'& 'K Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924102029299 3 1924 102 029 299 In compliance with current Copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 2006 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Planning OF Apartment Houses, Tenements AND Country Homes A TEXT BOOK FOR STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE, HOUSEHOLD ARTS, PRACTICAL ARTS AND HYGIENE OF PRIVATE AND INSTITUTIONAL DWELLINGS A GUIDE FOR ARCHITECTS, SUPERINTENDENTS AND MANAGERS OF VARIOUS TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS By TEUNIS J. VAN DER BENT BRENTANO^S FIFTH AVENUE AND 27TH STREET NEW YORK CITSf Table of Contents PAGE Introduction 3 PART I A Glimpse at the Origin and Development of Man's Dwelling CHAPTER I Man's Needs 7 II Man's Enemies , 8 III Shelter of Prehistoric Times 11 IV Prehistoric DweUings 20 V DwelHngs of the Historical Period 37 A. Houses in Egypt 37 B. Pelasgic Houses 43 C. Ionic Houses 43 D. Greek Houses 44 E. Roman Houses 46 F. Houses of the Middle Ages 59 G. Dwellings of the Renaissance and Modern Times as late as 1850. . . 61 PART II Elementary Instruction in House Planning Introduction 79 I Details of Plans 80 II Planning 103 III Plans of Dwelling Houses in the Country 114 IV City Dwellings — Private Houses 159 V Sanitary Planning and Finish of Rooms in Dwelling Houses 179 VI Apartment Houses 192 VII The Tenement House 299 Introduction THE PRINCIPAL reason for writing this book was the demand for a text book by a great number of pupils who were following my lectures on "Hygienic princi- ples in planning of dwellings and elementary instruction in planning of private dwell- ings, institutional dwellings and hospitals." There being no such work in existence I com- menced this book with the intention that it could be used by students as a text book or guide in the study of economical, practical and sanitary planning of various types of dwellings without the necessity of following this study along the lines of a strictly architectural course. In the preparation of data I discovered that the influence of hygienic principles in con- struction and planning of dwellings is much more extensive than generally realized; also, that the field of this study, the scope, is not limited to the single dwelling but must be considered as much more important in connection with combinations of dwellings, namely — villages, towns and cities. Even the most superficial study of methods of planning, decisions on location. Gov- ernment or management of communities will show that with only few exceptions a great num- ber of serious mistakes are made. These mistakes are sometimes, due to neglect or to igno- rance of already well established facts. A great number of the mistakes, however, can be attributed to the deficiency in the general study of the many features of which the hygiene of the dwelling, taking it in a broad sense, is composed. For the study of this science in schools there is as yet no opportunity. There Is as yet no course in Colleges or Universities where students can receive Instruction on these subjects. Realizing this condition the original idea for this book became a side issue. The principal spur and greatest encouragement to the completion of this book became then the sincere hope that it may create in educational circles in Universities, Colleges, Educational and Vocational Schools, a strong demand for a carefully 'planned course where the study of all important subjects ^vhich are indicated, lightly touched upon or treated with comparative detail in this book and which outline "The Hygiene of the Dwellings" can be followed to such an ex- tent as to keep abrest of modern science and Invention. In the course of study of the different parts I have been continuously hampered and unable to reach conclusions through the lack of scientific data and the absence of statistical tables needed for comparison. The suggested college course would In the first place indi- cate the direction and the scope of needed research and the compiling of absolutely essen- tial data. The old methods of detail of construction and planning which have been fol- lowed without sufficient investigation, will then be discredited or the use of these methods will be justified. The false theories compounded by men of great name and slavishly fol- lowed by others on the strength of these names, will be abandoned and true knowledge will take the place of dognia. The number of those who would be interested in such a course is very large. This special education and preparation will be needed in the near future by Architects, Engineers, Builders, Managers of Institutions, Superintendents, Investors in various commercial build- ing projects, for instance — hotels, tenement and apartment houses ; by those people who are engaged or interested in PROJECTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND HOUSING OF THE POOR. This course will also be of the greatest benefit to those who have the ambi- tion to fill offices in city administration, for instance^the future Mayors, Aldermen, Com- missioners or those who will occupy similar positions; to all those who intend to take part in the planning, the extension or the government of large and small communities. The study of law is only a minor part of the educational equipment necessary to satis- factorily fill such positions. The legal knowledge may well be lacking by men holding such offices and be supplied by engaging the services of eminent lawyers in regular practice. This in itself will result in obtaining greater talent and wisdom on law than the small salaried legal official could supply. The knowledge of details of good Government and the require- ments of healthy growth of communities is, however, essential. It is to be greatly deplored that in so many of our large American cities which, due to their rapid growth and the con- sequent many abnormal conditions, were in dire need of the help of great minds and iron hand Government, have been irretrievably ruined in their planning and development by political "know-nothings." City Government and city management are sciences comprising several branches which all need extensive preparation -and study. It should not be left in the hands of the ignorant or criminally inclined politicians nor to the whims of social popinjays who enjoy a tempo- rary popularity. The haphazard methods in the making of city laws and ordinances, which affect the growth and development of towns and cities, the welfare and comfort, perhaps the Hie of their inhabitants, should not longer be tolerated. I hope that these views will be shared by the majority of educators, by professors and teachers in Colleges and Universities, and that by their efforts and their insistence at an early date a regular course will be created in Municipal planning, management and Gov- ernment. The hygiene of the dwelling is the foundation for such a study. In the following pages there is as yet no attempt made to dig deep into this large and new field of modern science. Only the surface has been scratched and only indication is given of the great number and variety of details of which a careful study will have to be made in the future. It would be entirely wrong to assume that this book contains a partial course in archi- tecture. Those who actually wish to study from an architectural point of view the planning of private houses, apartments, tenements, dormitories, or any of those buildings of which a special study has been made in these papers, should follow first — a regular architectural course and take up this special study after they have succeeded in fully grasping the scope of the architects work. For many centuries the engineering work of the different structural parts in building has belonged rightly to the study of architecture. With the enormous development of special features during the last fifty years, the details of these engineering problems in architecture have increased and extended greatly and now cover such a large field that it has become neces- sary to divide the study and practice of architecture in various groups, separating the en- gineer's questions pertaining to heating, lighting and plumbing from the strictly architec- tural design and planning. This division of work has been of great benefit to the separate study of these different branches and the work of one branch is not now neglected as it was formerly, nor is it suffering for the sake and benefit of another branch of the work. With this in mind it may now be suggested that the study and application of hygienic principles in house planning and construction be taken up as a separate engineering branch. 