Light and Ventilation are protected by minimum open spaces and by a limitation of the percentage of a lot which can be occupied by a building. In Philadelphia there must be open spaces at the side or rear. equal to one-fifth of the lot area, and the minimum width of all spaces is eight feet. In Buffalo, under the local law in force before the general State act of 1901 was passed, the minimum width of any outer court was six feet in two-story build ings, eight feet in three- and four-story build ings and one additional foot in width for each additional story. The minimum interior court was 8 by 10. In Boston, a clear open space at the rear must be left equal to one-half the width of the street on which the tenement fronts and there must be two open spaces at least 10 feet wide. In some cities the required court area is expressed in square feet, without regard to minimum width or length and in creases proportionately with the height of the building. This principle is adopted in New York, where the minimum width of exterior courts in buildings five stories high is six feet on the lot line and 12 feet between wings and the minimum area of interior courts on the lot line in buildings of the same height is 12 by 24. These dimensions are increased or decreased according as the building is higher or lower. Tenement houses in New York must have an open yard at least 12 feet wide in the rear. The maximum percentage of lot area which may be occupied by the building differs, properly, according as the lot is an interior or a corner lot. As respects interior lots, this limitation in New York and Buffalo is 70 per cent; in Boston 65 per cent; in Philadelphia 80 per cent. The height of rooms is almost universally regulated, the minimum usually being eight feet. The height of tenements is limited in many cities. In New York it is limited to one and one-half times the width of the street on which it faces.
Water In New York water must be furnished on each floor. In Philadelphia and Buffalo, on each floor, for each set of rooms. In Boston, Chicago, Jersey City and Kansas City, in one or more places in the house or yard. Water-closet accommodation is very generally prescribed. In Philadelphia and in New York, under the law of 1901, there must be one for every apartment. Under the prev ious law in New York, there must he one for every two families. In other cities the unit is the number of persons. It is 20 persons in Boston, Baltimore and Denver; 10 persons in Rochester.
Law The enforcement of Tenement-House Law in American cities is usually vested in existing city departments to which it is most germane. These provisions, which relate to the construction of new build ings and the alteration of old ones, are natur ally enforced by a building department or by whatever part of a city government has charge of the enforcement of building regulations. Sanitary regulations are, for a like reason, usually enforced by a board of health or by whatever city officer supervises the enforcement of health laws in general. In the city of New York previous to 1901 the enforcement of such regulations was divided between the building department, the health department, the fire de partment and the police department. Under such divided responsibility many of them were not enforced at all, and the enforcement of others was extremely lax. Moreover, the tene ment-house problem in New York was an ex ceptionally large one. Of its population at that time of nearly 3,500,000, nearly 2,500,000, or more than two thirds, lived in tenement houses as legally defined. Under these circumstances the State commission of 1900 recommended the establishment of a separate tenement-house de partment in the city of New York. This de partment was established under the new charter of the city which went into operation in 1902 and centres in itself all the municipal duties toward tenement houses and their inmates, as such, which were previously divided among the other city departments.
Model The erection of model tenements, so-called, of large size, from mo tives primarily philanthropic, has been less frequent in the United States than in Great Britain. The best known and earliest are the "Home Buildings" and "Tower Buildings," which were erected by Alfred T. White in Brooklyn;
the first named in 1879. The erection of these buildings, which have been financially success ful from the start, was an epoch in the cause of tenement reform. It led indirectly to the Tene ment-House Law of 1879. Among the most successful model tenements are those of the City and Suburban Homes Company of New York. In the United States 616 cities now take an active interest in housing, and in 124 model housing enterprises have been launched.
Great The movement for hous ing reform in Great Britain has had a some what different direction from its American counterpart. The evils there have been more largely slum conditions than those resulting from tall buildings and unventilated and un lighted rooms. The particular evils of the tall tenement practically exist only in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Consequently English and Scotch effort has been directed mainly toward the demolition of unsanitary areas and more recently, the erection of municipal tenements by the city governments themselves. These movements, at first local, and authorized under local acts, such as the Glasgow Improvement Act of 1866 and the Liverpool Sanitary Amend ment Act of 1868, have been made general by the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890 and many slum areas have been destroyed and municipal tenements built in their place, notably in the cities of London, Glasgow, Man chester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. Tenement house regulation in Great Britain emphasizes the same general subjects and follows the same lines as American regulation. Limitations upon height are general and more drastic than in America. Such houses are limited in London to 80 feet, without special consent of the coun cil and may not exceed the distance between the front wall of the building and the opposite side of the street in streets less than 50 feet wide. In Edinburgh they are limited to one and one-quarter times the width of the street; in Liverpool and Glasgow to the actual width of the street; in Manchester to two stories in streets of less than 30 feet in width and to three stories in wider streets up to a width of 36 feet. Tenement regulations on the Con tinent usually form part of the general build ing regulations. The regulations for Paris and Berlin are very elaborate, but proceed under the same general lines as in English and Ameri can cities. In Berlin, houses fronting on the street may only be as high as the width of the street. In Paris a somewhat greater lati tude is allowed in this particular.
No American city has imitated the English example of building municipal tenements, nor has such action ever been seriously proposed. Serious objections to any such extension of the sphere of municipal activity would exist in any American city. Moreover, municipal build ing would discourage and restrict building by private enterprise, which has proved sufficient to meet the demand. The problem is too large for any American city to deal with it success fully by the use of any amount of public funds likely to be put at its disposal for such pur poses. Halfway measures by preventing private enterprise would only increase the evil which they sought to remedy.
Bibliography.— De Forest and Veiller,
Tenement House Problem' (1903) • Gould, 'The Housing of the Working People' (18S)1 Riis, 'How the Other Half Lives' (1890); id„ The Battle with the Slum' (1899); (First Report of the New York Tenement House De partment' (1904); Veiller, Lawrence, 'Model Tenement House Law' (1910) ; George, Wil liam, 'The Law of Apartments, Flats and Tenements' (New York 1908); Dinwiddie, E. W., 'Housing Conditions in Philadelphia); Clode, W. B.,