First Tenement House Act - 1867
Required every sleeping room to have a ventilator or window, a proper fire-escape and stairwell banisters approved by the Building Inspector. However, landlords often found a cheaper way around these regulations that were fatal to the residents. 'Old Law' Tenement Act - 1879 - "All rooms now had to open onto the street, the rear yard, or an air." [The Tenement House Problem, 1901] The 'Tenement House Competition 1879' gave way to the winning "Dumbbell Tenement" design. |
"In the great 'dumbbell tenements'...the rickety old frame,...the damp, unwholesome cellars,...the sidewalks and...gutters reeking of filth and garbage, is a seething mass of humanity...Men and women yet living, not like animals, but like vermin!"
-Allan Forman, American Magazine (1888)