be dealt with by the vestry, the Council, in some cases, contributing towards the cost. The Council was not satisfied as to the sufficiency of its resources within the meaning of section 4 of the Act, of 1890. Moreover, one of the freeholders (Lord Southampton) would not agree to co-operate with the Council, and the other (Lady Henry Somerset) could not obtain the sanction of the Court of Chancery to her proposal to repay to the Council the expense of dealing with her property. Finally the Council on I5th October, 1895, approved a scheme, the local inquiry was held on 27th February, 1896, and the provisional order was issued on 3oth December, 1896, and confirmed by Parliament on 2gth March, 1897. For the years 1889-94 the mean death-rates for St. Pancras and for the area were 20.6 and 33.1 a 1,000 respectively, and the mean death-rates from the principal zymotic diseases were 2.58 and 6.13 a 1,000. The scheme provided for widenings of Church- way and Wellesley-street to 40 feet, for the displacement of 1,095 persons, and the re-housing on the area of 580 persons, and for the sale, lease, or other disposal at the discretion of the Council of the remaining surplus lands. In March and July, 1899, the scheme was modified by the omission of a few properties, and of the widening of Wellesley-street. The property on the west side of Churchway was demolished in July, 1899. The Secretary of State in January, 1900, consented to the Council erecting dwellings on the cleared land, and the work was accordingly executed by the Works Department.* * Housing Question in London, pp. 213-20. 4 o buildings, known as Wellesley-buildings, with accommodation for 360 persons, were completed in 1901. The necessary works in Churchway were executed on behalf of the Council by the vestry of St. Pancras. Seymour - buildings and Somerset - buildings, on the east side of Churchway, were CHURCHWAY AREA, ST. PANCRAS. Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. commenced by the Works Department in June, 1901, and com- pleted by the middle of 1902. They accommodate 472 persons, so that the Council provided accommodation for 832 persons instead of for only 580 persons as required by the scheme. CHURCHWAY AREA AS RE-DEVELOPED. (3) London (Clare-market, Strand] Improvement Scheme, 1895. In September, 1892, the Council's medical officer reported that three areas between the Strand and Sardinia-street jcould properly be dealt with under Part I. of the Act of 1890. The matter was still being considered when in November, 1894, official represen- tations were made by the medical officer of the Strand District, who called attention to three areas, about 3-J acres in extent, lying between Clare-market and Stanhope-street, between Stanhope- street and Drury-lane and between White Hart-street and the 42 Strand. The density of population on part of the areas was about six times greater than that of the neighbourhood, while the death- rate for 1894 was 39.03 a 1,000, as compared with 19.86 in the Strand district and 17.7 in London. The scheme was approved by the Council on I5th October, 1895, the local inquiry was held in March, 1896, and th6 provisional order was issued on 2oth January, and con- firmed by Parliament on 3rd June, 1897. The scheme provided for a widening of Drury-lane to 40 feet, for the displacement of 3,172 persons, and for the re-housing of 2,250 persons, of whom 750 were to be re-housed on the cleared land, and 1,500 at Mill- bank.* By 1899 all the property needed had been acquired. In that year, however, the Council obtained parliamentary authority to construct a new street (Kingsway and Aldwych) from Holborn to the Strand, and to execute certain subsidiary street improve- ments. It was proposed that the new street should pass between the first two areas mentioned above, and portions thereof were, in fact, needed for the new road. The estimates of the cost were prepared on the basis that the neighbourhood would be re- developed with a view to obtaining the highest possible prices for the surplus land, including the surplus land from the Clare- market scheme. It was felt, therefore, that the housing scheme and the street improvement should, as far as practicable, be dealt with together. Two sites in Duke's-court and Russell-court adjacent to the improvement were accordingly acquired, and a modification of the original scheme was obtained, by which accom- modation for 750 persons on these sites was accepted by the Secretary of State in lieu of any accommodation on the actual area. Sheridan-buildings, Beaumont-buildings, and Fletcher- buildings, accommodating 610 persons, orr the Duke's-court site, were com- pleted about June, 1902, and Siddons-buil dings and Stirling- buildings, accommodating 390 persons, on the Russell-court site, were completed by June, 1903. The accommodation for persons in excess of the number (750) referred to in the scheme was utilised for re-housing persons displaced in connection with the Kingsway, etc., improvement. f Accommodation for 1,536, instead of 1,500, required by the scheme, was provided at Millbank in Reynolds-buildings, Rossetti-buildings, Ruskin-buil dings, Morland- buildings and Millais-buildings. (4) London (Garden-row, Roby-street, Baltic-street and Honduras-street, St. Luke) Improvement Scheme, 1899. The Council had considered from time to time since 1889 a num- ber of small areas near the junction of Old-street and Goswell- road, and on each side of Central-street, and in 1899 definite oificial representations were made by the medical officer of St. Luke with regard to ten of these. The Council in October, 1899, decided to deal with four by way of scheme, but considered that the remaining six should be dealt with by the vestry. These four * Housing Question in London, pp. 220-3. t See pp. 86-8. 43 GARDEN ROW AREA, ST. LUKE. Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. area, south of Old-street and east of Goswell-road ; and (iv.) the Honduras-street area, south of Old-street and west of Golden-lane. The death-rate on these areas was 40.7 a 1,000, as compared with -14 J GARDEN ROW AREA AS RE-DEVELOPED. 45 28.44 i n tne parish of St. Luke, and 19-3 in London.* The scheme was dated 7th November, 1899, the local inquiry was held in March, and the provisional order was issued on 25th May, and confirmed by Parliament in July, 1900. This authorised the ROBY STREET AREA, ST. LUKE. f displacement of 1,193 persons, and required the Council to provide on the cleared land re-housing accommodation for not that number. * Housing Question in London, pp. 223-5. 46 The old buildings on the Roby-street area were first demolished, and Wenlake-buildings, with accommodation for 496 persons, erected on the site. On the completion of these buildings in 1905 the Garden-row area was cleared and new dwellings, known as Chadworth-buildings, were completed in 1907, with accommodation for 720 persons. The re-housing obligation under the scheme FOBY STREET AREA AS RE-DEVELOPED. having been fulfilled, the other two areas were cleared and the land disposed of for commercial purposes. In 1909 the scheme was modified so as to relieve the Council of the obligation to w r iden the eastern portion of Baltic-street, and so as to provide for the widening of Hatfield-street, and for the widening and extension of Baltic-street at its western end being carried out in a slightly different manner from that required by the scheme. 47 (5) London (Webber-row and Wellington-place and Kings-bench-walk South- work) Improvement Scheme, 1899. In July 1899, official representations were made by the medical officer of St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark, as to the Webber- row area between Blackfriars-road and Waterloo-road, the Welling- WEBBER ROW AREA, SOUTHWARK. Reproduced from tlie Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.H. Stationery Office. ton-place and King's-bench-walk area east of Blackfriars-road and south of Pocock-street, and the Grotto-place area between Great Suffolk-street and Southwark-bridge-road. The death-rate of the Webber-row area was 30.6, and of the Wellington- place, etc., area, 30.5 a 1,000, as compared with 24.9 in the parish of St. 4 8 George- the-Martyr, and 18.4 in London. The death-rate for children less than five years of age was very striking, being 148.4 a 1,000 for the Webber-row area, and 134.3 for the Wellington- place, etc., area, as compared with 87.6 in the parish and 61.7 in London. WEBBER ROW AREA AS RE-DEVELOPED. 300 FEET I The Council accordingly on 24th October, 1899, decided to deal with these areas, but, as the death-rate in the Grotto-place area was less than that of the whole parish, consideration of the question of dealing with that area was postponed.* The Council approved * Housing Question in London, pp. 226-8. 49 WEBBER ROW ESTATE. MA WDLEY BUILDINGS. On 2nd December, 1902, the Council decided to build a lodging- house for women on a portion of the Webber-row area, and plans of this house, together with plans of six blocks of five-storey dwellings to be erected on the area were submitted to the Secretary of State, who approved the plans of five blocks of dwellings, but intimated that he would prefer not to give his sanction as regarded the lodging house and sixth block, as the liability of the Council under the scheme would be complied with by the erection of five blocks. An application for a modification of the scheme to extend the re-housing obligation to the extent of providing accommodation 50 for 2,186 persons, was refused, as the Local Government Board thought that any accommodation which the Council desired to provide in excess of the obligation should be provided under Part III. of the Act of 1890. Algar-buildings, Delarch-buildings and Overy-buildings were completed in 1906, and Dauncy -buildings and M aw dley- buildings in January and March, 1907, respectively, these dwellings providing accommodation for 1,143 persons. Upon the completion of these buildings, the Wellingt on- place and King's-bench-walk area was cleared, and the Council was left free to dispose of the land for commercial or other purposes. Part has been disposed of, including an area which was given up to the Pocock-street school in exchange for a portion of the school play- ground. (6) London (Aylesbury-place, Clerkenwsll, and Union-buildings, Holborn) Improvement Scheme, 1899. The question of dealing separately with Bishop's-court, Jeru- salem-court and Aylesbury-place had been before the Council since 1889, when in December, 1897, official representations were made by the medical officer of Clerkenwell with regard to the whole area containing these courts and lying between St. John-street, Ayles- bury-street and St. John's-square. The Council at first inclined to the view that the area should be dealt with under Part II. of the Act of 1890. Attention was called in 1875 and again in 1890, to the Union-buildings area, Holborn, lying between Port- pool-lane, Leather-lane and Verulam-street. It was not found possible to provide accommodation on the area for a reasonable number of persons, and, as there was not a suitable amount of vacant accommodation in the neighbourhood, the Council did not, at that time, feel justified in taking action. However, in 1899, an official representation as to the area was made by the medical officer of Holborn, and by dealing with the area in conjunction with the Aylesbury-place area (the two areas were only about half a mile apart) the Council was able to make satisfactory arrangements for providing adequate re-housing accommodation. The average death-rate for the five years to 1899 was 36.4 a 1,000 on the Aylesbury-place area, as compared with 21.5 in Clerkenwell and 18.6 in London. For the four years to 1899 the average death-rate on the Union-buildings area was no less than 48.6 a 1,000, as compared with 23.4 in Holborn, and 19.3 in London. The death-rates from consumption alone were 7.96, 3.11 and 1.77 respectively. The Council on 24th October, 1899, ordered a scheme to be prepared relating to the two areas. The local inquiry was held in March, and the provisional order, which modified the draft scheme in certain details, was issued on I4th May and approved by Parliament in July, 1900. The scheme provided for the displacement of about 1,402 persons, and required the Council to erect on the cleared land buildings to accommodate not fewer than 1,414 persons.* * Housing Question in London, pp. 228-31. 5' UNION BUILDINGS AREA, HOLBORN. Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey 3fap uith the sanction of the Controller of ILM. Stationery Office. h , H H * C R A V UNION BUILDINGS AREA AS RE-DEVELOPED. 53 Modifications of the scheme were obtained in 1901 and 1902, which had the effect of excluding three houses from the operation of the scheme. The arrangements for the provision of re-hou>ini< accommodation, being somewhat different from those originally proposed, necessitated a further modification of the scheme, and this modification was sanctioned in October, 1905. Accommodation for 164 persons was first provided in Mallory- buildings (completed in July, 1906) on a site comprising part of the Aylesbury-place area, and part of the surplus land from the St. John-street improvement. The old houses on the Union- buildings area were demolished in 1905-6, and four blocks of dwellings (Nigel, Laney, Kirkeby and Buckridge) with accom- modation for 1,260 persons were designed on the lines adopted for the buildings on the Bourne estate* and erected in 1907-8 on part of the site. The remainder of the land has been disposed of, while the greater part of the surplus land near Aylesbury-place is still available for commercial purposes. t (7) London (Burford's-court, Tucker' s-court and Favoni a- street] Improve- ment Scheme, 1899. Official representations were made by the medical officer of Poplar in November, 1898, and May, 1899, with regard to the Burford's- court area at the junction of East India-dock-road and the approach to Blackwall-tunnel, the Tucker' s-court area on the south side of High-street, Poplar, and opposite North-street, and the Favonia- street area a little to the west of the River Lea and to the south of the Stepney workhouse in Love-lane and St. Leonard-street. The death-rate 'for the years 1894-9 in the first two areas was slightly over 25 a 1,000, as compared with 20.9 in Poplar and 18.4 in London. The death-rate of children under five years of age was 92.6 a 1,000 in the Burford's-court area and 108.7 a 1,000 in the Tucker's-court area, as compared with 70 in Poplar and 61.7 in London. The population of the Favonia-street area was too small to enable reliable statistics to be obtained. The Council on 7th November, 1899, approved a scheme for dealing with the three areas { The local inquiry was held in March, and the provisional order was issued on I4th May, and confirmed by Parliament in July, 1900. The scheme, as approved, provided for t ing out of the Favonia-street area as an open space, the disposal of the other areas as surplus land, and for the re-housing, on a s in Preston's-road, of the 269 persons whose displacement wa: authorised. The buildings were completed in 1904. street land was laid out as a playground, which is mam the Council. * See pp 87-9. f For plans and additional illustrations see pp. i t Housing Question in London, pp. 231-3. See p. 94- 54 (8) London (Nightingale-street, Marylebone) Improvement Scheme, 1899. In November, 1898, the medical officer of St. Marylebone drew attention to the Nightingale-street area, to the north of Church- street, Marylebone. Representations were made to Viscount Portman, the freeholder, who pointed out that, owing to certain unexpired leases, he was unable to deal with the matter by agree- ment. He welcomed, however, a suggestion that he should co-operate with the Council under section 6 of the Act of 1890. Accordingly in November, 1899, an official representation was made by the medical officer. The death-rates for the area for the eight years 1890-8 were at all ages 36.5, and for children under five years of age 109.9 a 1,000, a s compared with 18.3 and 59.6 respectively in St. Marylebone. The Council on I4th November, 1899, approved a scheme, to which Lord Portman was a party, to provide that all interests, other than the freehold, should be acquired by the Council at the sole expense of Lord Portman, and handed over to him, that a portion of the cleared land should be laid out as a playground, and that Lord Portman would secure the erection on the remainder of buildings to accommodate not fewer than the number (576) of persons to be displaced.* The local inquiry was held on 6th April, and the provisional order was issued on i6th June, and confirmed by Parliament in August, 1900. The claims in respect of property were delivered to the Council, but the negotiations were conducted through Lord Portman's agent, who consulted the Council before terms were finally settled. The Council on 4th March, 1902, subject to a proviso that the areas of living rooms and bedrooms were to be not less than 144 square feet and 96 square feet respectively, approved plans of buildings to accommodate 630 persons, and these were erected on behalf of Lord Portman during 1904-5. (9) London (Providence-place, Poplar] Improvement Scheme, 1901. On 25th July, 1900, the medical officer for the Poplar and Bromley divisions of the Poplar district made official representations with regard to the King-street and Providence-place areas. The first- named area consisted of two small courts and premises in King- street, comprising only nine houses, a smithy, and the site of one house, and the Council considered that the area should be dealt with by the Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council under Part II. of the Act of 1890. The Providence-place area, situated to the south of East India-dock-road, and to the east of Poplar church, was nearly an acre in extent, with a population of 411 persons, and the houses were for the most part two-storey cottages, situated in ill-arranged courts. The death-rate from all causes in 1895-99 was 33.6 a 1,000, as compared with 21.3 in Poplar and 18.7 in London. On 29th October, 1901, and 28th January, 1902, the Council approved a scheme which provided for the clearance of the greater part of the area and the consequent displacement of * Housing Question in London, pp. 233-5. 361 persons, the provision of new accommodation on the cleared land for about 400 persons, the widening of a length of Union- street and the continuation of that thoroughfare to Woolmore- street. The local inquiry was held on nth April, the provisional order sanctioning the scheme was issued in May and confirmed by Parliament in July, 1902. All interests in the property were acquired by about the end of 1903. Before proceeding further, however, the Council, in view of the difficulty experienced in letting other of its dwellings in the neigh- bourhood, approached the Local Government Board with a view to transferring the re-housing obligation to some other site where there was a greater demand for accommodation, the site suggested to the Board being the surplus land from the Webber-row, South- wark, scheme. Ultimately, in March, 1907, the Local Government Board released the Council from the obligation to provide any re- housing accommodation under the scheme. As regards the proposal that the re-housing accommodation under the scheme should be provided at Webber-row, Southwark, the Board was not satisfied as to the necessity for providing further working-class accommodation in that district. The greater part of the cleared land was used for education purposes. A few small plots have still to be disposed of. (10) London (Tabard- street, Grotto-plice and Crosby -row) Improvement Scheme, 1910. In 1884 the Metropolitan Board of \Vorks had carried out a scheme (Metropolis (Tabard-street, Newington) Improvement Scheme, 1884) for the improvement of a small area to the west of the northern end of Tabard-street. Representations were made to the Council in 1889 with regard to a small part of the Tabard- street area, Southwark, in 1.899 with regard to the Grotto-place area, Southwark, and in 1904 with regard to the Crosby-row area, Bermondsey, but in each case the Council decided to take no action, chiefly because it considered that the areas were too small to be dealt with under Part I. of the Act of 1890. On soth June, 1910, the medical officer of Southwark, made official representations with regard to the Tabard-street and Grotto- place areas, and on the same date the medical officer of Bermondsey similarly represented the Crosby-row area. The Tabard-street area, which lies between Long-lane and Great Dover-street, contains about 14.3 acres, and comprises 649 houses with a total population of 3 552 George-court is in parts only 3 feet wide, Little Britain 5 feet, Wickham-court 7 4- feet, and several streets do not exceed 10 feet in width. Out of 32 streets in the area no fewer than 13 are culs-de-sac. The Grotto-place area, which lies to the west of Southwark-bridge-road, is about 1.6 acres in extent, and contains 138 houses, with a total population of 567. The Crosby-row area, which is situated on the east side of that road, between Snow s- fields and Long-lane, is about i.i acres in extent, and contains 88 houses, occupied by a total of 474 persons. 57 Particulars of the death-rates in the three areas as compared with the death-rates in their respective boroughs and in London, are given in the following tablet- Average yearly death-rate a thousand. All causes. Phthisis. Principal epidemic diseases. Period 1904-} London Southwark Tabard-street area 14-9 18-2 36-8 1-44 2-09 3-88 1-71 2-29 6-07 Period 1905-9. London M'5 1-38 *'54 Southwark 17-5 1-98 1-99 Grotto-place area 39' i 6-10 2-60 Bermondsey 18-9 1-87 2-38 Crosby-row area . . 