4 For the benefit of the architect's profession and for the good results in his work, it will be found that such a separation would be very undesirable. The architect not only must help in the development of this new science, but he must keep it in control. His new prob- lems must be studied from a new view point, but he has to retain the proper application and use of his art in order to prevent losing the charm of proportion, beautiful lines and at- tractive colors which only he can apply properly and successfully and which cannot be left to the care of a strictly engineering mind. For the reason that in these papers, no architectural course is contemplated, no prob- lems have been considered from the architectural point of view. Drawings have been made with as little attempt at architectural effect as was possible; in fact, careful avoidance of this was found necessary and most of these drawings are only crudely made and in sketch form. Existing courses in a few colleges on "Hygiene of the Dwelling" have been mistaken for courses in architectural planning. In most, practically in all these colleges the hygienic feature is so superficial as to be of very little value and as a course in domestic archi- tecture the value is practically negligible. Through these papers a strong appeal is made to the architects and students of archi- tecture to make "The Science of City Planning and City Government" part of their studies — an essential part of their education. If we do hope to build and improve, not to simply tear down and rebuild on the same old lines, such a coursei is necessary for the future. There is no objection in detailing part of this new course to special engineering, but the guiding hand of the architect should be recognized from the beginning as the proper hand to hold and control its course and its development. Although this will mean more ex- tensive study — considerable time added to their education and very much larger responsi- bility In future building operation, the architects should not refrain from making this sac- rifice as it will be for the benefit of city development in general and of special advantage to the architects and engineers of the future. Most of the illustrations are examples prepared by the hand of the author, but in this book use has also been made of plans of existing buildings made by others. In order to have a free hand in criticizing certain features, it has not been found advisable to mention the names of the authors of any plans. Each plan represents a certain type and gives an ex- ample of common mistakesy sometimes due to faulty conception of the authors' and often due to the cast Iron rules of city laws and ordinances. Some of the illustrations In connec- tion with the short review or sketch of the historical development of the house have been taken from standard architectural works, like — Man's Pompel, Gailhaband's Monuments anclens et Modernes, Chas. Gamier & Ammann's L'Habitation Humaine, VioUet-le-Duc's and Gosc's dictionaries, and others. T. J. VAN DER Bent, New York, January 1917. PART I. A GLIMPSE AT THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MAN'S DWELLING. CHAPTER 1. MAN'S NEEDS. For his proper existence man has need of the following : Simple, plain food, properly prepared in not too large quantities. A shelter or a dwelling giving protection against the elements, against heat as well as cold, against rain storms or snow. Clothing for protection against severe weather, incidentally against burning heat of the sun in torrid zones. Pure air, free from poisonous gases, free from smoke, dust and dirt. Pure drinking water. Proper means of cleaning body and dwelling. Open air life to the greatest possible extent. A sufficient amount of exercise to prevent accumulation of poisonous acids in the blood or degeneration of flesh and tissue into fatty substances. We may consider these needs the requirements of nature, and a superfluous amount of any one of these requirements or any shortage for an extended period of time will bring about a punishment from nature in the form of discomfort, ail- ments and disease in various forms. Laws of nature may be broken by man and go unpunished or be without serious consequences for a comparatively long period; eventually, however, nature will deal out severe punishment in one form or another to those who live against the ordinary rules laid down by her. To the above list of man's absolute needs must be added one more and a very important one, namely — fire. Not only is fire necessary for the proper preparation of food, but in climates where the temperature of the air will be below the freezing point during several consecutive days, also in all such parts of the earth where damp- ness will penetrate dwellings or shelters for a considerable time, there fire is an absolute necessity. It is needed either for heating purposes or for drying of air in the dwelling and the drying of clothes. Fire can be spared only when the sunlight and sun heat are present in sufficient quantity and at the proper time to accomplish this drying process in a natural way through air currents and exposure to the sun rays. This is not even possible in temperate zones, often not possible during the rainy sea-, son in the torrid zones. CHAPTER 2. MAN'S ENEMIES. Those who carefully study nature will find that the different species of living creatures each have their natural enemies. These enemies are other animals who in nearly all instarices attempt to procure victims for the purpose of obtaining food which is needed for their own existence ; thus a spider kills the fly ; a hawk, the chickens ; a snake, mice, rabbits or insects. The tiger, lion and panther each have their special prey. The small ant, if in sufficient numbers, will devour anything dead or alive, large or small. With comparatively few exceptions one animal will destroy some other an- imal, or exist on the living body of another animal — (parasite). Nearly all are enemies of each other. With man it is not different. Nearly all other animals are actually man's enemies, and if not destroyed or conquered by him would eventually destroy him. From the earliest times of man on earth, up to within less than one hundred years ago, only the large carnivora, equal or above man in strength and power to kill, used to be considered enemies of man, like lions, tigers, crocodiles, poisonous snakes, etc. Since then, however, we have been able to prove that numerous small animals, many of them invisible to the naked eye, are far more to be feared than the large wild animals which exist only in small numbers and do not approach man unless driven to extremities on ac- count of hunger, or only meet man when being hunted down by man himself. The most dangerous enemies of man amongst' the small animals are those which have been discovered to be disease carriers or disease spreaders. As such, a number of insects like flies, mosquitos, fleas and bedbugs have been identified as extremely dan- gerous and directly responsible for the spread of many