Manual on unfit houses and unhealthy areas / Ministry of Health.

Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual on unfit houses and unhealthy areas / Ministry of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/122 (page 26)
    5. It will frequently be found in large towns that districts adjoining an unhealthy area, while not perhaps requiring such drastic treatment, are far from satisfactory. It may be possible to deal with the principal defects in them by small improvement schemes, by closing and demolition orders and by the removal of buildings by arrangements with owners. ‘To illustrate this aspect of the problem an area of this kind is shown on Plans 5 A. and 5 B. to the east of the unhealthy area. 6. The last six plans (Nos. 6 to 11) show types of tenement dwellings. In this connection it has to be borne in mind that, where circumstances permit, it is generally better to rehouse in self-contained cottages, and that tenement buildings will, as a rule, be warranted only where it is necessary to rehouse on the site a larger number of persons than could otherwise be accommodated without undesirable congestion. Plans of. self-contained and flatted cottages are given in the Manual on Part ILI schemes. ; No. 6.—This is a suggestion for part of a block where the entrance is on the north side. The plan . comprises two 3-room dwellings on the ground floor and 3- and 4-room dwellings on each of the upper floors. The area of the accommodation in the 4-room dwelling is the same as for a Class A. cottage, but in the 3-room dwelling the area of the living room is reduced, as the family would be smaller. All the cooking would be done in the scullery by gas. The dwellings are planned on the assumption that there would be a communal system of hot water | and a communal wash-house which could be arranged on the roof or in the courtyard attached to the dwellings. In the courtyard there should also be placed for each dwelling a store to hold a perambulator or a cycle. : The walls of the ground floor would be 14 inches thick, and the two upper floors could have an 11-inch cavity brick wall, or the whole structure could be built with a cavity concrete wall. No. 7.—This is a plan for part of a block which has its entrance on the south side. The accom- modation is in all respects the same as in No. 6. ate In each of these plans additional rooms could be provided by slightly lengthening the corridors of the dwellings. ! No. 8.—This is a plan of a building designed by Mr. W. E. Riley, formerly Superintendent Architect of the London County Council, and shows how one common stair can serve four dwellings on each floor. The two dwellings furthest from the staircase are approached by an outside balcony, and the plan is so arranged that no living or bedrooms are overlooked from the balcony. Each block contains two 3-room, one 3-room and one 5-room dwelling, but the area of the rooms is below the standard now considered desirable. No. 9.—This is a plan prepared by Mr. F. E. G. Badger, Director of Housing to the Liverpool Corporation, and embodies the latest requirements from experience gained in that city. The entrance passage to the staircase is repeated as an open space on each floor to provide through light and ventilation to the staircase and for use by the upper floor tenants, for the storage of perambulators, &c. PRI k In the London types of similar buildings, each tenant carries down the refuse, which it is not possible to burn, to dust-bins placed on the ground level. The practice of Liverpool is to provide a railed balcony on each of the upper floors from which a shaft is approached, down which the ashes are dropped through specially contrived hoppers which are intended to avoid dust coming from the | shaft when the hopper is open for use. ' In each of these dwellings a copper is provided and the washing is done at home and hung out to dry on the balcony. at The: general needJin Liverpool is for 4-room dwellings, and the accommodation provided as shown on this plan appears to meet all the requirements of a flat. No. 10.—This is a design reproduced by permission of the Scottish Board of Health, and the architect, Mr. John Arthur, of Glasgow. Each floor contains 3 and 4 room dwellings. A novel feature of this plan is the arrangement of the staircase whereby the back part of the building comprising the office portion of the dwelling is kept narrow, allowing a greater depth for the living room and bedrooms in the front. The position and shape of the staircase with two rooms in front of it enables this dwelling to be planned with a square hall or lobby from which all rooms are approached, except the scullery, which is entered from the living room. : A wash-house is provided on the ground floor, approached from the courtyard in the rear, and each tenant can have the use of it on one day in the week. No. 11.—This design is also produced by permission. of the Scottish Board of Health, and the architect, Mr. Wallace Marchment, and it follows more on the lines of plans customary in London except that the staircase serves only two dwellings on each floor and so avoids the need of outside balconies. 7 arts This plan possesses a directly lighted lobby and corridor which is not provided in any of the others. The washing of clothes is arranged for by a gas copper in the scullery, and the clothes would have to be dried there.. This would not be necessary where a communal laundry is provided in connection with the dwellings. f The staircase only serves the two upper floors, as the ground floor dwellings have direct private entrances, which ts a distinct advantage. The accommodation is the same as in No. 10.