30-9 2-46 6-27 The death-rate from all causes in the Tabard-street area was, therefore, more than twice that of Southwark, which, in its turn, was considerably above that of London. The death-rate from phthisis in the area was nearly twice that of the borough and nearly three times that of London. The death rate from the principal epidemic diseases was more than two and a-half times that of the borough and more than three and a-half times that of London. The Grotto-place and Crosby-row areas are small for the calcu- lation of reliable death-rates, but the figures obtained show that in the former area the death-rate from all causes was more than twice, that from phthisis more than three times, and that from the principal epidemic diseases nearly one and a-half times that of Southwark. The death-rate from all causes in the Crosby-row area was more than one and a-half times, that from phthisis nearly one and-a-half times, and that from the principal epidemic diseases more than two and a-half times the corresponding death-rate of Bermondsey. The narrowness of the streets, the closeness of the houses, the defective planning and the damp or otherwise insanitary condition of most of the houses rendered it impossible to effect any great or lasting benefit to the Tabard-street area by dealing with individual properties. The Council, therefore, decided to deal with the matter on a comprehensive scale. It decided, at the same time, to take advantage of the opportunity for dealing with the Grotto-place and the Crosby-row areas, which it had always considered were too small to be dealt with separately. The total number of persons of the labouring class was 4,552, made up as follows : Tabard-street, 3,517 ; Grotto-place, 567 ; Crosby-row, 468. It was ascertained that within a radius of about one mile from Tabard-street, on the south side of the Thames, 58 there were 1,784 vacant houses and tenements, containing 5,977 rooms, of which 1,807 were in good condition, and 3,707 in fair condition. On the usual basis of two persons to a room, this represented accommodation for 11,954 persons, or nearly three times the number to be displaced. The demand for accommoda- tion in block dwellings in London is decreasing, and in particu ar there was no great demand for tenements in block dwellings near Tabard-street. On the other hand, there were a number of persons whose occupations rendered it unlikely that they METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK PARISH OF ST OKOROK TIIK MARTYR GROTTO PLACE AREA, SOUTHWARK. would remove to any great distance from their homes. In preparing the draft scheme the Council, therefore, arranged for accommodation on the area for only 2,450 persons. A considerable amount of surplus land was thus left, which, in the ordinary course, the Council would be left free to sell, lease or other- wise dispose of as it thought fit. It would be difficult to sell or lease immediately such a large quantity of land for commercial purposes ; moreover, the erection of factories on the greater portion of the surplus land would seriously militate against the letting of any dwellings which the Council might erect. On the 59 other hand there is great need for additional public open space in the locality, for, apart from a few small areas, there is no open space available for recreation nearer than Southw ark-park and Kenning- ton-park, which are a mile and a-half from Tabard-street. The Council decided that the central portion of the Tabard-street area about 5 acres in extent, should be laid out as a public open space, and that the requisite re-housing accommodation should be pro- vided in five-storey balcony block dwellings overlooking the open space. Dwellings so favourably situated would readily let. It was proposed that the remainder of the Tabard-street area, comprising about three acres, and that the whole of the two smaller areas should be ultilised for commercial purposes. METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF BERMONDSEY PARISH OF BERMONDSEY CROSBY ROW AREA, BERMONDSEY. The street widenings and extensions for which provision was made in the scheme, may briefly be described as follows. Roads will be formed on each side of the open space : two of these will be new streets, and two will consist of widenings of Tabard-street and Pardoner-street. The road on the north side of the open space will be continued in an easterly direction so as to provide through communication between Long-lane and Tabard-street. Staple- street will be widened, and Globe-street also between Tabard- street and Violet-place. On the detached (southern) portion of the Tabard-street area, Little Hunter-street, Tabard-street, Law- street and Lansdowne-place will be widened, and the mentioned thoroughfare will be continued to meet Little Hunter- street On the Grotto-place area a new road will be constructed forming a continuation of Lant-street and emerging into Great 6o Suffolk-street at King's-court, about 50 yards north of Sturge- street. On the Crosby-row area, Crosby-row and Snow's-fields will be widened within the limits of the area, and a new road will be formed from Crosby-row on the site of Porlock- place. All the new streets will be made 40 feet wide, and the existing roads, where widened, will be made of the same width. The Council on 8th November, 1910, approved the proposals, and a draft scheme in accordance therewith was duly submitted to the Local Government Board. As a result of the local inquiry held in April and May, 1911, the Board agreed to make an order confirming the scheme, but called attention to certain suggestions, the chief of which were as follows : (i.) that the Council should erect on the detached portion of the area between Law-street and Little Hunter-street as many cottages as could conveniently be erected ; and (ii.) that provision should be made for the storage of costermongers' carts and barrows. With regard to (i.), the Council w r as advised that the erection of cottages instead of commercial buildings on the site would increase the net cost of the scheme by 8,500. The Council considered that the draft scheme made sufficient provision for re-housing, but, recognising that the question was a debateable one, agreed to provide the additional accommodation. In the case of (ii.), the Board had been informed that among the persons to be dis- placed were a number of street traders (costermongers and the like) representing with their families about 296 persons, and that these persons kept their barrows and carts in the culs-de-sac, courts and alleys opposite their dwellings. It was ascertained that of these 296 persons, only about 104 were traders, etc., the balance of 192 being dependents, that many did not use a barrow but only a basket or a tray, and that hand-barrows were almost ex- clusively used, only one case of a horse and cart being met with. Very few of these traders owned their barrows, but hired them daily or weekly from persons who made a business of hiring out barrows. The Council, therefore, asked the Board not to insist upon the latter part of the proposal, and suggested that the proviso to be inserted in the order should take the form of requiring the Council to provide on the Tabard-street area such accommodation for the storage of barrows as might in the opinion of the Board be required for the use of such street traders as would be displaced by the scheme. The scheme was confirmed by the Board on i3th March, 1912. The confirming order requires the provision on the Tabard-street area (i.) of accommodation for not fewer than 2,580 persons, includ- ing not fewer than 25 cottages on the detached site in Law-street referred to above, and (ii.) of accommodation for the storage of barrows to the extent suggested by the Council. St. Stephen's Vicarage has, in accordance with the Council's request, been excluded from the scheme. The clearance of the three areas is to be carried out in five sections and the new dwellings on one section have to be completed before any persons are displaced from a 6i further section. Except in the case of the first section, therefore, new accommodation will be ready for the inhabitants before they have to leave their old houses. The cost of laying out and main- taining the open space is to be regarded as a parks charge and not as a housing charge, although, of course the cost of acquiring the land will form part of the cost of the scheme. The expenditure involved in the execution of the scheme as confirmed is estimated as follows : Tabard-street area Gross cost of acquisition of property . . 364,500 Cost of roads, etc. . . 23,800 Grotto-place area Gross cost of acquisition of property . . . . 45>ooo Cost of roads, etc. . . 2,600 Crosby-row area Gross cost of acquisition of property 28,000 Cost of roads, etc. . . . . . . . . 3, IO Total gross cost of the scheme L ess Estimated value of surplus lands and re- housing sites Tabard-street area .. .. 48,100 Grotto-place area . . 20,000 Crosby-row area . . . . 9,000 Total net cost of the scheme 388,300 47,600 31,100 467,000 77,100 389,900 The cost of dwellings to accommodate 2,580 persons is estimated at /I29,i75- It is anticipated, however, that all outgoings, in- cluding capital charges, will be met out of the rents received, so that this expenditure should not involve any charge upon the county rate. 62 CHAPTER VII. SCHEMES UNDERTAKEN BY THE COUNCIL UNDER PART II. OF THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES ACT, 1890. It will be remembered* that Part II. of the Act of 1890 empowered metropolitan borough councils, or the Council in default, to take proceedings before a magistrate for the closing and demolition of single houses unfit for human habitation, and that it empowered the Council and the metropolitan borough councils, either jointly or separately, to undertake schemes relating to slum areas which were too small to be of general importance to the county, the pro- vision of re-housing accommodation in such cases being a matter entirely within the discretion of the Local Government Board. Section 72 of the Act provided that, if an official representation related to not more than ten houses, the case should be represented to, and dealt with by, the local authority under Part II. of the Act. In cases in which more than ten houses were affected it is difficult to state exactly the principles on which it has been determined whether areas should be dealt with under Part I. or under Part II., or whether the work should be undertaken by the Council or by the local authority. In view of the terms of the Act, it is natural that the size of the area and the number of persons affected should be important factors. Four schemes under Part II. have been executed by the Council and ten by the local authorities. Details of the Council's schemes are given below and summaries of these and of the schemes executed by the local authorities are given in Appendix IV. (i) London (Brooke' s-market, Holborn) Improvement Scheme, 1891. In July, 1875, official representations were made by the medical officer of Holborn as to a large area between Gray's-inn-road, Portpool-lane, and Leather-lane. The Metropolitan Board of Works prepared a scheme relating to the greater part, but, as this was not approved by the Secretary of State, the matter was dropped. Informal representations were afterwards made to the Council which in October, 1891, decided to take action under Part II. of the Act of 1890, with regard to property in and near Brooke' s- market, the Holborn District Board contributing one-half, not exceeding 3,000, of the cost.f The scheme confirmed in March and August, 1892, provided for the displacement of 55 persons, and the erection on the cleared land of buildings to accommodate 60 persons. The property having been acquired, the Council in November, 1895, decided itself to erect the new buildings. The Local Government Board in August, 1896, agreed to this, and * See p. 18. t The part near Union-buildings of the area represented in 1875 was dealt with under the Aylesbury-place and Union-buildings scheme. See PP- 50-3- 63 Cranley-buildings, to accommodate 60 persons, were erected by the Works Department. The land not needed for this purpose was paved with asphalte and planted with trees.* (2) London (Mill-lane, Deptford} Improvement Scheme, 1892. Representations were made to the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1877 as to the Mill-lane, Deptford, area, but the Board declined to take action. The representation was renewed in March, 1891, and after the Greenwich District Board had agreed to contribute one-half of the net cost, the Council in July, 1892, decided to prepare a scheme for dealing with the property on the west side of the part of Mill-lane between Deptford-broadway and Friendly- street. The source of a serious outbreak of enteric fever in south- east London was traced to ice-cream sold from houses within the area. The scheme authorised the acquisition of 50 houses occupied by 715 persons, the erection of dwellings to accommodate 550 persons, the widening of Mill-lane to 40 feet, and the dedication as a highway or open space of any surplus land. No fewer than 429 of the persons displaced had occupied accommodation in common lodging-houses, and the Council, therefore, thought it desirable that the new accommodation should be provided in a common lodging-house and in block dwellings. The district board, however, favoured the erection of cottage dwellings. It would not have been possible to provide in cottages on the cleared land accommodation for the requisite number (550), and the Local Government Board offered to reduce this number to 272 on con- dition that the Council provided on land in the neighbourhood accommodation for 278 persons. This was found to be imprac- ticable, and it was, therefore, decided to erect a lodging-house for men and cottage dwellings, f Sylva-cottages, with accom- modation for 144 persons, were erected in 1902, and opened in March, 1903, while the lodging-house, known as Carrington-house,^: to accommodate 803 persons, was completed by November, 1903. (3) London (Ann-street, Poplar) Improvement Scheme, 1893. In 1889 the Poplar District Board called attention to the con- dition of the Ann-street area between East India-dock-road, Brunswick-road, and St. Leonard's-road. Unsuccessful attempts having been made to obtain closing orders under the Act of 1890, the Council, with the concurrence of the district board, decided to proceed with a clearance scheme under Part II. of the Act. A scheme was approved by the Council in February, 1893, and the necessary sanctioning and confirming orders were issued early in 1894 The Home Secretary fixed the amount of the district board's contribution at 4,400, being one-half of theestimatedtost. * Housing Question in London, pp. 236-8. t Ibid., pp. 238-41. 1: See pp. 97-8. 10079 64 The number of persons of the working-class to be displaced was 261. Accommodation, however, had to be provided for only 180, but, on the other hand, the sanctioning order required that accommo- dation for at least 100 persons should be provided before more than 150 persons were displaced. The necessary property was acquired by 1895, and, as an offer by the East End Dwellings Co. to purchase the vacant land to the east of Ann-street for 2,250, and to erect dwellings thereon to accommodate 180 persons, fell through, the Council had to arrange for the erection of buildings.* Adelaide- buildings, with accommodation for 190 persons, were completed in September, 1901, and Sydney-buildings and Melbourne-buildings, with accommodation for 440 persons, in December, 1902. The total accommodation provided was, therefore, for 630 persons instead of for only 180 persons as required by the scheme. (4) London (Falcon-court, Borough] Improvement Scheme, 1895. Falcon-court and Birdcage-alley on the west side of Borough High-street were officially represented to the Council under Cross' Acts by the medical officer of Southvvark in May, 1889. The Council, however, considered that the areas should be dealt with by the vestry of Southwark under Torrens' Acts. The Home Secretary decided that, as the Act of 1890 had in the meantime become law, the vestry should deal with the areas under Part II. of that Act, the Council contributing one-third of the cost. The vestry already had in hand^the Green-street and Gun-street areas,f and therefore urged the Council to undertake the scheme, and at the same time suggested the inclusion of Brent' s-court, Eve's-place, Redcr oss-place and Maypole- alley. Eventually the vestry agreed to contribute one-half of the cost, and the Council decided to under- take the larger scheme. The Local Government Board held the local inquiry in April, 1896, but the sanctioning order was not issued until July, 1898, and the confirming order until the following November. The scheme involved the displacement of about 824 persons. The cleared land was not suitable for the erection of dwellings, so that the Council was empowered to dispose of it for ordinary purposes, but it was required to purchase other land in the parish under Part III. of the Act of 1890, and to provide accom- modation thereon for not fewer than 500 persons. J The demolition of the property was completed during 1902. A portion of the cleared land was tar-paved and opened for use as a children's playground. It was named Little Dorrit's Playground from its proximity to the site of the Marshalsea prison, which, with its inmates, furnished Dickens with the theme for his story Little Dorrit.^ * Housing Question in London, pp. 241-3. t See p. 65. J Housing Question in London, pp. 243-5. An account of the buildings erected is given on pp. 65-6. CHAPTER VIII. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL UNDER PART III. OF THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES ACT, 1890. The Council's action under Part III. of the Act of 1890, (i.) in purchasing certain land and buildings in Dufferin-street, St. Luke, has already been described,* and (ii.) with regard to the Parker- street and Carrington House lodging houses can be treated of more conveniently in other sections.! The erection of these lodging- houses, although technically under Part III., was really under- taken in order to fulfil re- housing obligations in connection with schemes for dealing with insanitary areas. (iii.) Sites in Green-street and Boy field- street (formerly Gun-street], Southward. The vestry of St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark, having acquired in virtue of schemes under Part II. of the Act of 1890, certain premises in Green-street andBoyfield-streetand adjoining roads, was under an obligation to provide on the cleared land accommodation for 72 persons and 144 persons respectively. The vestry asked the Council to buy the land and to take over the obligation, and, as the Council was willing to do so, the Local Government Board issued the necessary modification orders. A price of 3,860 was agreed upon between the Council and the vestry in July, 1895. Plans and work- ing drawings were prepared and in March, 1896, the Council decided to erect four blocks of dwellings, with a total accommodation for 418 persons Merrow-buildings and Ripley-buildings on the Green- street area, and Albury-buildings and Clandon-buildings on the Gun- street area. The work was completed by about the middle of 18974 (iv.) Borough-road and Green-street, etc., sites, Southwark. The execution of the Falcon-court, Borough, scheme involved the displacement of about 824 persons, and accommodation had to be provided for 500 of these, not on the cleared land, but on land to be purchased by the Council in the parish under Part III. of the Act of 1890. For this purpose the Council in July, 1895, decided to buy a site in Borough-road from the trustees of the Bridge House estate, and a site in Garden-row from a private individual. The price for the former was agreed at 8,000. Although a local inquiry was held on behalf of the Local Govern- ment Board in February, 1896, the provisional order was not confirmed until March, 1897, and, owing to this delay, the owner of the Garden-row site proceeded during 1896 to build on his land. The additional expense which would have been thus involved ren- dered it impracticable for the Council to complete the purchase, and * See p. 27. + See pp. 97-8- J Housing Question in London, p. 265. See p. 64. c 2 10079 65 it therefore acquired a site in Green-street with additional land ex- tending to Pocock-street at a total cost of 5,900. Murphy-buildings, Hunter-buildings and Gardiner-buildings on the Borough-road site were designed by Messrs. Joseph, Son and Smithem. and erected, at their suggestion, on a system of separate contracts. The buildings, which were completed between May and October, 1900, contain BOROUGH ROAD IvSTATE MUR1 HY bUILDINGS. 84 tenements with 200 rooms. On the usual basis of two persons a room, this represents accommodation for 400 persons, but the Board intimated that the accommodation could be regarded as only for 300 persons. Cobham- buildings on the Green-street site, with accommodation for 279 persons, were erected by the Council and completed in October, 1900.* (v.) Millbanfc-estate. Westminster. In accordance with a recommendation made by the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, 1884-5,-)- the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 18851 (section 3) authorised the Treasury, in the event of Millbank prison being demolished, to sell to the Metropolitan Board of Works at a fair market price a portion of the site for the erection of working-class dwellings. * Housing Question in London, pp. 266-8. | See p. ii. 6; Prolonged negotiations took place between the Council and the Treasury, and it was finally agreed that about half the site should be sold to the Council at the price of 2,500 an acre, that a road, 50 feet wide, running north-east and south-west, should be con- structed at the joint expense of the Council and the Government, and partly on the Council's land and partly on that retained by the Government, and that the Council should form two approaches to the estate. The purchase was not completed until December 1896, the purchase money being 22,242. A site which the Council had intended to convey to the London School Board was excluded .from the arrangement and conveyed direct to the Board. The Home Secretary in August, 1893, had agreed t<> consider accommodation provided on the estate as re-hoiibing 100 300 500 too 5CALE OF FfEJ MILLBANK ESTATE. accommodation for persons displaced from any insanitary area within two miles thereof. The formation of the roads with temporary surfaces and construction of sewers were completed by the Council in 1898 at a cost of about 4,950, while the permanent paving work: completed by September, 1902, at a cost of i4,73i- The property needed for the two approaches, from Earl-street on the north and Causton-street on the south, was bought in 1898 at a cost of aboi 4,000, the paving works costing in addition 430. site, with an area of 23,190 square feet, on the road dividing the Council's from the Government's land was laid out as a garc a total cost of about 2,850. The estate is situated to the rear of the National Gallery of British Art (Tate Gallery), and the dwellings on the estate were therefore named after various British artists. 