diseases. Others have been found indirectly responsible on account of sustaining the life of parasites, and they are in reality the disease spreaders. To this kind belong rats and mice, dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels and others. On these animals parasites like fleas or lice have been the direct carriers and the inoculators of the disease germs. The parasite carriers have been the cause of spreading the diseases over numerous large areas in a very short time, which indirectly was a greater danger to man. There are some extremely small and practically invisible species of lice which from man to man or animal to man will spread disease. Through the help of the microscope an ever increasing number of still smaller animals is discovered, animals which at times may become originators or spreaders of disease, each type representing a different form of malady. Although enormous progress has been made of the study of its all important influence on man's existence, this science of small animal life, micro-organism, may be considered still in its infancy. Among these numerous smaller animals which are of the lowest type, or the most primary stages of life in various form, are many which can be considered man's ene- mies, other man's defenders or help. Some of the enemies will do harm by contact alone, 8 Man's Enemies others when inhaled in the lungs, nose or throat, again others when injected in the blood or through entering the stomach with our food and drink. It would be a very bold and as yet unwarranted statement that eventually small animals will dominate the world. We cannot fail to notice, however, the gradual disap- pearance of the very large and gigantic animals, and the survival and rapid multiplica- tion of the smaller ones. The enormous lions and tigers, mastodons, hippopotami and lizards — the very large birds of earlier times, have entirely disappeared. Smaller animals have multiplied and are troubling humanity to a very decided degree. As an example of enormous multiplying and spreading over the largest area of the world, the Asiatic rat may be mentioned. Smaller animals seem to play a greater part on earth as time passes, and the study of small animals and micro-organism has become one of the most important sciences of the day, which directly influences, if not governs, the medical science. The campaign against disease carriers and disease spreaders will necessitate many new laws for building construction and planning. To make the fight in the most effectual manner, a careful study has to be made of different possible methods. All such portions of this study relating to man's dwelling will properly belong to the scope of this book. In addition to enemies amongst the animals large and small man has other enemies. One of the greatest friends — fire, has also been one of the most dangerous enemies. It may be said, however, that fire if lighted by man's hand is always a friend until man becomes careless, reckless or criminal. Fire lighted by nature — lightning or volcanoes is, of course, an enemy always to be dealt with, but of far less importance. The actual total damage through these two is only a very small percentage of the losses suffered through fire lighted by man's own hand. To the science of "The Hygiene of man's Dwelling" properly belongs the knowl- edge of all such matters which pertain to the procuring of man's needs in respect to dwelling, location, construction, planning and finish of same; measures against dis- ease carriers and spreaders; against vermin of any kind; destruction of same where possible; safety measures against destruction by fire. Supply of good air, good water, sunlight, proper drainage and disposal of sewage for the isolated dwelling or the com- bination of several dwellings in towns and cities. All rules, regulations, laws and or- dinances which deal with dwellings of any type in cities and towns. Proper and safe travel, easy communication for all inhabitants from their dwellings to any other point of town or city. Proper access and exit from the cities for the inhabitants and their needed supplies. The planning of safe and sanitary buildings, not directly dwell- ings but all such types of buildings occupied by people for a certain time for business purposes, for recreation, study and education, also for cure from disease in any form. Institutions for charitable purposes, institutions for discipline, correction or punish- ment. The planning or construction of streets, parks, sidewalks. The preventative measure against smoke, dirt and dust, noise, traffic dangers, etc. Preventative measures against interference by one individual with personal Hb- erty, safety or privacy of others. Hygiene In Man's Dwellings To this long list may be added many more features which in a more or less degree have influence upon the actual welfare of the occupants of isolated dwellings or com- binations of dwellings. A great many of these will be mentioned in these papers and dwelt upon according to their relative importance. The strictly medical problems, the results of medical research, the preventatives of disease, the elimination or introduction of features which are bad or good from the medical viewpoint, must be left absolutely in the hands of the physician. Beyond calling attention to numerous missing data in this respect, the work of architect and engineer on construction of the dwelling should never attempt to interfere with the work of the physician. It is, however, perfectly justifiable to call attention to the lack of numerous medical data or the want of scientific medical proof of many of the ap- proved or condemned features in building construction and planning, features which have been approved or condemned by physicians without positive knowledge on the subject. 10 CHAPTER 3. Shelter of Prehistoric Times. The history of man is divided into two great periods. The first period is paro- doxically called "The Prehistoric Period;" the second "The Historical Period." The Prehistoric Period has no beginning nor has it a definite end. The Historical Period begins about 4,000 years B. C. and is continued through nearly sixty centuries to date. The beginning of the Historical Period fixes, of course, the actual end of the Prehistoric Period. For a proper understanding of the duration of the prehistoric period it would be necessary to know definitely how long a time man has existed on earth. This is, how- ever, not known to us. To fix approximately the time when the world was fit for human occupation has thus far been impossible. Guesses have been made practi- cally unsupported by actual scientific data ; these guesses vary millions of years. Geol- ogists, archaeologists and biologists may some day perhaps be able to state within the limits of a few centuries how long man has lived on earth. Gradually the enor- mous difference of millions of years between guesses will dwindle down, if, as we may hope will happen, from time to time new discoveries are made and new finds will enlighten us as to certain periods, centuries perhaps, or possibly millions of years which are now far beyond our conception. Assuming man's history had been carefully recorded in numerous volumes from the first day of his existence on earth to the beginning of historical times, these vol- umes would contain millions of pages and be much larger than the complete description of historical times covering only 6,000 years. Of these millions of pages of the pre- historic tale, not one complete page has come to us; only a few charred and damaged fragments have been brought to light from time to time. Some of these fragments have not been explained, could not be read or deciphered. Many, yes most of them cannot be properly arranged as no definite period of time can be given to them. Our present knowledge of prehistoric times is so exceedingly small