The American Architect
VOl. CXIIIWednesday, January 9, 1918Number 2194
War and Industrial Housing
By Henry Atterbury Smith WAR has not brought new housing problems,
as many who have but lately thought about the matter seem to believe. It has merely made^tlie problems more acute in certain places. It has introduced specific phases of the housing problem where they never were before, and brought a pressure for human habitations in many localities where the usual yearly increment in housing was enough to take care of the loss of old buildings and the additional housing necessary for the new families coming to town.
War has made many of us think more fundamentally and read more widely, and if we observe closely and think correctly, this great strain may bring about changes for the better that will become permanent. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that housing conditions have suddenly become bad; but rather let us realize that merely our consciences have been awakened to the conditions that have been prevalent for generations. A most enlightening book to read just now is “The Town Laborer” (1760 to 1832) by Hammond, published this year in London. This is interesting reading and will give the suddenly awakened housing “expert” a realization of his task and the probable time it will take to solve it.
Improvements in housing evidently move slowly. Only such agencies as the Charitable Societies and the Housing Associations delude themselves into thinking that great strides are being made. Let the reader correspond with Dr. Darlington, health advisor of the steel industries, to be apprised of this fact. Dr. Darlington is doing all he can in the immense industries he advises, and yet it is pitiful to observe here, as well as generally, the indifference and ignorance of others who will not or do not act in co-operation.
War has undoubtedly drawn great masses of people to certain towns—Bridgeport, Bayonne or Akron, for example—but previous to the war the problem was becoming very acute in such places as Detroit and Flint. Women’s entry into the indus
tries has changed the problems in some towns, but it has not created new problems at all. All the problems are “as old as the hills”; they all have been acute somewhere all the time, and now, fortunately, attention is being given to them; not much attention perhaps, but a little.
This being an architectural journal, it will be fitting to speak about design and type. When most people speak about housing, they have merely in mind some sort of a cottage or house similar to what they have lived in or visited. Housing means to them something with four walls, a roof, a garden, perhaps a well, surely a furnace, usually a cellar, and perhaps a bath. The great mass of our population, no matter what their wages, cannot live in a house of this kind, in spite of how much we, who do not pay the bill, may talk about it and hope for it. In such houses now existing, you will frequently find a family and a few boarders, or you will find several families where but one was intended. I say the great mass; I am not talking about the foreman, the superintendent, or the boss. They have not the impossible problem; they will find a house or the industry or some one will build a $4,000 or $5,000 or perhaps an $8,000 house for them. They do not crowd together or take in boarders; they wash and keep clean. They are the ones who generally get housed, but there is not sufficient ingenuity and knowledge floating about for architects or engineers to suggest some means of housing the lower strata.
War is teaching us economy in America; it may teach 11s efficiency. We have been reckless spendthrifts, but suddenly we are pulled up short and are learning our lesson well, and we a re searching for better methods—necessity is the mother of invention ; sometimes necessity brings to the front a former invention.
The answer to our present housing shortage is the “Economic Open Stair Dwellings,” introduced in its perfect form in 1900, but built more or less imperfectly ever since. We have had several open
Copyright, 1918, The Architectural & Building Press (Inc.)
VOl. CXIIIWednesday, January 9, 1918Number 2194
War and Industrial Housing
By Henry Atterbury Smith WAR has not brought new housing problems,
as many who have but lately thought about the matter seem to believe. It has merely made^tlie problems more acute in certain places. It has introduced specific phases of the housing problem where they never were before, and brought a pressure for human habitations in many localities where the usual yearly increment in housing was enough to take care of the loss of old buildings and the additional housing necessary for the new families coming to town.
War has made many of us think more fundamentally and read more widely, and if we observe closely and think correctly, this great strain may bring about changes for the better that will become permanent. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that housing conditions have suddenly become bad; but rather let us realize that merely our consciences have been awakened to the conditions that have been prevalent for generations. A most enlightening book to read just now is “The Town Laborer” (1760 to 1832) by Hammond, published this year in London. This is interesting reading and will give the suddenly awakened housing “expert” a realization of his task and the probable time it will take to solve it.
Improvements in housing evidently move slowly. Only such agencies as the Charitable Societies and the Housing Associations delude themselves into thinking that great strides are being made. Let the reader correspond with Dr. Darlington, health advisor of the steel industries, to be apprised of this fact. Dr. Darlington is doing all he can in the immense industries he advises, and yet it is pitiful to observe here, as well as generally, the indifference and ignorance of others who will not or do not act in co-operation.
War has undoubtedly drawn great masses of people to certain towns—Bridgeport, Bayonne or Akron, for example—but previous to the war the problem was becoming very acute in such places as Detroit and Flint. Women’s entry into the indus
tries has changed the problems in some towns, but it has not created new problems at all. All the problems are “as old as the hills”; they all have been acute somewhere all the time, and now, fortunately, attention is being given to them; not much attention perhaps, but a little.
This being an architectural journal, it will be fitting to speak about design and type. When most people speak about housing, they have merely in mind some sort of a cottage or house similar to what they have lived in or visited. Housing means to them something with four walls, a roof, a garden, perhaps a well, surely a furnace, usually a cellar, and perhaps a bath. The great mass of our population, no matter what their wages, cannot live in a house of this kind, in spite of how much we, who do not pay the bill, may talk about it and hope for it. In such houses now existing, you will frequently find a family and a few boarders, or you will find several families where but one was intended. I say the great mass; I am not talking about the foreman, the superintendent, or the boss. They have not the impossible problem; they will find a house or the industry or some one will build a $4,000 or $5,000 or perhaps an $8,000 house for them. They do not crowd together or take in boarders; they wash and keep clean. They are the ones who generally get housed, but there is not sufficient ingenuity and knowledge floating about for architects or engineers to suggest some means of housing the lower strata.
War is teaching us economy in America; it may teach 11s efficiency. We have been reckless spendthrifts, but suddenly we are pulled up short and are learning our lesson well, and we a re searching for better methods—necessity is the mother of invention ; sometimes necessity brings to the front a former invention.
The answer to our present housing shortage is the “Economic Open Stair Dwellings,” introduced in its perfect form in 1900, but built more or less imperfectly ever since. We have had several open
Copyright, 1918, The Architectural & Building Press (Inc.)