68 first block, Hogarth-buildings, with accommodation for 306 persons, was commenced by the Works Department in December, 1897, an d completed in May, 1899. As regards buildings on the other sites, it was proposed that the Council's architect should prepare plans of dwellings to accommodate about 1,200 persons, and that a competition should be held among selected architects to determine what outside architect should be employed to prepare plans for the other dwellings. Eighteen architects were selected, from those who replied to an advertisement inviting the names of persons willing to compete. Seventeen designs were received,, and upon the report of the assessor, Mr. W. D. Carue, the first premium of 150 was awarded to Messrs. Spalding and Cross. After much consideration and alteration in the detail of the plans, it was not found possible to erect a block of dwellings according to this design without a charge on the rates. The Council's architect was, therefore, instructed to prepare plans for all the buildings which had still to be erected. Some particulars of the dwellings are given in the subjoined table : Name of buildings. Accom- modation provided. Name of contractor. Date of commencement. Date of completion. JHogarth 306 Works Dept. .. Dec., 1897 . . May, 1899 JLeighton 120 Holloway Bros. April, 1899 .. June, 1900 *Millais 120 Do. Do. .. July, 1900 jRomney 290 Do. Summer, 1899 Nov., 1900 {Turner 43 Do. Do. Dec., 1900 *Ruskin 43 Do. Do. Mar., 1901 *Rossetti 290 Do Do. April, 1901 *Reynolds (2 396 Spencer, Santo Spring, 1900 j Oct.andDec blocks) and Co. 1901. Mulready . . 230 Do. Do. Dec., 1901 tMaclise 296 Do. Do. Feb., 1902 ILandseer 230 Do. Do. Mar., 1902 JLawrence . . 296 Do. Do. May, 1902 *Morland 300 Do. Do. Do. JWilkie 300 Do. Do. July, 1902 {Gainsborough 396 Do. Do. Aug., 1902 (2 blocks) Total . . 4.430 One block, viz., Mulready-buildings, has not been appropriated for re-housing purposes, and this is, therefore, the only block which * Appropriated for re-housing in connection with the Clare-market scheme. See pp. 41-2. t Appropriated for re-housing in connection with the Kingsway and Aldwych improvement. See pp. 87-9. J Appropriated for re-housing in connection "with the Westminster improvement. See pp. 90-1. Housing Question in London, pp. 268-71. 6 9 MII.LBANK ESTATE JUNCTION OF ERASMUS ST. AND HERRICK ST. MILLBANK ESTATE MACLISE BUILDINGS. 70 may properly be regarded as provided under Part III. of the Act of 1890. After the erection of buildings had been completed, an intimation was received by the Council that it would afford their Majesties King Edward and Queen Alexandra much pleasure to pay a private visit to the estate. The visit was accordingly made on i8th February, 1903, when their Maj esties drove round the estate and inspected a specimen two-roomed tenement in Romney-buildings, furnished according to the Council's ideas and an occupied three-roomed tenement in Ruskin-buildings. As evidence of the interest which their Majesties took in everything they saw, it may be mentioned that they subse- quently suggested that a larger number of cupboards should be provided, as these would be a great convenience and would add to the tidiness of the rooms. (vi.) No. 97, Southwark-street. Xo. 97, Southwark-street, was originally used for the accommoda- tion of firemen belonging to the London Fire Brigade. In November, 1890, this use was discontinued, and the premises were temporarily utilised for other purposes. In 1899 the Council, reverting to a proposal made in 1894, appropriated the building for the purposes of Part III. of the Act of 1890. The old buildings were valued at 3,200, and the cost of the alterations executed by the Council was 1,886. The premises were named Holmwood- buildings, and opened early in 1900, with accommodation for 72 persons.* (/ii.) Totter down-fields estate, Tooting. As soon as the Council had decided] to use in a comprehensive manner its powers under Part III. of the Act of 1890, f enquiries were at once made as to suitable sites, and in the early part of 1899 particular attention was devoted to the Totterdown- fields estate, to the south-west of Tooting-common. The property extended from Tooting High-street to Church-lane, and, excluding the frontage to Tooting High-street, had an area of about 38! acres. It was close to the Council's tramways and within about haif-a- mile of Tooting-j unction railway station. Difficulties arose during the negotiations, and it was not until January, 1900, that the Council agreed to purchase the property, excluding the frontages to Tooting High-street, at the price of 1,150 an acre, the total purchase money being 44,238. For the purposes of development, the estate was divided into three sections -A on the west with an area of about g-J- acres, *B in the centre with an area of about 12 J acres, and C on the east with an area of about i6 acres. On section A, 260 cottages were completed between June and December, 1903 ; twelve further cottages, making 272 in all, were built in 1906. Section B, with 429 * Housing Question in London, pp. 2745. f See p. 25. 72 cottages and two shops, was completed during 1906. Adminis- trative buildings, including superintendent's quarters, estate offices, workshops and stores, were erected in Derinton-road on section A, the work being completed by October, 1905. On section C, 90 cottages were completed by February, 1909, and it was intended to develop the remainder of this section by the erection of 410 cot- tages, of which about 200 were to contain five rooms in addition to a scullery. Further enquiries, however, showed that the supply in the district of houses of this kind had, for the moment, over- taken the demand. Smaller houses, however, were not being pro- vided by private enterprise, and the Council therefore modified its proposals so as to secure the erection of a larger number of houses with three or four rooms in addition to a scullery and the usual offices. In accordance with this scheme 438 cottages were com- pleted between October, 1909, and August, 1911. In all 1,229 cottages (containing 1,261 tenements) and 4 shops have been built. On the usual basis of two persons to a room of normal size, the cottages accommodate 8,788 persons. The principal streets are 45 feet wide and are lined with plane trees ; the other streets are 40 feet wide. The cottages are designed to afford as much variety as possible, and to provide the requisite accommodation for small and large families at varying rents. The governing factors in planning are : (a) the economy of land and of road construction by limiting the frontage of plots where possible to narrow widths ; (b) the avoidance of extensive back projections, as tending to cause insanitary pockets and to prevent a free current of air and proper ventilation at the backs of the cottages. The cottages are two-storey buildings and planned in terraces of not more than 20 cottages, with an open space from 12 to 20 feet wide between each terrace. They are set back from 5 to 15 feet from the road and provided with separate gardens. Each cottage has in living-room : kitchener with open and close fire, dresser, food cupboard, plate rack ; in scullery : sink, copper, coal bunk, and in many cases a gas oven ; and in bedrooms : a wardrobe cupboard. Many of the cottages have baths. The number of cottages built to the acre is 31.81. The average cost of different types of cottages recently erected on the estate, including architect's expenses and incidentals, is as follows : Five-roomed cottage, 282 175. ; four-roomed cottage, 240 145. ; three rooms and boxroom, 225 175. ; three-roomed cottage,, 190 135.* (viii.) White Hart-lane estate, Tottenham. The Council in April,.. 1901, agreed to purchase an estate between Lordship-lane and White Hart-lane, Tottenham, at the rate of 400 an acre, the total purchase money being 90,225. The property, which is about 6J- miles from Charing-cross, is one mile from Wood- green station, and half-a-mile from Bruce-grove station. It con- sists of two sections, a quarter of a mile apart, the northern * For plans and additional illustrations see pp. 125-30. 73 containing 49 acres and the southern 177 acres. The Council was required by the owner to take both sections, but as the former would be difficult to develop for building purposes, the Local Government Board consented in 1911 to its being sold, and efforts are being made to dispose of it. The estate is situated in a district where a working-class popu- lation already largely predominates. The Council, after some years, came to the conclusion that it would be impolitic to cover the whole of such an extensive area with cheap-rented dwellings, and that it would be to the general advantage of the neighbourhood if a substantial proportion of better-class property could be erected on the land. The Council has no power under the Housing Acts to provide dwellings other than for the working-classes. Special parliamentary authority was, therefore, obtained in the Council's General Powers Act of 1912 to enable the Council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, to develop any part of the southern section then unbuilt upon on the lines of a garden suburb for the accommodation of persons of the working-class and others. The Council is authorised to lay out and develop the land, or to sell or lease any or all of it. for the purpose, provided, however, that the Council shall not itself erect houses on the land except for persons of the working-class. Details of a scheme for utilising the authority thus conferred are being considered. As regards the remainder of the estate, roads and sewers have already been constructed on a part of the southern section adjoin- ing Lordship-lane, sufficient to enable about 48^ acres to te developed. Cottages have been, or are being, erected on about 33 acres, and 3-^ acres have been laid out as an estate garden. Up to the present 781 cottages with accommodation for 6,202 persons have been built and 105 others are in course of erection, or are about to be erected. The cottages' are two-storey buildings, similar in character to those on the Totterdown-fields estate. The majority of them are fitted with baths. Administrative buildings and a small meeting hall for the tenants are about to be erected. It is proposed to reserve the frontage to Lordship-lane for the erection of shops, five of which are now being built. A site on the estate has been sold to the local education authority for the erection of a public elementary school. The roads have been laid out to comply with the Tottenham Urban District Council's by-laws and are planned so that .the majority of the blocks of cottages run north and south, frontage of the buildings therefore receives direct sunlight. At the junction of Awlfield and Risley-avenues, the cottages have beei arranged in angle blocks with open spaces in front, and in other cases the cottages have been arranged in shallow quadrangles wit open spaces bordering on the road. The estate garden is turfed for tennis, bowls, etc., and surrounded by raised terrace flower gardens. In i8QQ the late Lord Swaythling (then Sir Samuel Montagu, Bt.) offered to the Council, on certain conditions, a piece of land at 74 WHITE HART LANE ESTATE 7 6 Edmonton, with an area of about 25 acres, for the erection of cottages for persons of the working class. The Council was unable to entertain the offer as it could not, at that time, acquire land outside the county under Part III. of the Act of 1890. This disability was removed by the Act of 1900 ,* but difficulties arose as to the development of the land, and eventually Lord Swaythling generously offered to give a sum of 10,000 to aid the development of some estate to be purchased, or already possessed, by the Council. This sum is being applied towards the development of a section of the White Hart-lane estate having an area of about 25 acres and known as the Tower Gardens section. The cost of providing the estate-garden has been defrayed out of the gift and the remainder of the money is being employed in providing additional amenities to the cottages and the section generally. The chief condition attached to the gift is that all the houses erected thereunder shall be offered in the first instance, and from time to time as vacancies occur, to residents of three- years' standing and upwards in the Whitechapel division of the Tower Hamlets, without distinction of race or creed. It is anticipated that the estate will contain as a whole 25-05 cottages to the acre, but on the Tower Gardens section the pro- portion will be 22-99 as Lord Swaythling's gift enables larger building plots to be laid out on this section. The average cost of different types of cottages recently erected including architect's expenses and incidentals, is as fellows : Five-roomed cottage, 245 ; four-roomed cottage, 225; three- roomed cottage, 175. t (ix.) Norbury estate, Croydon. The Council obtained authority* in 1900 to acquire under Part III. of the Act of 1890 land outside the county, and the first estate of this kind to be purchased was that known as the Norbury estate. This is situated to the west of the main road from Streatham to Croydon, about a quarter of a mile from Norbury station on the London, Brighton and South Coast railway, about two miles from Croydon, and about seven miles from Charing-cross. The purchase was completed in 1901, the purchase price being 18,000. The estate had then an area of about 30 acres, but a little more than ij acres was sold in 1906 to the owner of adjoining property for 3,400, thus reducing the total area to about 28-J- acres. The site, which is well situated, rises rapidly from the London-road to Norton- gar dens, and thence slopes in the direction of Mitcham- common, to which Northborough-road will provide a thoroughfare. Roads have been constructed, sewers laid and two-storey cottages built upon about i6-V acres of the estate. At the present time 472 cottages, numbering 29 to the acre, to accommodate 3,482 persons, have been built ; four shops have also been provided. The cottages are similar in character to those on the Totterdown- fields estate * See p. 12. t For plans and additional illustrations see pp. 131-7. 78 but have 9- in. party walls between each cottage. In order that they may comply with the Croydon by-laws, the gardens in rear have an average area of 500 square feet. The cottages, with the exception of the cheapest type of three- roomed cottage, are fitted with baths and a large number have a separate bathroom. The average cost of cottages recently erected, including architect's expenses and incidentals, is as follows : Four-roomed cottage, 264 ; three-rooms and boxroom, 231 ; three rooms, 221 ios.* (x.) Caledonian estate, Holloway. The trustees of the orphanage for Scottish children, known as the Royal Caledonian Asylum, in Caledonian-road, Holloway, desired to remove the institution to a rural district, and offered to sell the site to the Council for 8,000 an acre. The property, which is situated on the east side of the road and immediately to the north of Pentonville prison, has a frontage of 248 feet, and an area of two acres. The Council in January, 1901, accepted the offer, but, as the trustees had to be given time in which to erect new buildings elsewhere, the erection of dwellings could not be proceeded with until December, 1904. Five blocks, known respectively as Bruce-buildings, Burns-buildings, Knox-buildings, Scott-buildings and Wallace-buildings, with accommodation for 1,384 persons, were completed between July and October, 1906. The front block, Bruce-buildings, has enclosed staircases with windows and white glazed dado, giving access on each of the five floors to four tenements. The remaining four blocks, which are of the improved balcony type, are arranged round a central garden, a drying ground being provided in the rear of three of these blocks. Each tenant has the use of a line on one day a week.f (xi.) Wedmore-street estate, Holloway. This estate is situated to the west of Holloway-road and a little to the south of Upper Holloway station on the Tottenham and Hampstead railway. It has a frontage to Wedmore-street of about 240 feet, a depth of about 200 feet, and an area of about one acre. The property, which consisted of eight semi-detached houses with a large area of open land in the rear, was bought by the Council in 1901, the purchase price being 11,650. Three blocks of dwellings, known as Wessex-buildings, were erected, two of these, with accommodation for 710 persons, being completed in October, 1904, and the remaining block, with accommodation for 340 persons, in July, 19054 (xii.) Bvixton-hill estate. In July, 1902, the Council's attention was drawn to a site, on the west side of Brixton-hill, with an area of about one acre, a frontage of 240 feet and a depth of 190 feet. The Council decided to buy the property, and the purchase for 7,045 was completed in June, * For plans and additional illustrations see pp. 138-42. f For plan and illustrations see pp. 79-80. * For illustration ses p. 81. 7S) STORE WALLACE BGILDiriG3 a o s o o KM OX BUILDIHG3 CALEDONIAN ESTATE. 8o CALEDONIAN ESTATE BRUCE BUILDINGS. CALEDONIAN ESTATE WALLACE BUILDINGS AND SCOTT BUILDINGS. 8i WEDMORE STREET ESTATE. BRIXTON HILL ESTATE. 82 1903. Briscoe-buildings, with accommodation for 718 persons, were begun about the middle of 1905, and opened in October, 1906. (xiii.) Old Qzk estate, Hammersmith. The Council agreed to purchase the estate in 1902, from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, but, owing to legal and other difficulties, the purchase was not completed until March, 1905, the purchase money being 29,858. The estate then contained about 54^ acres, but nearly eight acres were afterwards acquired OLD OAK ESTATE, 83 by the Great Western Railway Company, in connection with the proposed construction of a branch line from Acton to Shepherd's Bush. The company paid the Council 10,500 in respect of this land, and of the damage sustained by the estate. The property, which is about five miles from Charing Cross, is bounded on the north by Wormwood Scrubs, an open space of 215 acres in extent, and on the west, by the umbrageous Old Oak Common-lane. As the ground rises towards the west, good views can be obtained. The north-eastern boundary of the estate, where it adjoins the Scrubs, was very irregular, and, in order to make the site more compact and more suitable for development, the Council decided, with the consent of the Local Government Board and of the Army Council, to re-ad] ust the boundary by appropriating ior housing purposes a portion, about 2j acres in extent, of the open space in exchange for portions, of equal area, of the estate. A road will be constructed along the amended boundary, partly on the estate and partly on the open space. The cost of the paving, etc., works will be charged against the estate. The scheme for the development of the western section, which includes all the land, about 14 acres in extent, to the west of the proposed railway line, provides for the erection of 333 cottages and cottage flats, and 5 shops. Of the cottages, 42 will be of five rooms, 27 of four rooms and boxroom, 92 of four rooms, 23 of three rooms and boxroom, 101 of three rooms, six of two rooms and boxroom, and 16 of two rooms. It is proposed to provide 26 cottage flats, 12 with two rooms, and the remainder with one room. Each of the cottages and flats will have a scullery and the usual offices, and the cottages of five and four rooms and 14 of the three- roomed cottages will be fitted with baths. Roads and sewers have been constructed on the western section, 52 cottages have been completed, and 253 others are in course of erection or will shortly be commenced. In laying out the estate, so far as it has progressed, large open grass areas are provided in front of several of the blocks of cottages, the effect of which is in keeping with the suburban character of the district. School accommodation will be provided on the estate and a site has been reserved for the erection of a church by the Ecclesi- astical Commissioners. It is with cottages on this estate that the scheme* for enabling tenants to purchase leases of thei will be tested. (xiv.) Hughes-fields, Deptford. The Council in July, 1903, decided to appropriate for the pur- poses of Part III. of the Act of 1890, two plots of surplus land fron the Hughes-fields scheme.f Raleigh-buildings and Benbw- buildings were accordingly erected by Messrs. Martin, ttells and Co., Ltd., and opened in November, 1904, "ith accommodation for 280 and 160 persons respectively. See pp. 29-30. t See pp. 3^-3 8 4 CHAPTER IX. RE-HOUSING[IN CONNECTION ".WITH! IMPROVEMENTS, ETC. The Council, in common with other authorities, companies, etc., -who obtain from Parliament authority to acquire property 'Compulsorily, is under the obligations described above* to provide accommodation for the persons of the working class displaced from such property. Apart from, and in addition to, these obliga- tions, the Council in November, 1898, decided to provide accommodation, not necessarily in the immediate neighbourhood, for a number of persons equal to that of the working class displaced by any scheme under the Act of 1890, or by any improve- ment Act.