that for the most part it is negligible. Through continuous and active searching by a few great men of our last century, the greatest number of prehistorical fragments have been discovered so that a few pages of this history have been reconstructed. The field of search is, however, enormous — the cost of exploration and search very large. Here and there in a few isolated spots on earth attempts have been made to open up and unearth what is hidden in the burial grounds of prehistoric fragments. With the finding of a few remnants of man's life in ages long ago, several pages have been added to the sadly incomplete volumes of prehistoric times. The cost of even these few attempts was so large and contributions for this kind of work, although of very great scientific importance, have been always so small, that only a small portion of these grounds, have been excavated, although we absolutely and positively know that there great 11 Hygiene In Man's Dwellings treasures are buried. Not until all parts, even the remotest and least unpromising parts of the world have been thoroughly explored and searched, not only the surfaces but deep down underground, will we be able to state that all existing fragments of man's prehistoric times have been discovered, and the maximum number of pages of this history will then have been ascertained. During this search, which will take centuries of energetic work and will cost enormous amounts of money, off and on we may be so fortunate as to discover very rich pockets, treasure grounds like Herculaneum and Pompeii proved to be and per- haps much better and much older. Deserts and forsaken districts may be found to have at one time been densely populated and thriving communities. Numbers of such places must have existed in early times which were partly destroyed by fire or earthquakes or other catastrophies, deserted by their population, perhaps for reasons of frightful epidemics or other causes. When deserted they were covered up gradually, with dirt, sand and dust, a process con^- tinued through many centuries, eventually completely buried, deeper and deeper as cen- turies, tens of thousands of years passed along. How much can have happened during millions of years and how deep under- ground our search should go is impossible to guess. Some geologists claim that the earth has been practically fit for human life for more than sixteen millions of years. How man could have lived in days when the giants of prehistoric fauna were roaming about, is to us a mistery. Of the enormous length of time that the earth is declared to have been fit for support and sustaining of human life, we know absolutely noth- ing except a few fragments which are sometimes only indications of human life, and over the small period covering certainly not more than 100,000 years, and perhaps only 10,000 years before the beginning of the historical period. Even the age of these fragments cannot be positively proven and has to be guessed at and these guesses vary as much as above figures indicate. It is very plain, therefore, that not many books have been published upon the subject of prehistoric man and his achievements in the building of his dwellings, but still it may be stated that too much has been printed. There are too many statements given as actual facts which are no more than theories of the Authors, and which have often been disproved at a later date. To learn the truth we must carefully and stubbornly hold to the facts alone, and not theorize, speculate or make guesses. The prehistoric age has been divided by scientists into four periods: the rough stone age, the polished stone age, the bronze age and the iron age. This division is not entirely correct but this has not to be considered in these pages. It must strike any one as a poor comparison between the difiFerent ages, which measures progress only by the methods as to how man made his weapons, and was not based on progress in methods of living — not on education— morality — civilization. It is certainly suffi- cient proof of our small knowledge of prehistoric man. In regard to man's first dwellings we consider two distinct types. The first type are shelters which nature practically supplied complete and which did not need much 12 FIG. I 5HELTER5-UNDER.-0VER.HANGING'R.0CK5 sSHELTER UNDER ROCK . PARTLY PROTECTED IN PRONT. 13 Shelter Of Prehistoric Times of man's ingenuity, skill nor much of his labor. The second type were dwellings of his own construction, of greater variety, showing man's skill in handling different materials. The first idea of shelter came to man through his need of protection against the elements. When such protection was found and man was supplied with food for himself and family practically all his wishes and needs were satisfied. It is assumed, and perhaps correctly, that the first inhabitants of the world were inhabitants of the plains or of the valleys along the banks of rivers, subsisting by hunting and fishing, ignorant of any method of tilling the soil. These first men had to travel continuously from place to place, always fleeing from the enormous and ferocious animals of water and earth, the prehistoric mammoth, tigers, lions and others, all more to be dreaded than any of the tigers and lions of today. Primitive man had no time to spend on the building, nor on the improvement of his home. Thus are found indications of early shelters occupied by man, shelters consisting of nothing more than overhanging rocks. The open side of these overhanging rock ledges may have been closed partly or en- tirely by stones, branches or hides, but of this we have no proofs. Fig. I. In countries where rocks were absent, a large tree would supply man with shelter. Sometimes the trees were used as shelters without any further preparation. In many instances, however, such trees were selected from which branches were hanging down or could be pulled down, and by placing heavy stones on the ends of same held in this position. The frame work of hut consisting of these branches was then covered with loose branches, leaves or hides of animals. This type of shelter has existed in many places on earth and was used for many centuries. Numerous traces of such primitive dwellings have been found in different parts of the world and presumably wherever such types of trees have grown which could be used for the purpose. The tree trunks — long since petrified — stand in the center of a circular space about twenty to thirty feet in diameter, made up of black dirt. Therein have been found bones of human beings and animals, also parts of primitive furniture and utensils. The outer ring or circle is defined by the large stones which once held down the tree branches. Many of these circular dwellings must have existed, as so many indications— more or less preserved — ^have been found in France, England, Spain, Italy, Egypt, Algeria, and even in the Sahara Desert. Fig. 11. Proof of a very intelligently constructed but primitive shelter has been found near Buenos Ayres, Argentina. There being no rocks nor trees in the "Parnpas" — the large plains of that country — primitive man there constructed his shelter from the carcasses of large animals which he had killed for his food supply. There have been found a great number indications of primitive shelters and of many varieties, under rocks or made under trees, but they are of small interest from the viewpoint of advancement in sanitation. The continuously fleeing man had no time to build himself a very solid nor a very roomy shelter. The less work spent on his resting place the more time for rest, fish- ing or hunting. Improvements were not thought of, they would be of no use as the next morning would call him elsewhere. In districts where rocks existed man soon found a very much better shelter and 15 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings of very different type, namely — the grottos or natural caves. Of course, these were not so easily found nor were they so numeous as trees, but still a great number have existed and many examples exist of these today in different parts of the world. Where- as the tree and the overhanging rocks gave practically no protection against attack by man's enemies — either wild animals or other men — the cave or grotto was a per- fectly safe dwelling when the opening or egress was closed either by one or more large stones or by other simple but efficient barricade. Many of these natural caves had long, narrow, difficult entrances, some — but very few — had good light from openings, direct or indirect in the tops. The cave type of shelter was a very great improvement upon the former types, the overhanging rocks and bent down trees. The cave had the following advantages : — 1st. The caves were very much more roomy, and one cave could often give shel- ter to many hundreds of people. 