e are two classes of tenement houses in the city. Those occupied by
the well-to-do working people, and those which are simply the homes of
the poor. The first are immense, but spruce looking structures, and are
kept cleaner than the latter, but all suffer from the evils incident to
and inseparable from such close packing. Those of the second class are
simply dens of vice and misery. In the older quarters of the city, many
of the old time residences are now occupied as tenement houses. The old
Walton mansion in Pearl street, opposite the vast establishment of Harper
& Brothers, was once the most elegant and hospitable mansion in New York.
It is now one of the most wretched tenement houses in the city. The
tenement houses of the upper wards, however, were constructed for the
uses to which they are put. As pecuniary investments they pay well, the
rents sometimes yielding as much as thirty per cent. on the investment.
One of them shall serve as a description of the average tenement house.
The building stands on a lot with a front of 50 feet, and a depth of 250
feet. It has an alley running the whole depth on each side of it. These
alley-ways are excavated to the depth of the cellars, arched over, and
covered with flag stones, in which, at intervals, are open gratings to
give light below; the whole length of which space is occupied by water
closets, without doors, and under which are open drains communicating
with the street sewers. The building is five stories high, and has a
flat roof. The only ventilation is by a window, which opens against a
dead wall eight feet distant, and to which rises the vapor from the vault
below. There is water on each floor, and gas pipes are laid through the
building, so that those who desire it can use gas. The building contains
126 families, or about 700 inhabitants. Each family has a narrow
sitting-room, which is used also for working and eating, and a closet
called a bed room. But few of the rooms are properly ventilated. The
sun never shines in at the windows, and if the sky is overcast the rooms
are so dark as to need artificial light. The whole house is dirty, and
is filled with the mingled odors from the cooking-stoves and the sinks.
In the winter the rooms are kept too close by the stoves, and in the
summer the natural heat is made tenfold greater by the fires for cooking
and washing. Pass these houses on a hot night, and you will see the
streets in front of them filled