| A number of the cases in which the Council was obliged, or voluntarily undertook, to provide new accommodation are of little importance and need not be described in detail ; a summary is given below. J Particulars of the Council's operations in connection with the larger schemes where it was necessary to -erect buildings for re-housing purposes, may be of interest. The dates following the titles of the improvements, etc., are the dates when the execution of the works was authorised by Parliament. Batter sea -bridge, 1884. The Metropolitan Board of Works was required by section 32 of its Bridges Act, 1884, to provide accommodation for the 190 per- sons of the working class displaced in connection with the re- building, authorised by that Act, of Battersea-bridge. A site at the junction of Battersea-bridge-road and Little Europa- place, was set aside for this purpose, but no action appears to have been taken either by the Board or by the Council to secure the erection of dwellings until 1893, when the land was offered for sale by tender without success. The land was then temporarily let, and in April, 1895, a proposal was made, but not proceeded with, to obtain relief from the re-housing obligation. Eventually in October, 1900, the Council decided to erect dwellings, and the work was entrusted to the Works Department. The buildings, known as Battersea- bridge-buildings, were completed in October, 1901, and contain accommodation for 286 persons. r Black all-tunnel, 1888. The execution of the improvement, which was authorised by the Thames Tunnel (Blackwall) Acts, 1887 and 1888, involved the displacement of 1,210 persons of the working class. The Council was required to provide accommodation in Poplar for 500 persons, and in Greenwich for 761 persons. Accordingly sites were allocated for the purpose in Yabsley-street and Cotton-street * See p. 13. t See p. 25. J See p. 96. Housing Question in London, p. 287. 85 Poplar, and in Blackw all-lane, Armitage-road (two), Collerston- road (two), Ordnance-road, and Idenden- terrace, Greenwich. The sites in Poplar and four of those in Greenwich were submitted to auction in February, 1892, but, as no sales were effected, it re- mained for the Council to erect dwellings. Council-buildings on the Yabsley-street site were first dealt with. Owing to the treacherous nature of the sub-soil some trouble was experienced, and special concrete foundations had to be put in. This was done by a con- tractor, but the superstructure was erected by the Council's Works Department, the work being completed in April, 1894. The buildings are five storeys in height, with accommodation for 240 persons. The sites in Blackw all-lane and Armitage and Collerston roads were next dealt with. Here again special foundations were necessary. These were constructed by contractors, while the Works Department erected the cottages, which it was decided to have on the sites. The cottages, known as Westview-cottages, Armitage-cottages, and Collerston-cottages, were completed by August, 1894, and provide accommodation for 464 persons. With regard to the two remaining sites in Greenwich, namely those in Ordnance-road and Idenden-terrace, it was found that the latter could be advantageously extended so as to provide on that site alone the accommodation required on both sites. The Home Secretary consented to the alteration, and the Ordnance-road site was sold to the South Metropolitan Gas Company. The foundations of Idenden-cottages were constructed by the Works Department, but, as that department declined the work of building the super- structure, tenders were invited, and that of Messrs. Holloway Bros, accepted. The work was completed in August, 1896. The cottages, 50 in number, arranged round three sides of a square, with a playground in the centre, accommodate 400 persons. The Cotton-street site, Poplar, was the last to .be utilised. Prolonged negotiations took place with Mr. J. Hartnoll, the owner of adjoining property, with a view to his buying the land for 1,400, and erecting dwellings thereon. This course was favoured by the Committee having charge of the land, but, though proposed on several occasions, did not commend itself to the Council. Finally, in July, 1899, plans were prepared for the erection of dwellings which would not involve a charge on the county rate, the tender of Messrs. Perry and Co. was accepted in the following September, and the buildings were completed in September, I9 01 - buildings, known as Toronto-buildings and Montreal-buildings, accommodate 360 persons. The total accommodation provided by the Council is therefore for 1,464 persons, or 203 in excess of the number for whom accommodation had to be provic Long-lane and Tabard-streel, 1897. The Long-lane and Tabard-street improvement, authorised by the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1897, involved the displacement of 291 persons of the working classes, for wh accommodation had to be provided, and a site in Leroy-stree 86 was allocated to this purpose. Difficulties arose as to the " housing value " of the site. After much consideration, this at first was fixed at 1,432 instead of 2,875, the value placed upon it by the Council's valuer, but eventually the valuer's valuation was adopted. Further difficulties arose in connection with the plans of the new buildings, as the Secretary of State was unable to approve the first set submitted to him. Accordingly it was not until June, 1903, that the Council was in a position to accept the tender of Messrs. \Y. Smith and Son, for the erection of the dwellings. These were named Barnaby-buildings, and were opened in September, 1904, with .accommodation for 400 persons. Kingsway and Aldwych (including widening of the Strand at Holy well- street, 1897-9. The widening of the Strand, authorised by the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1897, and the formation of Kingsway BOURNE ESTATE. -and Aldwych, authorised by the London County Council (Im- provements) Act, 1899, involved the displacement of 3,700 persons of the working class. The Council in October, 1898, had already purchased from the Duke of Bedford a site in Herbrand- ^street, Bloomsbury, as well as the sites in Duke's-court and Russell- 8 7 court, Drury-lane, mentioned above.* Further land was needed, and, while the Council was considering how this could be obtained. it learned that Messrs. Reid and Co., whose brewery was situated in Clerkenwell-road ; contemplated removing their business into the country. In June, 1899, the Council agreed to purchase the site for 200,000. The property, which was cleared by the vend- had an area of about 2} acres, and was subsequently known as the Bourne estate. The scheme approved by the Home Secretary required the provision of accommodation as follows for the 3,700 persons dis- BOURNE ESTATE REDMAN BUILDINGS. placed : 1,864 on the Bourne estate, 680 on the Herbrand-street site, 610 in a lodging-house in Kemble-street 250 ^on the . Duke^ court, and Russell-court sites, and 20,6 at Millbank. estate was laid out with blocks of dwellings facing Leather 1 ; Portpool-lane, and Clerkenwell-road, and with six k> - dwellings on the interior of the site. The foundations c * See p. 42. 88 interior blocks and of Redman-buildings facing Portpool-lane were constructed by the Works Department. The superstructure of three of the interior blocks Shene-buildings, Ledham--building& and Skipwith-buildings was constructed by Mr. H. L. Holloway, and completed in the early part of 1903. The superstructure of the remaining three Denys-buildings, Frew ell-buildings and Scrope-buildings was erected by the Works Department and completed by January, 1903. These six blocks accommodate i ? 33 persons. Radcliff -buildings, facing Clerkenwell-road and Leather-lane, were erected by the Works Department and completed in sections between June, 1904, and January,^igo5. BOURNE ESTATE RADCLIFF BUILDINGS AND FREWELL BUILDINGS. They accommodate 602 persons. The superstructure of Redman- buildings was erected by Mr. H. L. Holloway in July, 1903, and completed by October, 1904. As they accommodate 710 persons, the total accommodation provided on the estate is for 2,642 persons, or 778 in excess of the number required by the scheme. The internal blocks lie north and south, so that the maximum of sunlight is obtained for the living-rooms, and each tenement has at least one f room looking on to a garden. The plan is an improved balcony plan, arranged so that the living-room and the bedroom windows have unobstructed light, but do not look on to the balconies. The buildings are five storeys high with a few attics, and are constructed of fire-resisting material with steel joists and con- crete floors. All the sculleries and water closets are separated from the habitable rooms by ventilated lobbies. Gas on the slot system has been laid on. Plans of Thackeray-buildings, Dickens- buildings, and Coram- buildings, to accommodate 680 persons, on the Herbrand-street site, were approved in November, 1900, and the erection of the buildings was commenced by Mr. B. E. Nightingale in August, 1902, and completed by March, 1904. The erection of a lodging-house in a central position was one of the points to which the Home Secretary attached much importance. Plans of a building to accommodate 708 persons on a site in Kemble- street were approved in October, 1902, Mr. H. L. Holloway's tender was accepted in October, 1904, and the building known as Bruce House, was opened in July, 1906.* The erection of dwellings on the Dukes-court and Russell-court sites has already been dealt with in connection with the London (Clare-market, Strand) Improvement Scheme, 1895. f Of the buildings erected on the Millban.k estate, it was decided to appropriate Maclise-buildings for re-housing purposes in con- nection with the Kingsway, etc., improvement. These buildings, which accommodate 296 persons, were erected by Messrs. Spencer, Santo and Co., whose tender was accepted in March, 1900, the work being completed by February, 1902. Rot her hit he-tunnel, 1900. The formation of the approaches to the tunnel under me i hames authorised by the Thames Tunnel (Rotherhithe and Ratcliff) Act, 1900, involved the displacement of 2,773 persons of the working classes, and the re-housing scheme required accommodation to be provided for 1,135 persons on the north side of the river, and 1,707 on the south side. For this purpose the Council purchased sites in Ropemaker's-fields and London-street, Wapping, and in Swan- lane, Clarence-street, and Albion-street, Rotherhithe. Plans of Brightlingsea-buildings, Ropemaker's-fields, to accommodate 340 persons, were approved by the Home Secretary in October, 1902, and the Council, in July, 1903, decided itself to undertake the work, which was completed in September, 1904. The table below gives particulars of the buildings erec Swan-lane site : Name of buildings. Number of persons provided for. Date of completion. Winchelsea Do. Rye . . Sandwich Hythe Seaford (part) . (part) . 200 120 200 200 35 200 September, 1902. November, 1904. March, 1903. May, 1903- May, 1904- December, 1904. Total 1,270 * See also pp. 99-102 See p. 42 9 The re-housing scheme stipulated that all dwellings on the north side of the river should be completed by loth March, 1906. Delay, however, was caused owing to questions relating to the foundations of Bekesbourne-buildings, London-street. The erection of the first portion of these buildings, with accommodation for 380 persons, was entrusted to Messrs. F. and T. Thome in August, 1905, and completed in July, 1907. It was ascertained that, if the second portion of the buildings, with accommodation for 656 persons, was not erected until after the retaining wall in the tunnel approach had been formed, it would not be necessary to carry the foundations down to such a depth as would otherwise be the case. The Local Government Board .agreed to the work being postponed until the foundations could be safely laid dow r n with due regard to the progress of the tunnel. Thus by the middle of 1907 dwellings had been erected for 720 persons on the north side of the river, and for 1,270 persons on the south, so that the Council was still under an obligation to erect dwellings for at least 415 persons on the remaining portion of the London-street site, and at least 437 persons on the Clarence-street and Albion-street sites. There was a large amount of vacant accommodation in the neighbourhood of these. sites, and the Local Government Board agreed from time to time - to extend the period within which the Council had to erect new dwellings. The tunnel was opened in June, 1908, and after two years had passed and the normal requirements of the district had become established, the Council made exhaustive enquiries as to what demand there was for such working-class accommodation as already existed. Within a radius of half-a-mile of London-street there were found to be 355 unoccupied tenements containing 1,148 rooms, of which at least 800 were in good or fair condition. These, on the usual basis of two persons for each room, represented accommodation for 1,600 persons. Within half-a-mile of Clarence-street and Albion-street there were 131 unoccupied tenements containing 369 rooms (of which more than three-fifths were in block dwellings) with accom- modation for 738 persons. These figures showed that the existing accommodation was in excess of the demand, and that the provision of new accommodation, especially in block dwellings, would be attended with unfavourable financial results. The Local Govern- ment Board, after full enquiries, released the Council from its obligations to erect more dwellings and authorised the disposal for ordinary purposes of the land acquired, but no longer needed, for re-housing purposes. Westminster improvement, 1900. The Westminster improvement, which included the widening of Millbank, the extension of the Victoria Tower-gardens and the embankment to Lambeth-bridge, and street improvements near Smith-square, involved the displacement of 2,242 persons of the working class. In December, 1896, the Council had acquired 91 a part of the site of Millbank prison* and it was subsequently agreed that accommodation for the persons displaced by the Westminster improvement should be provided in the new dwellings on the Millbank estate. The provision of accommodation elsewhere would probably have cost about 90,000, so that the Council obtained in the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1900, which authorised the improvement, authority to allocate 50,000, to be taken as part of the cost of the improvement, for the purpose of providing other sites for the erection of dwellings under Part III. of the Act of 1890. In all, eight blocks of buildings at Millbank, with accommodation for 2,368 persons, were appropriated for the re-housing of the per- sons displaced in connection with the Westminster improvement. Particulars of these are given in the chapter dealing with the estate. f (a) York-road, 1898 ; (6) Batter sea-rise, 1900 ; (c] Garratt-lane and Tooting High-street (formerly Merton-road), 1901. The widening of York-road, authorised by Parliament in 1898, of Battersea-rise authorised in 1900, and of Garratt-lane and Tooting High-street authorised in 1901, involved the displacement of 218, 27 and 189 persons of the working classes respectively. Part of the surplus land from the York-road improvement was set aside for re- housing purposes, and on this site Durham-buildings, with accom- modation for 536 persons, were erected. The work, which was undertaken by Messrs. F. and H. F. Higgs, was begun in October, 1902, and completed by July, 1904. Mare-street, 1900. The widening of Mare-street, between the Triangle and the North London Railway bridge, authorised by the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1900, involved the displacement of 526 persons of the working classes. New accommodation was provided on two sites, one in London-fields, and the other in Jerusalem-square. It was anticipated that the cost of erecting buildings on the former site, coupled with the lowness of the rents ruling in the neigh- bourhood, would preclude the possibility of making any charge against the account of the dwellings in respect of the value of the site. The " housing value " was therefore fixed at nil, but subse- quently the Council, as in the case of Barnaby-buildings,{ reverted, as a matter of principle, to the valuer's estimate, and a " housing value" of 1,250 was adopted. The erection of Darcy-buildmgs on the site was undertaken by Messrs. Stimpson and Sons in March, 1903 and completed in July, 1904. These buildings accommodate 190 persons. The " housing value " of the Jerusalem-square site was fixed at 3,000. Messrs. Kirk and Randall's tender for the erection of buildings was accepted in November, 1903, and * See pp. 66-7. t See p. 68. t See p. 86. work was completed in May, 1905. The dwellings, which are known as Valette-buildings, accommodate 416 persons, so that DARCY BUILDINGS, LONDON FIELDS. accommodation was provided in all for 606 persons, as compared with the number (526) for whom provision had to be made. Nine Elms-lane, 1900. The widening of Nine Elms-lane, authorised by the London County Council (Improvements) Act, 1900, involved the displace- ment of 69 persons of the working classes. A site in Wandsworth- road, close to the improvement, was acquired, and in order to develop it to the best advantage it was necessary to erect a five-storey block of buildings and a row of seven cottages. The work, which was undertaken by Holloway Brothers (London) Ltd., was begun in May, 1904, and completed in May, 1905. The buildings were named Lennox-buildings, and accommodate 194 persons, and the cottages were named Clere-cottages, and accommodate 42 persons. Fulham Palace-road and High-street, Fulham, 1902. In connection with the widening of Fulham Palace-road and High-street, Fulham, authorised by the London County Council (Tramways and Improvements) Act, 1902, provision had to be made for the re-housing of 215 persons. A site in New King's-road was 93 accordingly acquired, and r on it a block of dwellings, known as Bearcroft-buildings, was "erected, with accommodation for 220 BEARCRO'FT BUILDINGS, FULHAM. persons. The work, which was undertaken by Messrs. T. J. Hawkins and Co., was begun in August, 1905, and completed in September, 1906.* Greenwich Electricity Generating Station, 1902. The erection of an electricity generating station at Greenwich, in connection with the Council's tramways, involved the displace- ment of 214 persons of the working classes. One plot of surplus land from the Hughes-fields, Deptford, schemef was accordingly * For plan see p. 95 See p. 3 2 - 94 appropriated for re-housing purposes. Dwellings thereon were built by Messrs. Martin, Wells and Co., Ltd., the work being begun in August, 1903, and completed by September, 1904. The build- ings were named Drake-buildings, and accommodate 220 persons. Preston' s-road and Norfolk-street site, Poplar, 1902. In connection with the construction of Blackwall-tunnel, the Council acquired land in Preston's-road and Norfolk- street, Poplar, which, after the completion of the improvement, remained to be dis- posed of as surplus property. Part of this was set aside for re- housing purposes in connection with the Burford's-court, Tucker's- court and Favonia-street scheme* and accommodation had accord- ingly to be provided for 269 persons. By the Board of Education Provisional Order Confirmation Act, 1897, the School Board for London was put under an obligation to provide accommodation for 1,030 persons in place of that which it had destroyed, during the previous five years in Shoreditch, Cam- berwell, Bethnal-green, Bermondsey, Mile-end and Ratcliff. The Council in March, 1902, agreed, in consideration of a payment of 10,359, to take over this obligation, and to provide the necessary accommodation on the remainder of its land in Preston's-road and Norfolk-street. The tender of Messrs. F. and T. Thorne was accepted in July, 1902, and Ottawa-buildings and Baffin-buildings were completed in March, Hudson-buildings in July, Ontario-buildings in August, and Winnipeg-buildings and Quebec-buildings in September, 1904. The erection of 14 cottages, known as St. Lawrence-cottages, in Norfolk-street was entrusted to the same firm, and the work was begun in April, 1903, and completed in July, 1904. The buildings provide accommodation for 1,220 and the cottages for 84 persons, making a total of 1,304 persons. Voluntary re-housing. There have been numerous cases in which it has not been neces- sary, or the Local Government Board has remitted (or has been asked to remit) the obligation, to provide rehousing accommodation for persons displaced in connection with street improvements, the provision of new schools and other similar purposes. Although new dwellings under special rehousing schemes have not been erected, the Council has voluntarily provided in various parts of London and the suburbs within easy reach of the areas where such displacements have occurred a large amount of accommodation under Part III. of the Act of 1890. This new accommodation exceeds the total of the displacements to the extent, in round * See p. 53. 95 10079 9 6 figures, of 10,000 persons, appended : A statement of the displacements is Purposes for which the accommodation destroyed, or to be destroyed, has been acquired. Street improvements Tower-bridge, southern approach Do. northern approach Evelyn-street to Creek-road, Deptford Southampton-row, Holborn Kensington High-street Cambridge-road, Bethnal Green South Lambeth-road to Norwood-road Belvedere road, Lambeth Main drainage works Lots road pumping station, Chelsea Education service Osborne-place, Whitechapel Fairclough-street, St. George in-the-East Wickham-street and Vauxhall-street, Kennington . . Vernon-square, Finsbury Ranelagh-road, Westminster Scawfell-street, Haggerston Upper Marylebone-street, St. Marylebone Gifford-street, Islington Popham-road, Islington Cork-street, Camberwell Lunda-street, Battersea Culvert-road, Battersea Vallance-road, Whitechapel Billingsgate-street, Greenwich Exmouth-street, St. Pancras Sundry displacements of less than 100 persons in each case Street improvements Bridges Fire stations Tramways Main drainage Parks and Open Spaces Education service Number of person of the working class displaced, or to be displaced. 535 240 278 329 134 107 218 182 101 118 431 100 225 265 172 139 249 189 1 80 112 237 132 215 412 464 117 235 109 60 ,886 Total 9,193 97 CHAPTER X. LODGING HOUSES. The provision of lodging-houses has been a distinctive and inter- esting feature of the Council's policy with regard to the housing of the working classes. Particulars are accordingly given of the three houses which the Council has so far erected. Many of the principal items are more or less common to the three, so that, in order to avoid repetition, only Bruce House, which is the latest and most up-to-date, is described in detail. Parker-street House, Drury-lane. This house was erected for re-housing purposes in connection with the Shelton-street scheme.