2nd. They were fireproof and practically indestructible, except through earth- quakes. 3rd. The cave was proof against attack by enemies and offered considerable protection against weather, heat, cold, rain and snow. 4th. The many caves found which consisted of a number of interconnected grottos offered excellent possibilities for sheltering many families and still keeping up some sort of separation between certain numbers. With all these advantages, man being now secure against his enemies, not driven away to other places day by day, but with a safe tomorrow in view, began to consider and think about improving his conditions. This was the first step towards civiliza- tion. People now began to make furniture, cooking and working utensils — various improvements of these — different and better weapons ; they enlarged different parts of the grottos for better accommodation, made some sections higher and gave light and air to others. Next to the stone tools we find weapons and furniture of bone and ivory — ^many specimens with artistic carving. Some time later pottery was also found in these caves. Fig. III. The cave dwellers were so secure in their shelter that they had no desire for any- thing better for a very long time. As long as they stayed inside they were protected against all enemies. They had protection against storm and rain; were cool in sum- mer and fairly warm in winter. Before they desired to give up their comparative security, many centuries must have passed and when they finally made up their minds to seek newer and better dwelling places they did so little by little and with great hesita- tion. Even after several generations knew how to construct for themselves safe dwellings on the open plains, there were numerous tribes and races who kept to their caves ; the Sicilian Cyclopes for instance. Even today cave-dwellers are found, as was discovered by Mr. Carter, an English traveler, who found several in Southern Arabia. That the great mass of cave-dwellers gradually desired to find dwellings better, healthier and more cheerful, was but natural even considering the advantage of great safety. After centuries of occupation of the caves they began to suffer greatly from 16 FiG.n. ^--= OVERHANQIKG BRANCHES OF TREES WEIGHED DOWN BV STONES. BRANCHES FORMED RIB5 OR5UPPORT5 FOR OTHER. COVERING : LOOSE: BRANCHES -LARGE'LEAVES -STRAW*. THATCHING -CLAY OR- MUD -HIDES OF ANIMALS .ETC. DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN 16 THE COMPARATIVE SMALL 6kZE OF THE5TONES. THE FIRST SKETCH INDICATES A PROBABLE CONSTROCTJON OF THIS TYPE OF SHELTER. THE LOWER SKETCH SHOWS WHAT IS FOUND AT THt PRESENT TIME. 17 " Shelter Of Prehistoric Times lack of air, lack of light and dampness.. They began to look for places where they could enjoy the open, the light, the fresh air and leave their damp, sometimes wet caves behind. In many caves water was continuously seeping through the rock seams or filtering directly through the porous material. Often unhealthy gases poured into the caves through cracks in the rocks. The long trips back and forth which had to be made whenever expeditions for food supplies were necessary and during which time they were exposed for long periods to attacks from enemies, were a great disadvantage. Sickness in all forms visited the cave-dwellers, proof of which has been found in many distorted, misshapen bones of the occupants of caves, due to rheumatism and similar afflictions. The desire came to them to live near the rivers and seas — their food supply; near the wild animals — their cover supply. When at last man's intelligence had developed so far that he knew how to work in wood, the first step to reach this new idea was taken. From this time begins the building of the prehistoric dwelling. We do not know, nor can we guess within many centuries, when the first types of shelters existed nor when the later types were used, nor have we any idea how long they were used and when they were abandoned. 19 CHAPTER 4. Prehistoric Dwellings. The first step forward — from cave to dwelling — was very likely the construc- tion of a simple dwelling in a large tree, high above the ground, made of branches and leaves, a house nearly inaccessible to the enemies and reached by a very prim- itive rope ladder. This type of dwelling was fairly safe, could be located where wanted, and was very satisfactory for a long time. Even at this present day a great many of these tree-dwellings or tree-huts exist, very much the same as those of many thousands of years ago. The German traveler. Dr. Nachtigall, found several villages constructed in trees in the Soudan. Absolute safety, however, did not exist for the tree-dwellers. Wild animals able to climb trees could attack them and arrows or lances thrown by enemies below could also reach the occupants of these tree huts, Fig. IV. The next type of dwelling soon originated on account of these dangers and the principal idea was protection from enemies, men and beast. This new type was the home upon the water. Houses were built upon piles driven in the bottoms of lakes or other large areas of water. In the different large lakes of Switzerland, indications of several hundreds of villages built on piles have been discovered. New ones are found occasionally in some lake of the old world. Nearly all of these villages were found on lakes where no tides existed. There the pile worm could not damage the founda- tion work of the dwellings. Some pile dwellings, however, have been found to have existed on rivers where the tide was not too great. The foundations were constructed of piles sunk half way or part way in the mud bottoms of the rivers or lakes. If the lake bottom was too hard the piles were kept in vertical position by dumping stones around them. The piles were put very close together; over the tops a platform of planks, and on this platform the buildings were erected. They were mostly huts of planks, branches, straw and leaves. To give an idea of the size of these pile villages — it may be stated that remains have been found on the lake of Geneva, the pile vil- lage of Morges, which has an area of about 70,000 sq. yds. Another at the village of Manger, on the Lake of Constanz, was supported by 40,000 piles. Indications of pile villages have been found all over the world; in Europe, Africa, India and New Guinea. Sometimes the buildings consisted of three or four stories. Sufficient explanation for this method of building has not been given. Dur- ing a great many centuries these pile dwellings "Pilafittes," pile villages or cities have existed and flourished. Intercommunication between different ones originated com- merce, and from commercial relations quick developments and better gradual civil- ization resulted. Soon we find that the stones used to shape the piles, and make the furniture and weapons were no longer of local origin. We find all different species of stone. The 20 ENTRANCES TO CAVES. FlG^llI CAVES OF^ GR.OTT05 SECTION SHOWING DOUBLE OR CONNECTING. CAVES. 21 Prehistoric Dwellings next step was the introduction of bronze and copper for utensils and weapons. We find even indications and proofs that stuffs for clothing, some sort of linen and fish nets were manufactured. We find three periods of improvement in their civilization. First — when only local stone was used; second — ^when stone of different and foreign origin was used, with better workmanship and carving on tools and furniture ; third — the introduction of bronze and copper. It seems strange that among all the decora- tive carving of these three periods, running over an unknown number of centuries, not one picture of a human being has come to us. As a proof of the gradual development of their intelligence, it might be mentioned that in the first period all piles were heavy, never less than 10" to 14" in diameter. With a better knowledge of carpentry, these piles were reduced in size, sometimes split in half or in four pieces. During the third period a beginning with agriculture was made, proof of which we find in grain, corn, wheat, grind stones, dried fruits and nuts, found in the remains of these pile villages. There are also indications of domestication of several animals. At the Paris Exposition of 1889, was a model exhibited of a pile dwelling village which was considered to be an exact copy of a great many original prehistoric villages. Except for small details they were all alike. Fig. V & VI. Now we are arriving at the last stage of prehistoric dwelling. With all the ad- vantages as to safety from enemies, easy access and exit, nearness of his hunting ground, fish, cattle, fruit trees, cornfields, etc., two great disadvantages could not be overlooked, namely — fire and flood. The first, namely — fire, may be called the cause of the destruction of most of the pile dwellers' villages. With the introduction of metal, especially steel and iron, very likely discovered for the first time in eastern countries and later in Europe, the prehistoric people now made as large and larger a forward step than had been made when the rough stone age changed to the age of polished stone. Then man came from cave to pile dwelling, and now from pile dwelling to terra-firma and the open plains. With the introduc- tion of metal, man had better dwellings, better weapons. He could accomplish more in working other materials. He was safer against his enemies, more formidable against any antagonist. A great change in the construction of dwellings we find now; namely — in their great variety. Nearly all pile dwellings were the same, but now the newly construct- ed "houses" as we may begin to call them, are very different in size and aspect. Every race, every tribe, had its characteristic difference in house building from now on. Lo- cation, climate, and materials are the different factors which gave the different types. Every country has its own and peculiarly adapted and logically originating kind. Of course, the first dwellings on solid earth were very primitive. They were, in fact, little different from the huts built before on piles. It was practically an imitation of man's former dwelling. In some instances even the first dwellings were the boats or canoes which man had used when living in their pile dwellings, only turned bottom up. Proof of this has been found in Africa. In other countries where not such a 23 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings dry climate existed, and where rain and cold winters had to be contended with, people buried their dwellings for the greatest part in the ground. Where possible they made a hole in the ground against the slope of the land. In this dug-out thus made, walls were built of plank, sometimes of stone, laid up as regular as possible. First, dry stone work was used, afterwards mud and dirt as fillers ; later, cements as binders, all in suc- cession as time passes. Next to the carpenter now stands the mason as house builder. The walls of these huts were built not higher than man's height; upon these walls were laid beams or trees supporting the roof. We find two types, one with a central pole which supported the roof beams, the other with the roof beams sloped from the higher to the lower wall. Fig. VII & VIII. In all temperate climates in entire central and western Europe, this type of dwelling was found. As late as the first and second cen- tury we find them in parts of Germany and France and numerous ruins can be shown today. The floor was made of very hard concrete ; a door, about 3 ft. high only, on the low side in the sloping roof. Entrance could be made only by bending down and crawl- ing in. There is no trace of a chimney ; if cooking was done inside, smoke had to go out through holes in the roof or through the door. We find that many of these houses were arranged next to each other in parallel rows, with a space of ground left between them which served as a street, indicating that after centuries of living in pile dwellings people did not like to give up the advantage of society, such as it was. They wished to live near each other, have each other's company and help if needed. Very few of these old dwellings had more than one room. We find here and there two rooms, one behind the other. In Scotland we find a special type of prehistoric dwellings namely — the Pict's houses, also called "Weems" or earth houses. These are again partly built under- ground in the same manner as described before, with stone walls. The walls are, however, circular and above a certain height are corbeled out, gradually closing over or arching over the room. The last part or central part of this roof consists of one large stone. The stone roof, which is the only part of the dwelling visible from the outside, was covered in most cases with dirt or peat moss. In these Pict's houses we find a new departure in building dwelling houses. Although most of them consisted of only one circular room, there have been found quite a large number of examples where one large circular room was in the center of a group of several smaller rooms, all leading through small doors to the central rooms. Fig. IX. It is entirely unknown to us who the people were who inhabited these dwellings in Scotland, France or elsewhere, nor do we know what language they spoke, to what race they belonged, how many thousand years ago they existed, nor what were their habits and customs. It has been assumed that all peoples living in mountainous countries, and those in the flat countries where stones were available, lived in houses described above, but that the people who lived on the banks of rivers or on the seashore lived in huts of interlaced tree branches. There is a certain amount of proof to be found in the great 24 FIG-IV HUT5-IN-TR.EE5 ' ' ''■■ ' •'", IiS27jS\> 25 PlLE.DWElLLlNG^ Fjg. V. ■k '^0^^ p^^'^'b Fjg .VI 27 FigVII. Fig .VIII ^ 29 FIG-IX PICT-HOU5E5 0R.WEEM5 31 Prehistoric Dwellings number of indications of dwellings on the seashores and along rivers, — in Denmark for instance. A great number of small heaps, consisting of parts of kitchen utensils, bones, shells, etc., and different debris indicating preparation of food for human be- ings, have been found along such shores and river banks. As civilization progresses and the method of house building improves, one fact stands out very plain, namely — that in keeping step with progress and civilization there is to be found a continuous improvement in the methods of defense against at- tacks from enemies of their own kindred. In the early beginning of prehistoric life no traces have been found of defence against human beings, no walls against invasion, no fortifications. But in keeping pace with civilization of the different periods people woke up to the necessity of de- fended