* Designs were invited from outside architects, the successful competitors being Messrs. Gibson and Russell. The detailed drawings were accordingly prepared by them, and the house was built under their supervision by Messrs. Holloway Brothers. The work was completed in January, 1893, when the building was opened with accommodation for 324 persons. It was subsequently enlarged so as to accommodate 345 persons. The total cost was 26,909, made up as follows : Value of site, 3,750 ; cost of erection, including architect's commission, furniture, etc., The building is of fire-proof construction throughout, and con- tains a dining-room (with hot plate), reading and recreation room (accommodating more than 300 persons), lavatories, bath-rooms, workroom, parcel store, wash-house, laundry, store room, engine and boiler house, superintendent's quarters, and two shops. Carrington House, Deptford. This house was erected as part of the Mill-lane, Deptford, scheme, f The building was designed by the Council's architect, and the work was executed by the Works Department. The building accom- modates 803 persons. The cost amounted to 57>*37> made up as follows : Value of site, 2,200 ; cost of building, including extras, furniture, etc., 54.937- The elevations are of red brick with Portland stone dressings, the upper part of the frontage being finished with cement rendering. The accommodation includes a dining-room (with hot plate and crockery store), reading and smoking rooms ; barber's, tailor's and bootmaker's shops, feet-washing and bath-rooms ? and wash-house. The building was named Carrington House to commemorate the fact that it was opened in November, 1903, by the Countess Carring- ton, wife of the Rt. Hon. Earl Carrington, K.G., G.C.M.G. (now Marquess of Lincolnshire), who at the time was chairman of the Housing of the Working Classes Committee.} * See p. 33-4. t See p. 63. I For plans and additional illustrations see pp. 98, 123-4. ' 10079 9 8 CARRINGTON HOUSE, DEPTFORD. CARRINGTON HOUSE. SMOKING ROOM. 99 Bruce House, Clare-market. Bruce House was built in accordance with the requirements of the re-housing scheme relating to the Kingsway and Aldwych improve- ment*. The plans were prepared by the Council's architect, and the building was erected by Mr. H. L. Holloway, whose tender was accepted in October, 1904. The house was opened in July, 1906, with accommodation for 699 (afterwards increased to 708) persons. The cost was 55,935, made up as follows : Value of site 8,830 ; cost of building, including extras, furniture, etc , 47^05. The house was named after Mr. W. Wallace Bruce, as some recog- nition of the many years of work which he devoted to the subject BRUCE HOUSE, CLARE MARKET. of housing in London. Mr. Bruce was four times chairman of the Housing of the Working Classes Committee, and was a member of the Committee for fourteen years. The opening ceremony was performed by his wife, Mrs. \Vallace Bruce. The site has an area of about 28,171 square feet, and has frontages of 220 feet to Kemble-street, 108 feet to Drury-lane, and 139 feet to Kean-street. The plan above the ground floor is E shaped, as this was calculated to provide the maximum of light and air, with due regard to the economical development of the site. The building is six storeys in height. The elevations are of red brick, relieved with * See p. 87. IOO glazed and Luton bricks, stonework and rough cast, and the roofs are covered with green slates. The ground floor comprises a dining-room (with hot plate and crockery store), a shop for the sale of food, smoking room, reading room writing room, locker room, parcels room, water closets and urinals for lodgers, and a portion of the administrative quarters. The dining room has an area of 5,177 square feet. Fixed tables and seats of teak are provided for 360 persons. Sinks with hot and cold water are provided in two recesses, where food can be prepared for cooking. A cylinder is fixed at each end of the hot plate chamber with a constant supply of hot water for making tea, etc , and there are also two large cooking ranges. The smoking-room is arranged on the main frontage, at the corner of Kemble-street and Drury-lane, and BRUCE HOUSE DINING HALL. has a floor area of 1,907 square feet. Fixed teak tables and seats, accommodating 96 men, are provided in addition to movable arm- chairs. The room is heated by means of two open fireplaces, with special provision for the discharge of warm air. The reading room has a floor area of 2,720 square feet. In addition to a number of movable arm chairs, fixed seats and tables are provided to accom- modate 136 men. Two polished teak book cases contain books for the use of lodgers. Three open fireplaces, with special provision for the discharge of w r arm air, are provided, and the room has a central open area which is accessible to lodgers. A special writing room is provided, approached from the reading-room. It has a floor area of 317 square feet, and will comfortably accommodate 12 men. This room is heated by means of two steam radiators. JOI The locker-rooms are fitted with 690 sheet-iron lockers with teak doors. The parcels room is fitted with shelving for lodgers' boxes and parcels. There are 34 water closets and 8 urinals The basement contains a lavatory, feet-washing rooms, bath-rooms, wash-house, shops for a barber and a bootmaker, and a further portion of the administrative quarters, including a disinfecting chamber. The lavatory is fitted with 68 glazed fireclay basins BRUCE HOUSE CUBICLE. with hot and cold water supply to each. Mirrors are fixed on the walls, and rails are provided for hats and coats. The feet-washing- room is fitted with eight troughs divided by glazed fireclay slabs, and both hot and cold water are laid on. 1 he bath-rooms contain five glazed fireclay slipper baths and one shower bath with hot and cold supply. The first floor flat over the dining room and portion of locker room is railed off for use as a promenade for lodgers, garden seats being provided. Each cubicle floor is divided into sections by division 102 walls, which admit of the isolation and disinfection of sections in the event of contagious disease ; they would also check the spread of fire. Each lodger has an independent cubicle having a minimum width of 4 feet loj inches, and an area of 36 square feet, and lighted by a separate window. The height of the storeys from floor to ceiling is 9 feet, with the exception of that of the top floor, which is 8 feet 9 inches. The partitions between the cubicles are 7 feet 6 inches in height, while that portion adjoining the corridor is only 6 feet 6 inches in height, thus ensuring ample ventilation. The cubicle partitions are framed wood with panels, which can be taken out and replaced, if necessary, without disturbing the framing. Each cubicle contains an iron bedstead with spring mattress, the whole of which can be folded back against the partition for the purpose of readily sweeping and cleansing the floor. There are two principal staircases leading to the cubicles, and, in addition, one emergency staircase. These are so arranged as to make it practically impossible for any part of the cubicle corridors to be cut off from one or more of the staircases in the event of fire. Iron gates, fitted with panic bolts, are provided to the staircases to prevent lodgers having access to the cubicles during prohibited hours. Teak doors have been fixed on the landings of the staircases, in order to check the spread of fire from one floor to another, and each staircase is fitted with a fire hydrant. There are four water closets on each floor for night use, with the exception of the top floor, where there are only two. Taps for drinking water are provided on the staircase landings. The surfaces of the walls in the principal corridors, staircases, lavatories, kitchens, cold stores, etc., have been finished in glazed bricks or tiles. The public rooms generally have dados of coloured tiles 7 feet 9 inches high. The reading and writing rooms are provided w ith picture panels of prints, framed in teak. The smoking-room has coloured pictures, similarly framed, and in the dining-room coloured tile-pictures with tile frames are provided. The floors of the prin- cipal rooms are laid in wood blocks on concrete. The fireplaces to the reading and smoking rooms are designed in coloured glazed tiles, with Hopton wood stone dressings and mantel shelves. The floors and staircases throughout are of fire-resisting construction.* * For plans and additional illustrations see pp. 143-5. 103 CHAPTER XL MANAGEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S DWELLINGS. In view of the continual growth of the administrative work connected with the management of the large number of estates then in hand, the Council decided in 1901 to establish a depart- ment for the purpose of advising generally on housing work and of managing its housing property. As a consequence, a housing department was formed with a Housing Manager as its chief officer, responsible for the control of all housing estates, and for advising on questions relating to the housing of the working classes. There are three kinds of property in the charge of the depart- ment : (1) Block dwellings, comprising 6,428 tenements. (2) Cottage estates, comprising 2,844 cottages. (3) Lodging houses, comprising 1,856 cubicles. All estates are directly administered from the central office, through the medium of resident superintendents at the large estates and lodging houses, and of resident caretakers at the small estates. These local officials are closely in touch with the central office, and by this means uniformity of management is secured. Although applications for rooms are received at any estate, no letting is effected until the applicant's references have been taken up, and the applicant accepted as a tenant from the central office. Applica- tions for rooms are dealt with in the order in which they are received, and no priority is given, excopt in cases in which persons have been displaced in connection with any of the Council's operations, and in the case of applicants residing 'in the county, who are given pre- ference to those residing outside. At the larger estates under the charge of superintendents, the tenants are required to pay their rents weekly at the estate offices, and these receipts are paid daily into a local bank. At the smaller estates, where caretakers are in charge, the rents are collected by collectors, who visit once a week. In both cases, the account books are examined at the central office, and tenants in arrear are communicated with therefrom. In accepting a tenant care is taken to see that the family will not overcrowd the tenement, and it has been laid down, as a basis of calculation, that the standard of two persons a room must not be exceeded by more than one child under three years of age. At the commencement of a tenancy the family must satisfy this rule, but it may happen that in course of time by natural growth in numbers and age, and the introduction of other members of the family not previously living with the tenant, the tenement becomes over- crowded. In order to ascertain whether such is the case, an enumeration of the occupants of each tenement is taken yearly, and all cases of overcrowding ascertained on the basis of two persons I0 4 a room, all children under live (instead of three as on admission) being counted as nil, and any child between the age of five and ten years as half an adult. Cases of overcrowding are usually dealt with by transfers to larger tenements. As accommodation varying in size has been provided at all the estates, tenants are not allowed to take lodgers at the block dwelling estates, but on the cottage estates permission is given by the Council, under certain conditions, to tenants who make the request to take a lodger. No restrictions beyond those in the interest of the tenants them- selves are imposed in the conditions of tenancy. Tenants are required in turn to clean the staircases and landings of the blocks in which they reside. At the cottage estates it is a condition of tenancy that the front gardens, with the exception of the hedges, which are maintained by the Council, shall be kept in a cultivated condition. The cleaning of the common yards and the lighting of staircases is carried out by porters employed on the larger estates and by the caretakers at the smaller estates. The rents charged on the several estates necessarily vary. They are governed by the Council's regulations, which provide that all rents shall not exceed the rents ruling in the neighbourhood, and shall be so fixed that, after providing for all outgoings in respect of maintenance and capital charges, the dwellings shall be self- supporting. The rents charged at the various estates are shown in Appendix VIII. All rents become payable on Mondays in respect of the current week. The whole of the repairs are carried out by workmen caretakers at the small estates, and by workmen who work under the superintend- ents at the large estates. There is also a staff of jobbing workmen and painters who carry out repairs under direct supervision from the central office. By this arrangement it is possible to carry out the repairs expeditiously, and with a minimum of inconvenience to tenants. It is the practice to paint all outside work every four years. Information is given in Appendix X. as to the occupations of the tenants in March, 1912. It is interesting to note that the occupations in which the largest numbers of tenants are engaged are those of labourer, clerk, policeman, porter, salesman, carman, charwoman, cabinet-maker and tailor. These are the occupations which, speaking generally, employ the largest numbers of persons or are most widely spread throughout the county. In the case of three estates (Totterdown-fields, White Hart-lane and Norbury), two of which are situated outside the county, inquiries were made in 1910 as to the districts from which the tenants came and where they were employed. It was ascertained that of the 1,421 families then living on the estates 1,057, or 74-4 P er cent., had moved from within the county, while 364, or 25.6 per cent., came from districts outside. In 1,155 cases, or 81.3 per cent., the head of the family was employed within the county. Similar inquiries had been made in 1907, when the percentages of London families and of men employed in London were less than m 1910. It is clear that the accommodation provided on the three estates is used chiefly, and to an increasing degree, by the working-classes of London. The number of persons, including children, occupying the Council's dwellings (excluding the lodging-houses) in March, 1912, was 32,710. During the previous twelve months the number of cases of infectious diseases removed from the dwellings was 170, the number of births was 899, and the number of deaths wa"> 277. These are at the rate of 5.19, 27.5 and 8.5 a 1,000, as compared with 6.5, 24.7 and 15 a 1,000 in the whole of London in 1911. The three lodging houses provide sleeping accommodation in separate cubicles for 1,856 men. The houses are under the charge of resident superintendents, who have the assistance of a staff of porters, bedmakers, laundresses, etc. Lodgers obtain tickets at the houses for beds, for which they pay 6d. a night in two cases, and 7d. a night, or 35. 6d. a week, in the other. There are also a few specially furnished cubicles let at 5s. or 6s. a week. The superintendent, in addition to being respon- sible for the management of the house, carries on, with the assistance of his wife, a catering business, in order that the lodgers may be able to obtain good food,* cooked and uncooked, at a shop on the premises at cheap rates and in accordance with a tariff approved by the Housing of the Working Classes Committee. Lodgers using these houses have free use of the public rooms and lavatories with hot and cold water. A locker, in which he can keep his personal property, is provided for each lodger at a nominal charge. A charge of id. is made, however, for a bath, which includes the provision of soap and towel. Lodgers are admitted to ted at intervals of half an hour after 7 p.m., and are allowed to occupy their c ibicles until 8.30 a.m. At Carrington House special an angements have been made for the convenience of night workers. At this house a floor has been specially set apart so that men having to work during the night can go to bed from 7 o'clock in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. The charge in respect of these daybeds is the same as for a night bed. io6 CHAPTER XII. TRAVELLING FACILITIES. Workmen's trains. In recent years the provision of good travelling facilities at a low rate has been increasingly recognised as a factor of great importance in the solution of the housing problem. It is of direct advantage in that it is a means of enabling a large number of working people to live away from their work in healthier surroundings and yet to reach it without much inconvenience or at a prohibitive cost. It is also of indirect advantage, since the removal to the suburbs of a considerable number of workmen and their families tends to increase the amount of, and to decrease the demand for, vacant accommodation in the central parts of London, and thus to reduce the charges for such accommodation. Although these facts are now so clearly recognised, it may be noted that until 1883 no general action had been taken to compel railway companies to run trains with cheap fares and at times convenient to the bulk of the working-class population. Any facilities for cheap travelling which existed before that date had either been provided voluntarily by the railway companies or were the result of special provisions inserted in particular railway bills. In that year, however, was passed the Cheap Trains Act, which imposes upon the companies the obligation to provide sufficient trains for workmen going to and from their work, at such fares and at such times between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. as appear to the Board of Trade to be reasonable. The Act provides for the entire remisssion of passenger duties on all fares not exceeding the rate of id. a mile, and a reduction of the duty^on the fares of all passengers conveyed at a higher rate under certain conditions. If the Board of Trade has reason to believe that any company are not fulfilling their obligations in this respect the Board may hold an inquiry or report the matter to the Railway Commissioners for the purpose, and either the Board or the Com- missioners may order the company to provide such accommoda- tion or workmen's trains at such fares as may appear to be reasonable. Failure to comply with such an order involves the company in the loss of the remission of passenger duty. The administration and operation of the Act were carefully inquired into by the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Work- ing Classes, 1884-5, who in their report laid down certain principles which have formed the basis of much of the action subsequently taken by the Council. The Royal Commission pointed out that the wages of the labouring population as a class left no margin for travelling expenses, and that, if the railways were to be used for their benefit, it was essential that the fares should not exceed the difference between the cheaper rents in the suburbs and the higher rents in more crowded districts, and that trains should be provided at convenient hours. On the question whether the provision of such facilities might not entail losses on the companies, the Com- mission made the following important pronouncement : " The State io 7 has interfered in this matter in the public interest, rather with reference to what the working classes can afford than to what will pay the companies. The State assumes and exercises the right to control the price of conveyance on account of the monopoly which the companies are presumed to exercise in the conveyance of traffic.'" The evidence presented to the Commission showed that three companies did not run any trains at all for workmen, and that, although the Act mentioned 8 o'clock in the morning as the limit of time for workmen's trains, most of the trains provided by the other companies ran earlier than 7 o'clock. The failure of the companies in these two respects was attributed to the Board of Trade's practice of not taking the initiative, but of depending for its information upon representations made to it by parties con- cerned. The Commission expressed the opinion that the Board should communicate with representative bodies of workmen to secure the proper working of the Act. At an early stage of its consideration of the housing problem the Council perceived that, in order to cope with the difficulty of providing accommodation for persons displaced from insanitary areas, inducements should be offered to attract at least some of them to the suburbs. With a view to increasing the facilities an exhaustive inquiry was made into the services provided by the various railway companies, and at the suggestion of the Board of Trade this was followed by an informal conference with the managers of the companies. Later, in 1893, the Board convened a conference between representatives of the Council and of all the railway companies in London, at which the Council made the following proposals : (i.) All 3rd-class trains arriving at London termini up to 8 a.m. to be workmen's trains ; (ii.) all 3rd-class trains starting from London termini up to 7.30 a.m. to be work- men's trains ; (iii.) a uniform scale of workmen's fares to be adopted ; (iv.) workmen's tickets to be daily ones ; (v.) work- men's tickets to be available in superior class carriages when the 3rd class accommodation is insufficient ; (vi.) workmen's tickets to be available for return by any train carrying 3rd class passengers ; (vii.) workmen's trains and fares to be properly advertised at the stations and in the time-tables ; and (viii.) quarterly or monthly 3rd-class season tickets to be issued. The companies agreed to * Report of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, 1885, p. 50. This view was confirmed by the Railway and Canal Com- missioners in 1899, when, in giving judgment against the Great Eastern Railway Company, they stated" The company therefore obtain a large sum every year conditionally on their running workmen's trains, and there is no occasion to make the question of these trains depend upon a considera- tion of how they stand as regards a remunerative profit from the fares, seeing what these trains earn for the company by saving them from paying duty on all those fares which do not exceed id. per mile." mentioned, however, that, in connection with an action in 1911 against the same company, the Commissioners stated that there was " no ground for treating the remission of passenger duty as forming a fund out of which cheap trains for workmen are to be provided. Section 2 exempts from duty all fares not exceeding id. per mile, and has no direct relation t section 3, which deals with the provision of workmen's trams. jo8 items (iv.) and (vii.), and as regards (vi.) agreed that workmen's tickets should be available for return by any train after noon, the companies having the right to except certain trains. The conces- sions were regarded by the Council as inadequate, and the Board and the companies were so informed. Efforts to arrive at an agreement with the companies having proved fruitless, the Council attempted to secure the insertion in railway bills of clauses requiring companies to provide a sufficient number of cheap trains. These attempts in the case of bills relating to lines already in existence were not very successful, but in the case of new railways, such as the tube railways and of the amalgam- ation of the South-Eastern and London, Chatham and Dover systems, the results were much more satisfactory, and clauses, for the most part in the form submitted by the Council, were inserted in the companies' bills. The Council also supported the Cheap Trains Bill in 1895, and, when this failed, endeavoured, without success, to obtain a parliamentary inquiry into the subject. In 1899 it prepared a bill for the amendment of the Cheap Trains Act, but, as any procedure with this object .had to be by public bill, it was found hopeless to proceed. Up to 1899 it na -d not been clear how far the Council could take part in applications made under the Cheap Trains Act for additional facilities for workmen. Early in 1899 the Council communicated with the Board of Trade asking that it might be allowed to take part in all inquiries affecting London. The Board of Trade gave the necessary permission so far as concerned all applications which were heard and decided by the Board of Trade itself, but referred the Council to the Railway Commissioners with regard to cases heard by that body. The Railway Commissioners also assented to the Council taking part in the cases which came before them, but reserved the right to decide in each case the exact position which was to be taken up by the Council. These consents have proved of great use, and, since the dates when they were given, the Council has repeatedly availed itself of the rights thus established to press for improved services or cheaper fares. Much has also been accomplished by negotiation with the companies. There are now services of workmen's trains on every railway in London, and the progress made is well illustrated by the figures in the following table : Year. Number of work- men's trains daily. Number of miles travelled by trains daily. 1890 257 1, 806 1894 395 2 > 6 79 1897 466 3,247 1899 608 4,360 1902 767 5,808 1905 893 6,788 1906 1,167 8,609 1908 J >474 10,506 1910 1,630 11,480 1911 i,73i 12,150 log In 1911, therefore, there were more than six times as many workmen's trains as there were in 1890, and the mileage was nearly seven times as great. Although many reductions in fares have been secured, averaging 20 or 25 per cent., these have not corre- sponded with the expansion in the train services. This is partly due to the greater difficulties attending reductions of fares, for, beyond the fact that workmen's fares are less than the ordinary third-class fares, there is no definition of what is a workmen's fare. There is great inequality between the rates charged on different railways, and this demands and is receiving attention. A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in 1903, and re-appointed in 1904 and 1905, to consider the working and administration of the Cheap Trains Act. The Council sub- mitted various proposals for the amendment of the Act, and several of these were embodied, in whole or in part, in the Committee's recommendations. The Committee also recommended, as con- cessions to the companies, that all districts within a radius of 20 miles of London where an adequate service was provided, should be regarded as urban for the purpose of remission of duty, and that railway companies, instead of being required to re-house within a mile of displacement, should be allowed to re-house in the suburbs and to convey the workmen by cheap trains. The Council urged the Government to promote legislation on the lines recommended by the Select Committee, but nothing has yet been done in this direction. Workmen's tramcars. The Council, as the tramway authority for London, has been in a position to give to workmen the cheap facilities for travelling which it has urged upon the railway companies. Acts relating to tram- ways in north London provided that workmen's cars, at fares to be fixed by the Board of Trade, should be run at such hours before seven in the morning and after six in the evening, as each company might think convenient. When the Council in 1897, after acquir- ing these tramways, leased them to the North Metropolitan Tramways Company, the lease provided that the company should " run a sufficient number of carriages upon all or any one of the tramways between the hours of three and eight in the morning, at fares not exceeding id. for a single journey, and at return fares not exceeding 2745 19045 No record. No record. No record. 1905-6 . 213,337 1,264,660 1,477,997 1906-7 499,381 1,700,709 2,200,090 1907-8 603,920 2,805,065 3,408,985 1908-9 442,210 3,5 5,958 3,948,168 1909-10 221,350 4,228,792 4,450,142 1910-11 148,579 5,020,658 5,169,237 1911-12 99,127 5,339,899 5,439,026 On the whole of its system there are now about 1,684 workmen's cars daily with a total mileage of about 17,928 miles. It will be seen from a comparison of the figures in the two tables above that, while the facilities afforded by workmen's trains have increased only six or sevenfold in twenty-one years, those afforded by the Council's trams have increased about twenty-five fold in ten years. The length of the tramways in London owned by other authorities is so short that for the present purpose their effect upon the housing question may be disregarded. Motor omnibuses. So far as can be ascertain ed, the omnibus companies in London, although they run numerous services at times convenient for workmen, do not make any reduction in fares to those who travel Ill before a particular hour. For the purposes of comparison a state- ment is appended showing the fares charged by these ([companies between points from and to which workmen's trains or tramcars are also available : Route. Return (or double) fare charged by CXnnibus. Wodjmjtf. Workmen's tramcar. d. d. d. Piccadilly- circus to Hammersmith-broadway 6 2 Bank of England to Shepherd's-bush 6 2 Mansion-house to Wormwood-scrubs 8 4 Broad-street to Kilburn 7 4 Baker-street to Finchley-road station 4 2 Charing-cross to Golder's-green 8 2 Moorgate to Archway-road 4 3 2 Euston-road to Finsbury-park 3 2 2 Moorgate to Finsbury-park 4 2 or 3 2 Waterloo-bridge to Stamford-hill 5 4 Stamford-hill to Bishopsgate 2 or 3 2 Aldgate to Bow 3 2 2 Blackwall-tunnel to Aldgate 3 2 2 London-bridge to Greenwich 6 4 2 Victoria to Lee 8 5 2 (Charing- cross) Westminster-bridge to Peckham-rye 4 3 2 (Victoria) London-bridge to Norwood . . 6 4 2 Charing-cross to Brixton 4 2 i (Victoria 2 112 CHAPTER XIII. PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE HOUSING QUESTION IN LONDON. A short account has now been given of the chief difficulties of the housing problem in London, and of the efforts made by Parliament, by the Metropolitan Board of Works, by the Council, and by the vestries and district boards and their successors, the metropolitan borough councils, to grapple with them. Details vary from time to time, almost from year to year, and it seems well in conclusion to allude briefly to some aspects of the pioblem as it now presents itself, and to endeavour to suggest lines of enquiry and action on which a right solution may proceed. It is clear that future action must depend to a very large extent on the alterations which may take place in the numbers of the population, in the number and character of the factories, trades and businesses carried on, and in the consequent demand for labour. Although the population of London has greatly. increased, the rate of increase has been steadily falling for the last. fifty years. For the decennium ended 1851 the rate of increase was 21.2 per cent. ; for 1861, 18.8 ; for 1871, 16.1 ; for 1881, 17.4; for 1891, 10.4; for 1901, 7-3 ; and in 1911 there was an actual decrease of 14,582, or 0-3 per cent. Side by side with this tendency there has been a remarkable increase in the population of the districts immediately adjoining the county, an increase much in excess of their natural expansion. The population of extra-London in 1891 was 1,405,489 ; in 1901 it had increased to 2,045,135, and in 1911 to 2,729,673. The increase has been most marked in districts to which exceptionally cheap facilities for travelling from the central parts of London have been provided. Typical instances are Edmonton and Walthamstow, to which, for a number of years, there have been services of workmen's trains from Liverpool-street station, at a return fare of 2d. During the sixty years from 1851 to 1911 the population of Edmonton (with Southgate) increased more than ten-fold, from 9,708 to 98,409, and that of Walthamstow nearly 25-fold, from 4,959 to 124,580. There can be no doubt that, while the population of the extra- London districts will continue to increase, the population of the county will tend to become stationary. Already in the ten years 1901-11 there has been a small decrease and, though it cannot be anticipated from this that the population has reached its limit, it is obvious that, as the area of the county is fixed, the proportion of un- developed to developed land must tend, with the growth of building, to diminish. When only a comparatively small area remains to be built upon, the population will not increase so rapidly as it did when vacant land lay in every direction. Another factor is the substitution, especially in the central parts of the county, of com- mercial for residential buildings. A third is to be found in the "3 attractions offered by the extra-London districts in the form of greater air-space and pleasanter surroundings. In the following tables the cost of tenements in central London is compared with the cost of similar accommodation in the suburbs, with the addition of a workman's fare (a) by railway, (b) by tramway. (a) Allowing railway fare varying from is. to 2s. gd. a week. Suburban ^L re , f iroome^entl District. district to which mentTin w" in suburban dls - workmen's trains dwellin"- in tr ' ct ^' MS one * n * av run from central area. rpnl . ra i i- e et f workman's cen return fare. disti our of In favour of tral suburban ict. district. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Westminster Croydon I Q it ! 9 lot 9 Ealing . . . .1 9 X M 9 3l 4l St. Marylebone . . W T illesden . .1 , | 94 Ealing .. . . \\ I 5 *\ 10 2 | I 1 2i South St. Pancras Hendon . . ) ( 9 6f - 3 Holborn Wood Green . . 9 9| 1 10 64 8 Finsbury Finchley 1 10 4^ 6| Bethnal Green . . Tottenham . . 8 3t i 5 Stepney West Ham - 9 8| -: 7 9| i ii Shoreditch East Harn J 1 8 5t i 3i Southwark North Lambeth | Croydon . . 92 9 loj 81 - (b} Allowing tramway fare of is. a week. District. Districts within the Average rent^of county boundary to I 3-roomed which workmen's tram-! tenements fares are available | in central from the central area. ' district. Rent of 3- Difference, roomed tenement in suburban dis- trict plus one In favour of workman's central icturnfare. district. In favour of suburban district. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. North Lambeth Tooting - Q 2 - 8 9i 4J Southwark Streatham . . \ 8 9 - 5 North Lambeth Wandsworth ) - 2 -' 8 1 1 i - 3 Southwark . , Battersea ..Ij 9 I 9 -1 - if North Lambeth Deptford . . | 1 ! "f i ij Southwark Greenwich . . -92 - o io - 3| Lewisham 1 9 ~f ~ ! t Bethnal Green . . Hackney (I 9 I0 i "" x l Stepney . . Stoke New'gt'n .9 8f 9io| if T O Shoreditch Poplar . . 1 I o 5f 1 3 _. / South St. Pancras Poplar . . . . 9 Hi 1 85! Holborn . . Hackney i * i 9 I0 1 - it It will be seen that, when railway fares are allowed, the difference is usually in favour of the suburban district, and that when tram- way fares are allowed this is almost invariably the case, advantages of air-space and pleasant surroundings can, therefore, be secured at practically no extra cost, and even,m the majoi of instances, with some reduction of necessary expenses, be borne in mind, however, that this reduction would t^ke place n 4 only when one railway or tramway fare is necessary. When the children are wage-earners, two, three or even more fares might have to be paid by one household. Also, residence in the outlying districts may involve some increased expenses in other directions, due to the greater distance from centres for the supply of commodities. It is necessary to consider also what alterations may arise in the demand for labour. According to returns made by the Home Office, there were in London in 1897 8,275 factories, employing 344,391 persons. These numbers had altered in 1901 to 9,193 and 363,573, in 1904 to 9,663 and 357,392, and in 1907 to 10,490 and 387,061 respectively. It is common knowledge that, during the past few years, many firms have moved from London either into extra-London or further afield. The figures quoted above relate to only a few years, and any deductions from them should, therefore, be drawn with caution. Even with this reservation, however, they afford reasonable grounds for thinking that the removals are more than compen- sated for by the number of new factories established, and that the demand in London for labour of one kind, or another shows a tendency to increase. This view is supported by the fact, already referred to, that in the central parts of London residential buildings continue to give place to commercial and industrial buildings. Moreover, there is the fact that, so long as the present distribution of civilisation throughout the habitable globe continues, London's central geographical position is likely to secure for London its pre-eminent position as a banking, commercial, trade and social centre. This position must be reflected in the continuance of the consequent requirement for fresh supplies of labour. The present conditions most nearly affecting the problem may, therefore, be summed up in the following propositions ; the population of London is tending to become stationary ; the popu- lation of the extra-London districts is rapidly increasing ; this increase is due in great measure to removals from London ; the demand for labour in London is not likely to decrease. Attempts have been made in the past to stem the growth of population in London, and, apart from the economic considerations which condemn such attempts, their futility has been amply demonstrated. Nor is it more practical or desirable to try to prevent the flow of population outward from London. The only possible and the only reasonable course is to recognise the movement and to take adequate measures to guide and control it. In recent years this policy has appealed to the Council with great force, and the accounts of its action in securing travelling facilities by train and tramcar, and in providing cottages on the county periphery show conclusively the energy with which it has attempted the work of guidance. At the same time, however, the Council has not been free to abandon the policy of central housing or rehousing which it may be contended is to some extent in conflict with the objects of what may be called the larger policy. The obligation to rehouse displaced persons on the sites of the dwellings which they formerly occupied was imposed upon the Council and its predecessors by Parliament. The rehousing made compulsory by the Artisans Dwellings Act, 1875, and by subse- quent amending and extending Acts, has caused numerous sites in central districts to be utilised for the erection of new dwellings. The difference between the commercial value of these sites and their value restricted to housing purposes is estimated at over a million pounds. Of course the reduction of the full value of the sites by this sum cannot wholly be laid to the charge of the policy imposed by Parliament, for, whatever policy had commended itself to Parlia- ment, it would have been necessary to rehouse in the immediate neighbourhood of their displacement those workers whose hours and conditions of labour rendered it practically impossible for them to live in the suburbs. These form a comparatively small minority, and it must be admitted that, so far from securing any generally desirable result, the policy laid down by Parliament has often led to the retention in central districts of many working-class families who might have been accommodated in the suburbs at less cost to the community and at greater advantage to themselves, while the sites on which they are housed have been shut out from their natural economic development. As a general rule, the dwellings thus compulsorily provided may be said to make a commercial return on the basis of a land value restricted to housing purposes, but instances are not wanting in which provision has had to be made in spite of the fact that no sufficient return could be secured. In such cases the Parliamentary policy, when it has had to be applied without due regard to local conditions, has resulted, not only in the provision of an artificial attraction to an unsuitable neighbourhood, but in a continuous, as well as an initial, financial loss. On a review of the facts, it is clear that future action should take the form, as a preliminary, of careful and periodical inquiries into the movements of the population and the demands for labour, in order to keep touch with, and to follow with appropriate measures, any alterations which may appear. If the existing conditions are maintained, housing accommodation can be provided most usefully and economically on the outskirts of the county or in extra-London districts. Sufficient provision already exists in these districts for the housing of those members of the working classes who earn fairly regular wages at rates above the average. New accommodation, publicly provided, should be suitable for the less fortunate and should, therefore, not contain, on the average, more than three or four rooms, while the rents should be the lowest which would recoup the outlay. Cheap tenements in the less central districts are of no use to the working classes, unless there are adequate means of locomotion at convenient times and reasonable fares. The provision of accommodation must, therefore, be combined with unremitting efforts to secure such means of locomotion. Finally, the provision of accommodation in the central parts of London u6 must be strictly confined to that needed for special purposes and special classes. From an analysis of the rates irrecoverable and of the returns of empty houses there is reason to assume that the bulk of the vacant property in London is that originally erected for the middle classes. In some cases the houses-are not adapted to modern requirements - r in others the social status of the district in which they are situated has altered, although the neighbourhood may not yet be suited for commercial or industrial purposes. Pending the re-adjustment of the conditions, such property, after being vacant for a time, frequently falls into the hands of owners with small means, and is sub-let. In many cases the only object of the owners is to obtain as much rent, and to spend as little in maintenance, as they possibly can. All the tenants, who may comprise several families, have, in consequence, to use in common the cooking, washing and sanitary conveniences- originally provided for only one family, and, as may be expected, the property rapidly becomes overcrowded and insanitary. 1 he Council, fully realising the existence of these evils, obtained powers in its General Powers Act of 1907 to enable sanitary authorities to require in every tenement house, with certain exceptions, a sufficient provision of water for domestic purposes on the storey or one of the storeys in which the rooms or lodgings in the separate occupation of each family are situated, and obtained similar powers in its General Powers Act of 1908 with regard to the provision of sufficient and suitable accommodation for the cooking of food. 1 he local authorities can therefore prevent objectionable conditions from arising, or can remedy them when they have arisen, either by enforcing their powers as to overcrowding and by insisting on the provision of proper sanitary and other conveniences, or by purchasing the property and by adapting it to its new purpose.