places, of ramparts and walls surrounding camps or villages. Of the exist- ence of these in the later periods a few traces have been found. Most of those which have existed have been ruined and have vanished completely. In some of these fortified places people have lived through different periods, through the stone age, the copper and bronze age, which is proven by the debris of utensils of pottery and weapons found in these enclosures. Iron, however, was no- where to be found. This seems to prove conclusively that all these fortifications were of prehistoric times. FIG. X As examples of the most curious type may be mentioned the so called "Mounds" found in North America in the enormous basin of the Mississippi, between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, the Great Lakes and Mexico. Ruins were found, for instance — the mounds in Wisconsin, of enormous fortifications, triangular, circular or other shape, where there was I'oom for perhaps as many as 20,000 people inside the walls. Those who built them were of an entirely different race — positively not Indians. They existed long before the Indians and are called by us "The Mound Builders." Fig. X. It seems unnecessary to further describe the different examples of prehistoric dwellings. There are many varieties, but of improvement little is to be seen. They are 33 Hygiene In Man's Dwellings mostly simple huts of stone, clay or wood, a single room in most cases — here and there with more rooms, which indicates the first improvement. No fireplaces, at least no smoke flues; no attempt at comfort, cleanliness, separation of members of the family — in nearly all instances living, eating and sleeping in one single room. During the thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years of prehistoric times, practically very little or no progress has been made in planning and construction of dwellings, and no progress whatever in the hygienic methods of living and of house building. It should also be mentioned that during all these ages of prehistoric house build- ing very little or no attempt was made at architecture. It was only during the very last part of prehistoric times, when the building of stone dwellings was already known for a long time, that the first indications of architecture came to us in the simple form of conical stone buildings, ruins of which have been found on the Island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea. These buildings are called "Nouraghes." Fig. XI. A great number of such ruins have been found. The stones used were rough or dressed, but always laid in nearly horizontal courses. They are in reality the first examples of architecture. We have however now arrived at the end of prehistoric times and stand at the beginning of historical times, about 6,000 years ago. Man had — up to this period — learned to build in wood and stone; they had hammers, saws and chisels; they had means to lift and move heavy stones. No thought had been given, however, to comfort nor to sanitation. 34 riG.xi. ' ^10URAGHL.AT.ZURI.5ARDIM/A .^-- -':^__-^i:-'_- ,^^ .^~"-— ^_ C0MPARI50N OF THE PLAN WITH PLANS OF THE,WHEEM5 15 VERY INTERESTING. A. PRESUMABLY-LIVINQ ROOM. B. BEDROOMS. C. STORE RpOIW. VERY LIKELY WITH ACCESS TO UPPER FLOOR AND TOPORROOP. UPPER FLOOR MAY HAVE BEEN U5E.D FOR STORE-ROOM ROOF AS LOOKOUT AND PLACE TO VVARD OFF ATTACKS . A MAY HAVE BEEN U5ED AS GENERAL aoOM.B- BEDROOM F0R«SEPARATE: FAMILIES . 35 CHAPTER 5. Dwellings of the Prehistoric Period. It will be entirely unnecessary and without value from the viewpoint of progress in sanitary principles in house building, to give a complete description of all types of dwellings of the various races during the 60 centuries which have now passed of the historical period. Only a few examples of some of the important types of dwell- ings, indicating here and there a slight progress in house planning, in hygienic princi- ples and comfort, will be necessary to indicate the very slow progress which has been made up to within fifty years from the present time. Of the actual dwellings of people between the years 4000 B. C. and the Renaissance, or about 1500 A. C, we know in reality very little. The ruins of ordinary dwellings, even indications of same during these 55 centuries are very few and very incomplete. Inasmuch as the great majority of the dwellings of former times had been con- structed of inflammable materials, it may be assumed that nearly all of these were destroyed by fire. Of the poorest dwellings the greatest number must have collapsed on account of their inferior construction and the use of very inferior materials. The remnants of the dwellings of the very poor and even of the middle classes which were built during the first fifty centuries of historical times are so very scarce that in most countries no examples of them can be found. Our knowledge of these dwellings has been obtained from descriptions in historical papers or in literature. Even of the houses of the rich people, very few survived and then only in part. The destruction of these may be attributed in a great part to war and conquest. Al- though so few examples of dwellings of the former ages are preserved to this day, which is of course a great loss for the study of architecture, it is of very little value for the study of the achievements of former people in matters of sanitation and the development of actual comfort in dwellings. In neither of these are found any attempt at sanitation or comfort. A— HOUSES IN EGYPT. Except for the ruins of a couple of palaces there is very little in existence today which reminds us of the dwellings of the poor, the middle man or even the very rich among the people of old Egypt. Most of what we do know has been told us in manu- scripts or by pictures and inscriptions discovered on monuments. A great majority of the Egyptian people had only the simplest and most prim- itive type of dwellings. First — they were built of wood, of palms or sycamores ; later an inferior quality of brick was used made out of Nile clay mixed with cut straw and still later came in use lime and stone. The dwellings were generally built on flat ground near the river. They were poorly constructed, easily destroyed, unsafe and unhealthy, lasting but a very short time. When this primitive dwelling collapsed the 37 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings debris was not removed; this was too costly and required too much labor. The new dwelling was built on top of this debris which formed a kind of foundation for the second house. After the collapse of the second house a third house was built on top of the ruins of the first and second house. Gradually a kind of terrace was formed by these ruins of the old houses, a terrace which was of a higher level than the sur- rounding ground. This terrace insured the safety of the third or fourth building from the overflowing waters of the Nile. The later dwellings on these terraces were far more sanitary on account of being built on dry ground and above the wet strata. This accidental carelessness of the old Egyptians has been quoted entirely incorrectly many times as an example of the high intelligence of these people. Real brick for houses was only used at the time of the Romans and for the simpler type of house only. For the richer buildings — the palaces and temples — stone was generally used. Of Egyptian dwellings we find three types, namely — first — the houses of the poor; second — the houses of the better classes and third, the houses of the rich. 1. The houses of the poor were simple huts 10 ft. x 12 ft. or 10 ft. x 15 ft; sometimes separate and at other times built in blocks forming some kind of a street. They were constructed of straight palms or sycamores with clay and straw between for walls. The roofs were made of branches and leaves. There was a very small door but no windows. The height was often less than 6 ft. Even these small houses were frequently divided into two or three parts by partitions which did not go up to the roof. There was no floor paving of any kind; no fireplace and no chimney. Some- times there was an opening left in the roof for ventilation but this was only rarely found. The dwelling of the poor was used only as a place for sleep — rest at night. Man worked all day in the open and the women were similarly occupied in the open get- ting food, going to the market, carrying water, etc. Even the few hours spent to make silk or to weave clothes were spent in the open aid. The wonderful climate made up for the unhealthy and deficient dwellings. 