* Special provisions with regard to the erection of dwellings for the working-classes are contained in the London Building Acts, and in London, therefore, design and construction are largely con- trolled, t Beyond this, however, the rapid growth of the districts border- ing on the county renders it essential that between London and border areas there should be uniformity in the rules and practice relating to sanitation, building construction and laying out of streets. A return^ prepared on behalf of the Council in 1902 showed that in these matters urban and rural district councils contiguous to the county had, for the most part, framed their by-laws upon the model by-laws issued by the Local Government Board. Some approach has, therefore, been made towards uniformity. But * The above statements and views are based for the most part on one of the Council's publications entitled Report by the Statistical Officer . . . on the present aspects of the Housing Question in London (No. 1210, price 4d., post free 5d.), in which the question is dealt with in some detail, although, as the report WHS prepared in 1908, it is now not completely up tu u*u . f See Appendix XIV. I Return as to the uniformity of building and sanitary regulations in ai:d near London. (No. 666, price is., post free is. 2d.) the return also showed that there were important variations and exceptions and that in some cases the by-laws were inadequate when compared with the Acts and by-laws in force in London. The following are examples. In London rainwater pipes mu>l discharge in the open air over a properly trapped gulley, and surface water drains communicating with a sewer must be con- structed as sewage drains ; the model by-laws contain no such provision, and only some of the authorities have dealt with these matters. In London the minimum distance of a building from build- ings opposite or from the opposite side of the street must be 40 feet ; the model by-laws require only a distance of 24 feet between opposite buildings. In London the minimum height of a living room or bedroom must be 8 feet 6 inches ; in the model by-laws there is no limitation, although some authorities require heights varying from 8 feet to 9 feet. In London a building outside the City may not, without the consent of the Council, be erected within a distance of 20 feet from the centre of the road, nor may it, in the case of new buildings abutting upon streets constructed since 1862 and less than 50 feet wide, exceed in height the distance of the front of such building from the opposite side of the street ; there is no general provision or model by-law directly regulating the height of buildings outside London. In London every external wall, etc., must be protected by a damp course of materials impervious to moisture ; the model by-laws contain no special provision as to this and only some of the authorities have dealt with the matter. In London a carriage road must be at least 40 feet wide ; the model by- laws require a width of only 36 feet, although most authorities require a width of 40 feet, or even more. In London every street exceeding 60 feet in length, or having its length greater than its breadth, must have an entrance at each end and must generally afford direct communication between two streets used for carriage traffic ; the model by-laws require only one entrance, and most of the authorities have adopted this provision. The question was considered also by the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration (1904), one of whose recom- mendations was as follows : " Local authorities in contiguous areas which are in process of urbanisation should co-operate with a view to securing proper building regulations, in furtherance of which end the making of building by-laws to be approved by the Local Government Board should be made compulsory on both urban and rural authorities." The Committee further pointed out that " By the use of judicious foresight and prudence the growth of squalid slums may be arrested." The Council, in 1905, communicated on the subject with the various out-county authorities and found that it was generally agreed that the Com- mittee's recommendations should be carried out. Some measure of uniformity in these cases will, no doubt, be secured by the operation of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909. Five applications under this Act have been made by the authorities of districts immediately adjoining the county and n8 are being considered, but no schemes have yet been prepared. The importance of these from the general point of view cannot here be dealt with, but they, and the schemes which will come after them, have a very great importance from the housing point of view. It is now a commonplace that, in this country, the planning of towns in the past was, as a general rule, quite haphazard. No regard was had to the amenities of the district, and, whatever may have been the case with the houses of the well-to-do, little or no attention was paid to the design, construction or disposition of the houses of the poorer classes. In planning the ideal town too- much importance can hardly be attached to the necessity for such arrangements being made as will secure the proper distri- bution of the several kinds of accommodation required for the adequate housing of every class of the community. In conclusion one point arising under the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909, may be briefly referred to. The Act declares the erection of back-to-back houses to be unlawful, but does not prohibit the erection or use of a tenement house in which the tenements are placed back-to-back if the medical officer of health for the district certifies that the several tenements are so constructed and arranged as to secure effective ventilation of all habitable rooms in every tenement. The Housing Acts give no definition of back-to-back houses, but a reasonable definition would appear to be a house or letting having one side only open to the external air. The Council, in 1911, had before it the plans of a group of block dwellings proposed to be erected by the trustees of a philanthropic fund. On the basis of the above definition a large number of the tenements were back-to-back, and in any case the Council felt that the general provision of through ventila- tion to the intermediate tenements was unsatisfactory. The medical officer for the district issued the certificate required by the Act and the Council could not, therefore, take effective action. It is clear, however, that, in spite of the numerous enactments on the subject, it is still possible that a type of planning may be adopted for working-class dwellings which the Council, at any rate, considers will not result in the provision of dwellings on the best sanitary principles. UNION BUILDINGS ESTATE. LANE V BUILDINGS UNION BUILDINGS ESTATE. LANEY BUILDINGS AND KIRKEBY BUILDINGS. I2O UNION BUILDINGS ESTATE. NIGEL BUILDINGS AND LANEY BUILDINGS- BUILDINGS ESTATE. NIGEL BUILDINGS 122 W w. u D- PQ W 5 E-* CAJ W CO 12} 124 TOTTERDOWN FIELDS ESTATE-COWICK ROAD. TOTTERDOAYN FIELDS ESTATE COTEFORD STREET. 126 TOTTERDOWN FIELDS ESTATE LESS ING HAM AVENUE. TOTTERDOWN FIELDS ESTATE OKEBURN ROAD (LOOKING NORTH; I2 7 TOTTERDOWN FIELDS ESTATE OKEBURN ROAD (WEST SIDE). TOTTERDOWN FIELDS ESTATE CHURCH LAM-. 10079 128 s- I I \ R v. .* - 10079 129 130 WHITE HART LANE ESTATE-GENERAL VIEW FROM NORTH. WHITE HART LANE ESTATE TOWER GARDENS RD. (LOOKING EAST.) WHITE HART LANE ESTATE TOWER GARDEN (EAST TERRACE). WHITE HART LANE ESTATE AWLFIELD AVENUE (WEST ANGLE BLOCK): 133 WHITE HART LAXE ESTATE A WLFIELD AVENUE (WEST ANGLE BLOCK). 134 WHITE HART LANE ESTATE A WLFIELD AVENUE (LOOKING SOUTH). WHITE HART LANE ESTATE CORNER OF A WLFIELD AVENUE (EAST ANGLE BLOCK). GKOVND PLAN. ! 5T TLOOR PLAN SCALE OF FEET WHITE HART LANE ESTATE-THREE-ROOMED COTTAGE. 136 5-- :- - WHITE HART LANE ESTATE FOUR-ROOMED COTTAGE. I 1 _ J \ f - - ^ - - 4 138 NORBURY ESTATE NORTHBOROUGH ROAD. XORBURY ESTATE BAVANT ROAD. 139 NORBURV ESTATE TYLECROFT ROAD (LOOKING WEST). NORBURY ESTATE TYLECROFT ROAD (LOOKING EAST). 140 8-, O-- Q-- U-b u P5- ~x X 1 I ll- fi" *-- d - . K Q. hid 0-- d Q- I 4 3 S H 2 a-. 0-- 0- - o ti p I T a w J u w" w o ffi w u D OS a JL ft. 8. M5 BRUCE HOUSE VESTIBULE. BRUCE HOUSE LAVATORY. 146 a tuo bb ro co w ujj 'SJIJ o? ? o ft ft ft ft ft CJ 8 & OO ON o" 4 1 CM M "co S r ~ ftft ft CJ ft.0 ft tx O o 00 ON M M 00 rf OO co ON vO Tt- CO t^ ON co 00 M H, tx co ON M 00 M CO ON CM O O o iO ON M O ON CO q ^- IN q M (MM IO OO ON CM O CM CM ON CM tx 10 Tf M" M" CO 00 rt M CT\ ON rj- O O M O 00 en r^- Tf CM CM iO CO oo" CM M CO M CO 00 ON Tf" vO iO O O M IO IO iO CO tX 10 oo o o CO >O COOO M 00 O M CO M ON o 'O CM rt- CS O M M 00 CM 00 ON j" vO M" M" CO IOVO VO O" 1 O ON ON ON O CD ft VH -M co PQ O 03,3 ^ O Cx as om d 6 - . bo _g I w g ^0 ?3 M CO g ^^3 "trt ^x'O ^Jj nJ g 00 6 CD ,3 M ir; ^o n3 O ^ H " r ~. g -^ C """-' T}" ON vO N 75 CO '-3 5f t t ON 'O ON 10 ^5 3 0 CO rr CO TH- *1- CO o til! O O oo ^o" vO iO VO CO o C ^ .; j ^^-f^ | *^ ^ CO CO OO o^ ''o5 o M a 8 M fxVO s Q CO 00 0) ? co^ qj oo I-H 00 M oT 00 gi : bjO T r^ 00 M OJ 1 2 || ^ 1 i| : ts tt' s g 2 +-> So '^ _r o 5 w ^2 p^ oj 1 rt - ^ -'S 4J 00 -P 5 4 ,tf o g ^ ^ 2 <> "oj u? 1 u u* i y4 S "w5 lilt i tuO " S i-S rt^ L^ ^ 3 r^ r^ H fflH H CJCD -i N CO ^ io o 148 3-p . , en tuO | I 2^ f IO tx lOOO . . O ro 5^ o *o CJ COCO w- IO M ^ j^. ON tn -p O o O. ^. J" M Vo C |8 " "t ^ c: ^ O> 2* o tuo en M O !> O *o o o o \r\ R ^ g^ X H (S --- 2P O 10 M O M ^ i"S S-3 ro i *> co" o co ON ^ 9 M M C W ^ >^ H CO 3^ rQ j -a ^ P0 - O aJl-pp M ON co g-g ^ > M " ^H O o vO I -'.^'*" i- >~>v!i. ON 1 *- M _ lsC> cn V H ON CO g s g>8ga>$ ^^ C4 covO ON s ^ "3 M ON 00 CO OO o -M S *? S "Si'2 *" ^ M .j CO O 3 M g B >o co co N ^O O ON 00 tx N 'o rt ON c-J vo M O (M iO 8 IO (S M ro S ^t" O\ vO v^.5 M VO tX Q ^ 0 CO CO -lie Name and date of scheme. Completed schemes. Boundary-street, Bethnal-green (c) 1890 Church way, St. Pancras, 1 895 . . Clare-market, Strand, 1 895 Garden-row, Roby-street, Baltic- street, Honduras-street, St. Luke, 1899 Webber-row and Wellington-place and King's Bench-walk, South- wark, 1899 Aylesbury-place, Clerkcnwell, and Union-buildings, Holborn, 1 899 Burford's-court, Tucker's-court, and Favonia-street, Poplar, ] 899 Nightingale-street, St. Maryle- bone, 1899 Providence-place, Poplar, 1901 . . Scheme in progress. Tabard-street, Grotto-place and Cros"by-row, Southwark 1910 Totals M c-1 co 4- S vO tx 00 ON 149 ffiM-i tx Ct> s .? 1 t^ .-^ O D C 'o CM CO CM CO o Ja o 00 x-^ * s? ^osi o ^ vS s M a *w Q^ t/i p *^j* ^ o d M oo ^^ O ^^ +* _ N c^ Oj* x CO q^ ta K>^i CO M 5 *rt o ** ^< in 'So o co ro 0" o rt 1 O 00 iO O^ M~ CO 1 5 o 1 ts 1 8)5 | 1 -1 1 1 |l _ 1 1 ^ 8 rt "rt s s cj "Td 'r* T -M O 'C 4-> l'3. + ? C/3 -P I a ? 1 "S If 1 G ^ ? * X O * rm 3 -i |is b I I *J jlfl OJ ^~ 1>S ^ | ^- >o rf Q ^"^ 00 ON : < ( % |||| ^w" d^ oo" r>: rf- tx M 11 <8'g M ^ *St s 1$ Tf 00 ON CO O < ft si s.s C/) M M M |-| s g s.s| o .j s I s oo iO | ^0 | lll.l * K & M ^ o >o O l^" 2 1 o OO Q CO rf VM . 10 M^ vg 00 vO W> CO M CO 10 ^i i S ? 2-s I c - oo" Local authority. top "o J, g * S 1 . . 1 O In -l-> 3 ^3 & & "Sil^ft ^^ScB >,| X |||1 o cr S o T ^ '^ -S- CO ^ "^ ^ ? rj- iO ^ M ^ M" tN CO co tv. M "^ (sf CO 01 't- IO M 00 M" (N O rt U) IX M H CO CO ^ c^ CO (M T)- O> (^ M f-n ^_, t- CO Pi IF CO (N M CO OO O O O M M ON rH U~) 2^ M I W CJ 00 O O Tfr- O a o 10 co o o O M ON M iO ^ M 00 rf- O 'O* ill O co ON O "O O Q (v"> "^* 'O *O ON Name and date of scheme. ^d . | -! * * tfg '^ ml +j r ^ ^ ^ "3 ^ +-> n-J r^H ""O ' 4J lid ^'7 H C^.5flOswS* "**"*** OO 3fn-'Hr^3 p d M ^ o SPn.a a3 o -IC*Wp4 pqj^oW ^ o" M <^ co-4-io.o' 1 JZ "S^; "C o "o ^ ounts are m this figure, ll r^ ^sa a r; a "o 2J* III ! ^3 6 O 13 S 1 a -s < i j th a lai (/) 152 8 I f-Q? K r fe.f .^ & S fl ^ Vi II 8 & "g-JJ r rt fi d'9 o3 d c *fl> ^ T^ ^, N HH H CO T) | Battersea-bridge Westview, Armitage cottages ; Council jl o3 o3 pq Durham, York-road Duke's-court, York-s Bruce house ; B (part) estates Swan-lane, Brightlin Millbank-estate (part Darcy and Valette, I Wandsworth-road (p< Bourne-estate (part) Bourne-estate (part) Bearcroft, New King Hughes-fields 1 V.J $g O 00 ro C^ "5* ^00 O ro R ro o ? 1 J} $ ** 04 ^J- Th iO t^ Q^ ro O C4 H 04 04 04 10 ill H ro M 04 04 I ri M 1 III H 04 r~ H 00 0> 04 -+ s r**^ o^> o 04 00 O M l> ro 04 vD t^ Tt- 04 !>, 04 lO S H ro to 04 M H Tf- 04 I 1^1 M ro 04 04 ^-* , 04 M 1 f s a M M " a 1 1 *"* o ii 1 F i i i ' bX) ' O ' * o3 to H cu i 00 M Kg; b/> i M I DJO I "o < * * ON C 00 *.s M d i3 2 *H 'C .2 ^ 'S -S ^ ^ w o cs g r23 !O I CO ^ cd c/ c ; m . CO" ft i I rS ^ o"'ft r a ^ o 4 ^ ^ o CO "w ^ v -fl s w M M $ S CO c* f> |H 1 1 h s* C 3^00000 CSOOOOOOOOOThronNO\nnnn-^r.ft*.^ 5s? 5 ) co C^ ro C"N Cx roOO txoo CN 00 N M M vO to Tt- i- 00 C ) - (^ i i r ^ M ^ ^ u> c > O> CM C > 10 c i o^ *^Q H < O 500 C l " n O^oc - 1- ^ 2 & CO C < M h 4 M 1 O CO t- H ) M (V "5 ^O CO ^ t- - 4 CO 04 C 4 01 M CO 4 \ J^a ] C f CxOC t Tf tX U ) -^- ro^ )HIO CX)tx <"OOOvOt^u~ v /MT}-iOrooC ) If ^ ^ ^ C2 K O >O < 1- 1 (Vj M H 1 M M o Hp M s 1 5 rooms. 1 I i 1 1 M 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 I ^ O oo oo 10 o TI- o n- O 00 u ^ r| s g 1 i H O^ TJ r "1 M 1 1 - 1 ' ^ ' *> 1 * M -"S e ~r~ a s c g Tt- Tt* M ro 01 coOQ ^OcoCxro ^T(- 8 & : 2 . c! 33 -M 4- Dwellings. & ^ a a -H -S a g* 6b a U 5 -g ? iwii 11 "S -5 00 I -a CO P o 00 CM (N CO 'O CO CO N T^ rj- O CO t>. Tt-GQ O i- ro CO M M OO" M" * re : ; o co o o co o o N >n jjg jo in Tt- co co co OOOM II QOOOO M co fO co (SO IX TJ- C O CO in O aa . cucu;-i!H-MCU-^- > ^ r ^ ! ! 3 n? r 95 a3 b3f-*isili i9 'i^l < s w is^iil^lliii^i 155 ~ II ^5 > I B <3 |l S; i it io . ^.OOCOO>Ti-Tj->, coo o 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 N 1 1 n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 T | j>, 00 TJ- | Tt-TfrfrooOOOOOON I ^ | rf Tj-Nt^Tj-ON N M '^-ro rooo "3- ONCMSOO t^ rooo M M o Tt- r^ M ^ Q" ^ fO O 00 ~cT dy M 00 n Ig ^ e &^1 1 S b a ffli! 1=6 E* i^ if i ON g, MM re * - 1 O T t'MOC^Ot^-COCOCO i 1 1 Tj-OO CO vr* O vO IP 1 M ^ 1 00 1 M ro u" fO O vO i i i tN CO tN ONVO O C7^ s - C" i i O tt M M M M i 1 , VN ( VN & t^ , (a) At these buildings the local rates are paid by the tenants. (f) There are some cupboards at rents of <*d. a week. (b) There are a number of sheds let at rents varying from 3d. to is. a week. (/) There are workshops at rents varying from as. 6d. to Cs. a week. (c) The rents a week of six roomed tenements are 123. 6d., of workshops from 3*. Cd. to (g) Although this accommodation was not actually available on sist March, 191 6s. 6d., and of cupboards 3d. was available so soon after that date that it has been thoueht well to include it (d) There are twplvp st^hlps nt rpnfa nf TS &A o 7P.->1.- CN 0> M !? 1 ^ Weekly rent of tenements. IT! j : : : "X 'O -s, o H 1 M :S: I CO : _o CO Oj ; ^- o "^^ | ^ i vO vO | O^ M M M t>. * <-> no OO 1^ ^ i M >v^ M O 8 o : +-> \ i 1-1 on > M +-> 1 vO M o ^ _^2 V> CO : 2 M 3 rooms with small additional bedroom. ^0 : : : 1 ^ oo O " O vO i 1 *O *O *O '^^^ *O "O I *O 1 1 M 1 vO 1 1 vO vO 1 vO OO vO A 00 00 C"^ *O 4-* vO vO i vQ CO vO vO 1 +-> vO ^> O ^v M &\ 1 vO ^.^ <^QO 00 M O^ 1 1 vO oo oo oo \ *o 00 O vO ! 1 vO vQ | vO I ^O > r*]' j \& vO O^ w"* C^-^00 ' v \-i * u~) \f} ' ^^^ ' ^^ 'vo-di^^ vo oo m vO O ^^ ^ "^ oo 10 -2 -8 vO vO VO Tf ^s. 1 ^ oo i> j vO J>vO vO | $$ 2 & 1 vO vO vO OvO 1 vO vO ! * 1 I rt : '*>2 ' *i ' : ^o ^t 1 O 1 ^F vO 1 IT) IO vO rf $ District. T3 Holborn Bermondsey Deptford Wandsworth K> _, Westminster . . Shored itch Southwark ^^J^J 1 | *V r*H L] r*H r-H rf) * * r^H S-t O JjOO rj ^ OO IJillJltlJil} ||i|iil|1llr ^53 CD r^ g * _, >>A % >> S H *3 .> H 5 fl ^530^^42^13 5-g-g^^ *f 8 3 rf | g S^-gg ffiffijcBfo^H^ Dwellings. Goldsmith's-row-cottages Green-street and Boyfield-st. (late Gun-street) dwellings . . . eluding shops) Union-buildings (inc. shops) Valette-buildings Wandsw r orth-road -dwellings Webber-row-estate (inc. shops) Wenlake-buildings Wessex-buildings White Hart-lane-estate * S i ! en i co & -g g* en & liiityii.i IW -S-S^2-S=-S-S^g2 M l?;n:iw>^ iillpIOi-l^ll^ili flillflPlitiilfii IIIIIlll^I|- aTI |||| APPENDIX IX. Accommodation provided in the Council 1 s dwellings, and the gross annual rent on 315^ March, 1892, and each subsequent year. Vear. 1 Tenements. Rooms. Cubicles. Persons provided for. Gross Annual rent. i s. d. I 892 56 8 7 174 629 4 1893 56 87 324 498 3,577 12 1894 56 87 324 498 3,577 12 1895 358 8 7 I 324 2,066 8,119 ii 8 1896 602 1,485 324 3,294 12,910 i 8 1897 . . 1 984 2,603 324 5,530 22,O2O 9 8 1898 .. 1,263 3,26l 324 6,846 27,943 5 8 I 899 1,355 3,525 324 7,374 30,062 5 8 1900 .. 1,523 3,966 324 8,256 33,832 5 8 i 90 i . ! 2,346 5,936 324 12,196 51,241 17 8 1902 2,95 J 7,368 324 15,060 62,780 8 8 1903 3,881 9,552 324 19,428 81,087 19 8 1904 4,666 11,661 1,147 24,469 103,090 TO 2 1905 5,929 15,098 1,147 31,343 129,129 12 6 1906 6,326 16,352 i,M7 33,853 136,315 7 6 1907 7.474 19,879, 1,845 41,648 166,949 10 10 1908 .. 7,880 21,085 1,845 44>6o ! 177,487 14 7 1909 .. 8,196 22,210 1,845 46,310 186,096 13 7 1910 .. 8,539 23,578 1,846 49,oo3 194,019 15 o 1911 8,947 25,006 1,849 51,856 207,340 J7 4 1912 9,272 26,291 1,856 54,130 213,589 16 2 158 I s * ^" M M CO' ^ PO M M t** W c\3 I = n fii 3 I :l tH^ 1 N t " COM ' H N C. M N M Tf ^ !-i ^ -M ri .-.::!: -1 . . .|1 . . . i i il 1 1 ""O . "3 ^ g . . . . . CO fc "w .a " a . .! i . : . . |i .1 . *ff B M| &|a w 1 d .-g > .^ Ss-g f.|| il^ili |If|lli B S^ij^^ Watchman Waterman and Wheelwright Wireman and 1 Woodcarver umber. t^ in if CO O 00 ^" ^" M l/"> O^ CO H CO O w M or ,R8|!f OOO t^ H CO Tf C CO A | . . O . i . . > - 1 I i d +> To | o a : : : . . ** . 3 -1 S CH j-i 08 fl> cJ bo P Is s A. .H . 1 "f ' s 1 1 03 55 1 |6 1 I :i: :S|S :1: Ifl ^1 Sfett*l:.s6|a| S 1 S3 =3 .Sf t B I"! S.S ff * 31 yillflljllJlaJl IIIi||llSlillili HH |J t >t 5H-J (--iMMM^^^i^i^i^^ Musician and arti Newsagent Nurse Omnibus and mo1 Packer Painter and decoi Pensioner . . Platelayer Police constable, s Polisher . . rorter Post office and te Postman . . Railway worker, g 10079 i6o ^ I X s * X ^ a MOO O O t^OO M \O co MOO CO Tf CO <* o o o M u~> 00 00 vO ^ ^ CO M O 00 O IT) O O M IO Ml M MM 5" \ r i 1 1 1 1 M ON 10 i n t l|l III i| ISI i CO O C^u->T*-Tt- N O> ON O CO vo O * -CQ O VO CT> M VO HCO IO O O> N CO N O M CO GO H O W OOfOOl CO H Tf W H H "* <* O N iO CO VO H H H "I I I I I I I I I I M I 00 *O C4 CO I Tf I I OCO O TfC-< CO - 1 c? | 2 8 | | Number o houses or block dwellings. \o ro <* CO CO iO COCO !> O III * m \ vO CO I I 1 I I H 1 NCO IO (^ M O\ ^ I! sa -sl c3 O c^ i o 4-3 > -M 4-J IH 'rt S ^ ^ OflW -i OPMO 3 H I -8 dings treet- -s v 4 'r' 2 g -d d rt O $ to & .3 I ! WWW 162 00 N co O O\ 10 CO oo" III II M O VO M vO CO oo CO II! Q co ^_^> ty< in O > w to II 1! O n a o C3 O -< W " ^ I! O o CO co vO tr> TJ- N to >O T}- CO H Oi O M VO O 00 IT) >O CO vO M M M 00 O CO CO vo a> N O* N O H O 00 W vO W 8 a g i 2 2 g -" 9 .F-j P : ^ ^ I, 1 1 i6 4 APPENDIX Number of rooms in working-class buildings (excluding common lodging houses] the years 1902 to 1911. The numbers do not include the accommodation in better- 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. 1906. Corporation or ^ o 1 '6 c ^ 6 o ^ ?' , 6 "o metropolitan borough. I1J C C _e I-2| ti| jjjl ill 111 l|| ll 111 Eg| *3 31 2 5 11 Z 8,g rt^ g-c E *l 111 *|i y-S S rt < CS < 4J rt < . -< , < 1 City of London . . __ 24 L 4 _ Battersea . . 418 64 4IO 176 818 60 717 169 91 IO Bermondsey 254 608 283 280 567 1,215 1,202 287 31 41 Bethnal Green . . 215 28 382 172 356 319 597 315 218 49 Camberwell 284 80 505 614 169 754 150 399 173 Chelsea 322 20 12 582 305 123 99 Deptford 468 20 420 149 34 999 16 1 80 25 Finsbury 8 16 12 248 881 82 6 Fulham 1,061 715 1,287 1,069 170 422 36 Greenwich 53i 32 5 62 124 1,249 253 523 in 765 173 Hackney 455 no 431 116 5io 125 i,554 279 664 224 Hammersmith . . 322 47 904 86 986 55 1,103 66 i,433 3 Hampstead 92 8 10 33 6 28 59 I3 1 12 Holborn 143 140 54 172 864 177 162 688 7 62 Islington 258 36 65 29 84 598 186 819 440 Kensington 7 8 3 18 12 104 199 Lambeth 1,760 788 2,122 604 1,836 139 I,O25 i,572 1,152 276 Lewisham 3>639 4,416 4 2,284 48 2,066 146 2,382 74 Paddington 32 17 26 38 53 48 Poplar 60 69 456 219 698 18 184 352 20 134 St. Marylebone . . 189 304 36 479 144 1,133 199 St. Pancras 416 II 249 409 4 42 863 562 Shoreditch 243 105 240 39 78 152 J 33 Southwark 515 256 570 282 465 1,312 808 i, 880 i,435 1,640 Stepney 269 604 553 780 485 690 1,366 1,463 5M 403 Stoke Newington 486 491 42 Wandsworth 5>748 32 8,906 30 7,465 149 7,484 429 6,964 145 Westminster 1,329 624 196 469 792 184 84 733 76 781 Woolwich 3,545 no 2,54i 284 2,149 423 2,390 210 1,333 240 Totals 21,978 N^ ^^ 4,201 s~ 25,906 4,431 s 24,614 5,598 26,076 11,768 20,469 6,187 Net increase . . 17,777 21,475 19,016 x " "N_^ 14,308 14,282 Xlll. erected or demolished in the City of London and in each metropolitan borough during class houses which from time to time become occupied by persons of the working class. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. I9I , Total. it 6 . 6 11 ig| 6 . 6 III ||j ill Jgl |||- Jj III ||.| |ll || Ifl 1 ^ 1 3 1 *|f 31 HN 1^1 *fl i-sl 11 T! < rt < TJ < % < , rt < * fc o _ _ 96 _ 10 _ 155 _ 285 285 84 45 69 24 16 16 22 26 3 2,648 590 + 2,058 186 65 88 33 24 123 3 148 56 19 2,721 2,819 9* 144 155 33 373 321 363 75 2,681 1.434 + 1,247 386 19 138 1 86 32 503 19 4,185 ^871 + 3.314 408 7 89 230 206 558 938 1.603 119 264 240 47 105 85 6 145 18 2,910 430 -1- 2,480 360 183 52 120 6 44 135 64 748 1,469 721 756 16 383 15 64 119 26 42 61 132 5,844 530 + 5.314 500 3 562 2 4 347 15 352 269 471 132 5,862 1,163 + 4.699 498 159 224 35 422 201 426 7i 128 48 5.312 1,368 + 3.944 57 93 675 14 217 493 17 144 209 6,784 590 + 6,194 16 5 2 5 20 5 9 3M 145 + 169 37 5 10 191 I2O 220 168 73 2,346 2,261 + 85 191 3 J 3 4 121 6 39 794 163 33 2,735 M44 + 1,291 255 4 197 39 122 8l 259 49 114 855 652 + 203 723 672 390 235 357 974 383 595 87 1,478 9,835 \ 7,833 + 2,502: 1,648 17 1,077 587 37 503 43 269 6 18,871 375 + 18,496 ,j~ 82 20 2 7 5 24 145 200 "5 130 26 217 176 165 96 54 326 164 84 28 377 33 33 20 91 78 38 43 1,988 2,380 I.I49 1,716 + 839 + 664 53 6 914 195 266 84 389 62 53 46 126 19 261 308 435 288 597 104 210 1,799 877 3,519 1,767 1,720 89* 1,802 988 977 456 529 300 305 1,000 189 92 203 614 154 179 194 195 422 86 6I 4 89 6,889 4,832 1,019 7,663 6,294 8 774 1,462 + 1,011 4,658 o 80 3,242 186 1,511 33 1,692 48 i,450 106 49,120 1,238 + 47.882 *T> V J 129 996 195 207 164 617 298 191 568 434 103 24 486 250 75 416 231 92 2,794 15.041 4.*99 1,935 1,405 + 13,106 15.178 6,372 10,387 3,96i 5.7" 4,569 6,95 -X 3.992 ** 5,204 >-- ^^ 4,969 __^ 162,473 56,048 + 106,425 8,806 6,426 "* +~s 1,142 "^is" 235 106,425 i66 APPENDIX XIV. Summary of the main provisions of the London Building Acts with regard to the erection of working class dwellings. Section 13 of the London Building Act, 1894, and section 4 of the London Building Act Amendment Act, 1898, provide that no dwelling house to be inhabited or adapted to be inhabited by persons of the working class shall, without the consent of the Council, be erected or re-erected within a distance of 20 feet and 10 feet from the centre of a carriageway or footway respectively inside the City, and 20 feet from the centre of any other street in the County, to a height exceeding the distance of the front or nearest external wall of such building from the opposite side of such street, and that no building or structure shall be converted into such dwelling house within the distance referred to so as to exceed such height. Section 41 of the Act of 1894 enacts that the open space required at the rear of new domestic buildings abutting on old streets may be provided above the level of the ceiling of the ground storey or 16 feet above the level of the adjoining pavement, but that this provision shall not apply to dwellings to be inhabited or adapted to be inhabited by persons of the working class. Section 42 of the Act of 1894 requires plans of working-class dwelling houses to be erected not abutting on a street to be sanc- tioned by the Council, who may disapprove the plans if not satis- fied that the open space for the admission of light and air is equal to that which would be provided if the building abutted on a street formed before 1894. Section 43 enables existing domestic buildings which do not comply with section 41 to be re-erected after certified plans have been obtained, but this provision does not apply to working-class dwelling houses. Section 51 enables working-class dwellings to be re-erected by a local authority on the same site and of not greater dimensions, notwithstanding the provisions of the Act relating to space about or height of buildings. 167 APPENDIX XV. Extracts from the evidence given in 1884 by the Earl of Shaftesbury before the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes. " When they began [about 1857] to pull down parts of the houses in Tyndall's-buildings, Gray's-Inn-road, the swarms of vermin were so great that . . . the workmen, accustomed to that sort of thing, struck work . . . until fire-engines had been introduced charged with water that destroyed those animals." (Question 25.) " Formerly there were a great many long alleys, and when I used to go into them if I stretched out my arms I struck the walls on both sides ... In those alleys lived from 200 to 300 people, and there was but one accommodation for the whole of that num- ber, and that at the end ; . . . one could not even approach that end. . . . We could not possibly go into the rooms at the bottom of the alley, but we were obliged to speak to the people through the windows above." (Question 31.) " The air was dreadfully foul. The sun could not penetrate, and there never was any ventilation." (Question 32.) " Frying-pan- alley, Holborn, was very narrow, the only neces- sary accommodation being at the end. In the first house that I turned into there was a single room ; the window was very small, and the light came through the door. I saw a young woman there. . . . ' Look there,' said she, ' at that great hole ; the landlord will not mend it. I have every night to sit up and watch, or my hus- band sits up to watch, because that hole is over a common sewer, and the rats come up, sometimes twenty at a time, and if we did not watch for them they would eat the baby up.' . . . That could not exist now." (Question 36.) " I went into a low cellar [in Tyndall's-buildings] . . . There were a woman and two children there ; . . . from a hole in the ceiling there came a long open wooden tube supported by props, and from that flowed all the filth of the house above, right through the place where this woman was living, into the common sewer. . . . I believe much of that sort of thing occurred in London which could not occur now. Again in another place I had heard that there were people living over cesspools. . . . We went there, and in the room there was boarding upon the floor ; upon that boarding were living a woman and three children. We lifted up the boarding, and there was the open cesspool . . . not one foot below the surface of the room. ... It took an hour to clean by means of the machine." (Question 37.) " They go into these tenement-houses ; they remain there a couple of months or three months ; they go out again, and are succeeded by another family ; they leave all their filth . . . The other family come in, stay three months, and deposit their filth, and off they go." (Question 39.) " There was a famous place called Bermondsey Island. . . . It was a large swamp ; a number of people lived there ... in houses built upon piles [in about 1864] ... So bad was the i68 supply of water there that I have positively seen the women drop their buckets into the water over which they were living, and in which was deposited all the filth of the place, that being the only water that they had for every purpose, washing, drinking, and so on." (Question 141.) " In the old times the water was supplied [in London generally] sometimes only once a week, and at other times twice a week. . . In particular courts . . . the water lasted for 20 or 25 minutes. ... Many of them had to take it home and put it under their beds, where it inhaled all the noxious atmosphere." (Question I75-) i.- . INDEX. PAGE. Adelaide-buildings, Poplar . . 64 Albion-street site, Rotherhithe . . 89 Albury-buildings, Southwark . . 65 Aldwych-buildings, St. Giles . . 34 Aldwych and Kingsway improve- ment . . 42, 68, 86-9, 152 Alexandra, Queen, visit to Mill- bank estate . . . . . . 70 Algar-buildings, Webber-row . . 50 Ann-street, Poplar, scheme . . 63, H9, 153, 155 Arbitration in disputes . . . . 9, 19 Armitage-cottages . . . . . . 85 Artizans' Dwellings Act, 1882 .. 10 Artizans' and Labourers Dwellings Acts, 1868-1879 .. .. 8-10 Aylesbury-place area . . 50-53, 148 Back to back houses . . 21,118 Baffin-buildings . . . . . . 94 Baltic-street area, St. Luke 42-7, 148 Barge House-road-estate, Wool- wich . . . . . . 162 Barnaby-buildings 86, 152, 153, 155 Battersea-bridge, rehousing scheme . . . . . . 84, 152 Battersea-bridge-buildings 152, 153, 155 Battersea-rise widening .. 91* *5 2 Bearcroft-buildings, Fulham 93, 95 i5 2 153, 155 Beaufort-street-estate, Chelsea . . 161 Beaumont-buildings . . . . 42 Bedfordbury scheme . . . . , 146 Bekesbourne-buildings, London- street .. .. 90, 153, 155 Belvedere-road, Lambeth, im- provement . . . . . . 96 Benbow-buildings, Hughes-fields 83, 151, 156 Bermondsey Islafod . . . . 167 Bewley-buildings . . . . . . 33 Billingsgate-street site, Greenwich 96 Blackwall-lane site . . . . 85 Blackwall-tunnel . . 84-5, 94> J 5 2 Borough-road-dwellings . . 65-6, 151, 153, 155 Boundary-street estate . . 25, 35-9* 148, 153, 155 Bourne estate ..86-89,152,153,155 Bowman's-buildings scheme, Mary- lebone H 6 Boyfield-street (formerly Gun- street) scheme, Southwark 65, 149, 151* J 54 J 56 Brantome-place scheme, St. Pancras . . . . . . 150 Brent's-court scheme . . 64 Bridges, displacement of working classes in connection with 84, 96, 152 PAGE. Brightlingsea-buildings .. 89,153,155 Briscoe-buildings .. 81, 82, 153, 155 Britannia-buildings, Shoreditch 160 Brixton-hill-estate .. .. 78, 81, 151 Brook-street scheme, Limehouse 31, 1 47 153, 155 Brooke' s-market scheme, Holborn 62, 149 Bruce-buildings, Caledonian estate 78, 80 Bruce House .. 89,99-102,143-5, 153, 155 Brunswick-place, Stepney .. .. 162 Buckridge-buildings . . 53, 122 Building regulations 21,27-8,33,116-8 166 Building Societies .. .. ..15,21 Burford's-court, Tucker's-court and Favonia-street scheme 53, 148 Burns, John, on aims of Housing, Town Planning, etc. , Act . . 1 4-1 5 Burns-buildings, Caledonian estate 78 By-laws and regulations relating to building L ..21, 27-8, 33, 116-7 r Cable-street scheme, Shadwell, .. 33, 147' '53, 155 Caledonian estate, Holloway . . 78-80, 151, 153, 155 Cambridge-road, Bethnal-green, improvement . . . . . . 96 Carrington House, Mill-lane 63, 97, 98, 105, 153, 155 Central-street improvement .. 152 Chad worth- buildings .. 46, 153, 155 Chancery-buildings . . , . . 33 Chapel-grove scheme, St. Pancras 150 Cheap Trains Act 108-9 Churchway scheme, St. Pancras 39-4 1 , 148, 153, 155 Citizen-buildings, Shoreditch 160, 162 Clandon-buildings, Southwark . . 65 Clare-market scheme, 41-2, 68, 148 Clarence-street site, Rotherhithe . . 89 Closing and demolition orders 18, 62 Cobham-buildings, Green-street estate 66, 153 Coldbath Fields Prison, proposed erection of dwellings on site Collerston-cottages Common lodging houses Action taken by Parliament . . Management of Council's lodg- ing houses Powers under Act of 1890 Women, for, proposed erection on Webber-row estate See also " Bruce House," " Car- rington House," " Parker- street House " 155 1 1 85 105 20 49 PAGE. Compensation Basis suggested by Board of Works . . . . . . 22 Under Cross Acts . . . . 9 Under Housing Act, 1890 ..19, 20 Under Torrens' Acts . . . . 8 Co-operative building societies 15, 21 Corarn-buildings, Herbrand-street 89 Cork-street site, Camberwell . . 96 Corporation-buildings, City . . 161 Costermongers, dwellings for 27, 60 Cotterell-buildings . . . . 34 Cotton-street dwellings 84, 85, 153, 155 Council-buildings, Poplar 85, 153, 155 Council-buildings, Shoreditch . . 160 Cranford-cottages, Limehouse . . 31 Cranley-buildings, Holborn 153, 155 Crosby-row area . . . . 55-61, 148 Culvert-road site, Battersea . . 96 Cupboards, suggestion as to pro- vision of, on Millbank-estate . . 70 Darcy-buildings, Hackney 91, 92, 152, 153, 155 Dauncy-buildings, Webber-row . . 50 Delarch-buildings, Webber-row . . 50 Dellow-buildings . . . . . . 33 Demolition orders . . 18, 62 Denys-buildings, Bourne estate . . 88 Dickens-buildings, Herbrand-street 89 Dorset-street and Brunswick-place, Stepney . . . . . . . . 162 Downes-street estate, Camberwell 161 Drake-buildings, Hughes-fields 94, 156 Dufferin-street dwellings 25, 27, 151, 153. 155 Duke's-court-dwellings 42, 152, 153, 155 Durham-buildings, York-road 91, 152, 153, 155 East Greenwich-cottages . . 153, 155 Eastnor-place scheme, St. Pan eras 150 Edward VII., King, visit to Mill- bank estate . . . . . . 70 Edward Mann-buildings, Stepney 160 Essex-road scheme, Islington .. 146 Eve's-place, included in Falcon- court scheme . . . . . . 64 Evelyn-street to Creek-road, Dept- ford, improvement, . . . . 96 Exmouth-street site, St. Pancras 96 Factories and workshops, under- ground, Bill dealing with . . 1 6 Fairclough-street site . . . . 96 Falcon-court scheme . . 64, 65, 149 Favonia-street scheme . . 53, 148 Fire stations, displacement of work- ing classes in connection with . . 96 Flaxman-terrace-dwellings, St. Pancras .. .. .. 160 Fletcher-buildings . . . . . . 42 Frewell-buildings, Bourne estate . . 88 Frying-pan-alley, Holborn . . 167 Fulford-street and Braddon-street scheme, Rotherhithe . . . . 150 PAGE. Fulham Palace-road and High- street, Fulham, improvement 92, 152 Gainsborough-buildings, Millbank 68 Garden-row scheme, St. Luke . . 42-7, 65, 148 Gardiner-buildings, Borough-road estate . . . . . . . . 66 Garratt-lane and Tooting High- street improvement . . 91, 152 Gifford-street site, Islington, dis- placement of working classes . . 96 Goldington-buildings, St. Pancras 160 Goldsmith's-row-cottages 38, 148, 153, 156 Goswell-road improvement .. 152 Goulston-street and Flower-and- Dean-street scheme, White- chapel . . . . . . . . 146 Great Peter-street scheme, West- minster . . . . . . . . 146 Great Wild-street scheme, St. Giles-in-the-Fields . . . . 146 Green-street, Southwark, scheme. . 65, 149, 151, 154, 156 Greenwich electricity generating station 93, 152 Grimth-Boscawen, Sir Arthur, Bill introduced by .. .. 16 Grotto-place area, Southwark 48, 55-61, 148 Grove-dwellings, Chelsea . . . . 161 Grove-vale-estate, Camberwell . . 161 Guinness Trust .. .. .. 163 Gun-street (now Boyfield-street) , Southwark, scheme 65, 149, 151, 154, 156 Hardy-cottages, Greenwich 32, 154, 156 Herbrand-street-dwellings 86, 87, 89, 154, J 56 Hesketh-place, Kensington . . 161 High-street, Fulham, improvement 91 , 152 High-street, Islington, scheme .. 146 Hogarth-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Holborn to Strand improvement, 42, 68, 86-9, 152 Hollington-street estate, Camber- well . . . . . . . . 161 Holmwood-buildings, Southwark- street . . . . 70, 154, 156 Honduras-street area, St. Luke 42-7, 148 Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1885 ii 1890 . . . . ii, 17-20 1894 an d I 9 I2 1903 . . . . 13, 20-1 Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1909 .. .. 14-15,21,117-18 Housing Commissioners, proposed appointment of .. 16 Housing value of sites . . . . 28 Hudson-buildings . . . . . . 94 Hughes-fields, Deptford, scheme . . 32-3 83, 93-4. 147. I5L 154,156 Hughes Recreation ground . . 32 Hunter-buildings, Borough-road estate 66 Hythe-buildings, Swan-lane . . 89 Idenden-cottages, Greenwich . . 85, 154, 156 Improvements, rehousing in con- nection with . . . . 84-96, 152 Jerusalem-square site . . . . 91 John-street-estate, St. Marylebone 161 Joint Select Committee, 1902 . . 12 Kemble-street lodging-house, see " Bruce House." Kenley-street estate, Kensington 161 Kensington High-street improve- ment . . . . . . . . 9 6 King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra, visit to Millbank- estate 7 o King John's-court scheme, Lime- house . . . . . . . . 150 King's-bench-walk scheme, South- war k, see " Webber-row estate, Kingsway and Aldwych, rehousing schemes . . . . 42, 68, 86-9, 152 Kinnaird, Mr., Artizans and La- bourers Dwellings Bill intro- duced by . . . . . . 8 Kirkeby-buildings, Holborn 53, 119 Knotts-terrace, Deptford . . . . 161 Knox-buildings, Caledonian estate 78 Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Acts 7 Landseer-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Laney-buildings, Holborn 53, 119, 120 Latchmere-estate, Battersea . . 161 Lawrence-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Leases, purchase of, by tenants 29-39, 8 3 Ledham-buildings, Bourne estate 88 Leighton-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Leroy-street site . . . . 85-6, 152 Lewis Trust . . . . . . 163 Lindsey-buildings . . . . 34 Little Coram-street scheme, St. Pancras . . . . . . 146 Little Dorrit's Playground . . 64 Locke, Mr., Artizans and La- bourers Dwellings Bill, intro- duced by . . . . . . 8 Lodgers in Council's dwellings . . 104 Lodging houses, common, see "Common lodging houses." London Building Acts, provisions relating to working class dwell- ings . . . . . . 116, 166 London-fields site . . . . . . 91 London-street site, Wapping . . 89 London-terrace scheme, St. Geo. in- the-East . . . . . . 150 Long-lane and Tabard-street im- provement . . . . 85, 152 Lots-road pumping station, dis- placement of working classes . . 96 Lowood-buildings Lunda-street site, Battersea PAGE. 33 96 96 50 64 24 64 65 149 Maclise-buildings, Millbank 68, 69, 89 Main drainage service, displace- ments of working classes in con- nection with Mallory-buildings .. . '. 53 , 154, I56 Management of Council's dwellings 103 Mare-street widening . . 91 152 Marshall-street estate, Westmin- U ster . . . . . . j^ Mawdley-buildings, Webber-row 49 Maypole-alley, included in Falcon- court scheme Medical Officer of Health, County appointment of . . Melbourne-buildings, Poplar Merrow-buildings, Southwark Mill-lane, Deptford, scheme 63, Mill-lane lodging-house, see " Car- rington House " Millais-buildings, Millbank . . 42, 68 Millbank estate u, 25, 42, 66-70, 89, ...... 90-i, 151, 154, 156 Millbank prison . . u, 66-7, 90-1 Moira-place and Plumber's-place scheme, Shoreditch . . . . 149 Montagu, Sir Samuel, gift towards development of White Hart-lane estate 73,76 Montreal-buildings, Cotton-street 85 Morland-buildings, Millbank . . 42, 68 Motor omnibuses, conveyance of workmen by . . . . 1 10-1 1 Mulready-buildings, Millbank 68, 151 Murphy-buildings, Borough-road estate . . . . . . . . 66 Murphy, Shirley F., appointed Medical Officer of Health of County . . . . . . 24 Nigel-buildings, Holborn 53, 120, 121 Nightingale-street, Marylebone, 6* ] scheme . . . . . . 54, 148 Nine Elms-lane widening . . 92, 152 Norbury estate, Croydon 76-8, 138-42, 151, 154, 156 Norfolk-square, Islington . . 149 Norfolk-street site, Poplar . . : 94 Nuisances Removal and Sanitary Acts 8 Old Oak estate, Hammersmith 29, 82-83, 151, 154. 156 Old Pye-street scheme, Westmin- ster .. .. .. .. 146 Omnibuses, motor, conveyance of ' workmen on . . . . 1 10-1 1 Onslow-dwellings, Chelsea .. 161 Ontario-buildings . . . . . . [ 94 Ordnance-road site, Greenwich * . . 85 Osborne-place site, displacement of working classes . . . . 96 Ottawa-buildings . . . . . . [ 94 iv. PAGE. Overcrowding in Council' s_d well- ings 103-4 Overy-buildings, Webber-row . . 50 Park-buildings, Bermondsey . . 160 Park-buildings, Hampstead . . 161 Parker-street lodging-house 25, 34, 97, J 47> 154, 156 Parker-street widening . . . . 34 Parks and open spaces, displace- ment of working classes in con- nection with . . . . . . 96 Parliamentary action relating to housing . . . . . . . . 7-16 Peabody Donation Fund . . . . 163 Pear-tree-court scheme, Clerken- well . . . . . . . . 146 Pentonville Prison, proposed erec- tion of dwellings on 'site . . n Petticoat-square-buildings . . 160 Pocock-street School, exchange of land under Webber-row scheme 50 Policy of Council . . . . 24-30 Pond House, Chelsea .. .. 161 Popham-road site, Islington . . 96 Population, movement of . . 112-4 Potter-buildings, Stepney .. .. 160 Powers of Council . . . . . . 17-21 Powis-buildings . . . . . . 34 Preston's-road estate 94, 154, 156 Prospect-terrace scheme, St. Pan- eras . . ; . . . 150, 160 Providence-place scheme, Poplar 54, 148 Provost-buildings, Shoreditch . . 160 Public Health (London) Act, 1891 12 Quebec-buildings . . . . . . 94 Queen Alexandra, visit to Millbank estate . . . . . . . . 70 Queen-Catherine-court scheme, Ratcliff 150 Radcliff-buildings, Bourne estate 88 Railways, workmen's trains on . . 106-9 Raleigh-buildings, Hughes-fields 83, 151, 156 Ranelagh-road site, Westminster. . 96 Recreation grounds in connection with dwellings, powers as to . . 14 Redcross-place, included in Falcon- court scheme . . . . . . 64 Red Lion-street to Tooting High- street improvement . . 91, 152 Redman-imildings, Bourne estate 87, 88 Regency-street-estate, Westmin- ster . . . . . . . . 162 Rehousing obligations 20, 26, 84-96, IJ5 Reid's Brewery, see " Bourne estate" Rents charged . . 28, 104, 155-6 Repairs at dwellings . . . . 104 Reynolds-buildings, Millbank . . 42, 68 Ripley-buildings, Southwark . . 65 Roby-street area, St. Luke 42-7, 148 Romney-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Rooms, underground . . . . 21 Ropemaker's-nelds site . . . . 89 PAGE. Rossetti-buildings, Millbank . . 42, 68 Rotherhithe-tunnel, rehousing scheme 89, 152 Royal Commission, 1884-5 7,11,167 Ruskin-buildings, Millbank . . 42, 68 Russell-court site . . . . . . 42 Rye-buildings, Swan-lane . . 89 St. George-the-Martyr scheme, Southwark . . . . . . 146 St. John-street improvement . . 152 St. Lawrence-cottages . . . . 94 Sandwich-buildings, Swan-lane . . 89 Scawf ell-street site, Haggerston . . 96 School Board for London, rehous- ing obligations . . . . . . 94 Scott-buildings, Caledonian estate 78, 80 Scrope-buildings, Bourne estate . . 88 Seaford-buildings, Swan-lane . . 89 Select Committee, 1881-2 .. 10 Seymour-buildings . . . . 40 Shaftesbury, Earl of . . . . 7, 167 Shelton-street scheme, St. Giles . . 33-4, 147, 154, 156 Shene-buildings, Bourne estate . . 88 Sheridan-buildings . . . . 42 Shops, powers under Housing Act, 1903 14 Siddons-buildings . . . . . . 42 Skipwith-buildings, Bourne estate 88 Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, Advances under . . . . . .29, 83 Clause relating to, deleted from Sir A. Boscawen's Bill .. 16 Society for Improving Condition of Labouring Classes . . . . 163 Somerset-buildings . . . . 40 Southampton-row improvement, Holborn . . . . . . . . 96 South Lambeth-road to Norwood- road improvement . . . . 96 Southwark-street, No. 97 .. 70, 151 Statutory powers of Council . . 1 7-2 1 Stirling-buildings . . . . . . 42 Strand, widening at Holywell- street . . . . . . 86-9, 152 Street traders, rehousing of . . 27, 60 Sutton Trust 163 S wan-lane-dwellings, Rotherhithe 89, 154, 156 Swaythling, Lord, gift towards development of White Hart-lane estate . . . . . . . .73, 76 Sylva-cottages, Deptford 63, 154, 156 Sydney-buildings, Poplar . . . . 64 Tabard-street scheme, Newington, (1884) ..146 Tabard-street Grotto-place and Crosby-row scheme, (1910), 55-61, 148 Tenants- Conditions of tenancy . . . . 103-4 Occupations of tenants 104, 158-9 Tench-street scheme, St. George-in the-East .. .. . ; 31, 147 Tenement houses .. .. .. 116 V. PAGE. Thackeray-buildings, Herbrand- street . . . . . . . . 89 Thomas-place, Kensington . . 161 Toronto-buildings, Poplar. . . . 85 Torrens Acts . . . . . . 8 Totterdown- fields estate, Tooting 70-2, 125-130, 151, 154, 156 Tower-bridge approaches, displace- ment of working classes Tower- bridge-buildings Town Hall-dwellings, Battersea Trafalgar-road scheme, Greenwich 96 1 60 161 32, 147 Tramways Displacement of working classes in connection with . . . . 96 Workmen's fares. . .. 109-10 Travelling facilities . . . . 106-9 Tucker's-court scheme . . 53, 148 Turner-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Tyndall's-buildings, Gray's Inn- road . . . . . . . . 167 Underground factories and work- shops, Bill dealing with . . 16 Underground rooms . . . . 21 Union-buildings estate 50-53, 119-122, 148, 154, 156 Upper Marylebone-street site . . 96 Vallance-road site, Whitechapel . . 96 Valette-buildings, Hackney 92, 152, 154. 156 Vauxhall-street site, Kennington 96 Vernon-square site, Finsbury . . 96 Viaduct-buildings . . . . . . 160 Victoria-street, Shadwell, widen- ing 33 Wallace-buildings, Caledonian estate 7 8 > 8 Wandsworth-road-dwellings 92, 152, 154 156 Wapping Recreation-ground .. 31 PAGE. Water supply Common lodging houses, in . . 7 Tenement houses, in .. .. 116 Webber-row-estate 47-50, 148, 154, 156 Wedmore-street estate (Wessex- buildings) . . 78, 81, 151, 154, 156 Wellesley-buildings . . . . 40 Wellesley-street, St. Pancras, widening, see " Churchway." Wellington - place, Southwark, scheme, see " Webber - row estate." Wells and Campden Charity . . 163 Wells-street scheme, Poplar . . 146 Wenlake-buildings .. 46, 154, 156 Wessex-buildings, Wedmore-street 78, 81, 151, 154, 156 Westminster improvement 68, 90-91, 152 Westview-cottages, Blackwall-lane 85 Whitechapel and Limehouse scheme 146 Whitecross-street scheme, St. Luke . . . . . . 27, 146 White Hart-lane estate, Totten- ham .. 72-6, 131-7, 151, I54> *56 Wickham-street site . . . . 96 Wilkie-buildings, Millbank . . 68 Wimbledon-buildings . . . . 34 Winchelsea-buildings, Swan-lane . . 89 Windmill-row scheme, Lambeth. . 146 Winnipeg-buildings . . . . 94 Women, lodging-house for, pro- posed erection on Webber-row estate 49 Workmen's trains and tramcars 106-10 Wormwood-scrubs, re-adjustment of boundary between Old Oak- estate and . . 83 Yabsley-street site, Poplar 84, 85 Yeldham-buildings, Hammersmith 161 York-street-dwellings . . 154, 156 York-road, Battersea, widening 91, 152 yc GENERAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. 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