2. The better classes had very much larger houses which were built of selected woods properly framed and constructed, or of brick and sometimes stone. They al- ways had a court of various size and nearly always a little garden. The rooms were located around the court, on three sides of the court or behind the court. Sometimes there was a portico in front. In most cases there was one entrance. The windows were very few, very small and high from the ground. To live in the open was also the custom with the better classes. The open courts were used for daily life, even for taking meals. In these courts were cats, dogs and antelopes running around as domesticated animals. There were some small tables on one leg which indicated the use of these courts for daily life, and at night they were often used by the master of the house and his family for sleeping purposes, and if not used by the master they were used by the servants. Nets were provided as a protection against mosquitoes. As indicated on the sketch plans, arranged around the court on three sides or 38 Fig. XII. HOUSES or HGYPT .c. H COMMON TYPE,«>(\THi.MIDDLE.CLA5S. SMALL HOUSES OR HUTS OfTVS POOR PtOPLC .0. T ^HIH BaBl ■ ^^^^^ H iJ J^Jj □ hJ V ■ COURT n .K» rn Hi* -- - — 57-S- ----■*( MOUSES or THE. RICH. WITH CtNTRAl. COUFVr HOU5E50F THE. RICH nOOMJON 3 5I0E5 OF THE MAIN COURT. 3 f^f *>ifA^J i i^ ^^7-m SKE.TC H SECTION THROUCtt GARDEN tj . 01. GARDEN 'biANTCROOM. C. BEDROOM, ol. DINIMG ROOM, e .KITCHEN. f.fteDROOM g.COtONNAOe. h-GARDEN. F.COPKIDOR. K. DRAIN . >3MAlu house At. POMPEU. 65 [LOMAN - nOUJLJ CAOA. Di MODt-JTA P O M P E- I I .. '-:h^!>'^/}f^n?rrran^ Plan 1 VtiTlfbULt; 5 JTAIBO UP Z ^Ta,iuM 6(Sfi Family IIoomj 3 ImPLUVIUM CHANqtD INTO 6 jLAVt d fuoWtC OtO *1 fClTCtlLM 4 DC^IN 10 JTOB^L. J'LCTION- A-D. ?IG.XXI . 67 HOMAN . Woosij: Fig. XXII. A.VtJTlbULtr ■ DOtocxj oiV/oiunopj onl wnn A JTAIE. TO 6ND riOOCL J'DLDIUOOMJ D»Alooylo Dllon^-I/Ncj, to At2j um -^ topical. Roman fTATu^tr f'-AQ.cnivL-Orri.cL- WoniciLDoM or Ow/JLtL. Mix LPT I ON O-M. d-COl/LELD [.NTI2ANCL TO PtCJJTYLL -n L-riOWtO- btD IN PLACLQf lMPLUVIL/f<1 ItTniCLiNUM - DiNlN^q. Hoot^. ICiLAtDD-A-DBAWINK^ HOOKl r^-N-g UTcnLNOTOCJt i^oM5. ^LttPIMa G.M fQ.ILJ)LAVL3tTC. 69 riG.xxiii -U p . '- Greek Rpman House. WITH PERISTYLE ADDED. 71 RPMAN.HOU5E5. H0U5E.1N.P0MPEII FIG .XXIV. PLAN. J. Entrance. Doofv. 2. Atrium with1mpluvium.5.Be.droom3.^.0fpice.,AbchivEjGalle.ry. S.WlNOa or ArRIUM,ALAE..6.J&TAm5tro HIGHER LEVet-ANDPERISTYl-E.CDRAWmQ ROOM. fi. Bedrooms. 9.5tairs toCeular .'IO.STAtn.s toAtticTLoor. . SEXTTION. 73 -HOUSES' OF THE ■ - 12™ CENTUK.Y " PRESBYTERY AT S-^GEMIGNANO- HOUSE AT CLUNY- ■HOUSE AT CLUNY HOUSE AT CLUNY HOUSE' AT CLUNY 75 FIG' XKVI' 77 PART II. ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN HOUSE PLANNING. INTRODUCTION. It is the intention that this book should be used as a text book or guide by stu- dents of house sanitation, city development, the laws in reference to dwellings and combination Tof dwellings, etc., under guidance of a teacher. For the proper study of these subjects it is necessary that such students should have a sufficient knowledge of planning and be able to read and study plans of houses in detail; understand plans of cities as far as these refer to general location of the individual houses, of the streets and avenues, of inter-communication and transportation routes, general expos- ure to wind and sun, the slope for water supply, drainage and sewerage systems. This knowledge of plans should be conveyed to the students in the shortest possible time and in the simplest manner, avoiding the architectural embellishments, using the sim- plest means to express the idea of plans. The student should be able to read a plan in order to judge space, size of rooms, directness of communication, amount of light and air, safety of exit, etc. Various methods of instruction may be followed. The following chapters attempt to give mainly hints and follow only one method which has appeared to be satisfactory and which has given excellent results in very limited time peroids of instruction. It has been found of great value to let the students work out various problems, beginning with these problems at the very -first lecture. The problems which are suggested here are only examples of the types to be chosen. The teacher will find that this work is most attractive to the students and it is of the greatest value in the development of their visualizing, of their train of thoughts and proper reasoning out of problems. Some examples may seem too intricate for begin- ners, but when helped along by the teacher, with, careful explanations and directions as to which line of thought should be followed, the teacher will find that most of the pupils will give excellent results. The principal difficulties in teaching planning are — 1st. To give the pupils the proper idea of proportion. 2nd. To rtiake them visualize. 3rd. To simplify to the extreme the method of drawing. 79 CHAPTER I. Details of Plan. There are different methods of showing details of buildings in plan. In this course the simplest methods will be the most satisfactory. For reason of simplicity a method will be adopted here slightly different from the usual architectural plan. Sizes of details where given are adopted only for uniformity and simplicity. WALLS. The outside enclosures of a building will be called walls; the interior divisions partitions. There are two types of walls — "A" Masonry walls which in plans should be shown 12" thick. "B" Framed walls of unfireproof material made of wood studding with either wood sheathing, clapboards, shingles or stucco on the outside. All framed walls will be shown 6" thick. Masonry walls are of stone, brick, fireproof blocks with brick lining or of con- crete. They are shown as indicated in Figures 1 and 2. Framed walls are shown in a manner as given in Figures 3, 4 and 5, with cross line hatching or in colors. If colors are used apply only light tones. PARTITIONS. Inside partitions will be shown for the present at least 6" thick, and in special cases only when of masonry, 12" thick. For colors of partitions and walls use light red for brick, light blue for stone, light yellow for unfireproof materials, light grey for fireproof partitions of other material. Partitions are often shown without color or shading, which is a still simpler method. DOORS. Door openings in outside walls are shown as indicated in figures 6 and 7. They will be shown for the present 4 ft. wide, not while all doors are 4 ft. wide, but for reasons given above. Correct sizes of all detail parts of houses will be given separately later on. The door itself in the outside opening is shown by a , single line drawn under 30 degrees and showing a door opening out as in Figure 8, or opening in as in Figure 9. Doors in partitions will be shown 3 ft. wide. An indication of how the door swings should be made in similar manner. WINDOW OPENINGS AND WINDOW SASH. Window openings and sash are shown as indicated in Figures 10 and 11. Show all windows 4ft. wide. Simplicity in method of indicating details does very greatly facilitate reading and explaining a plan. 80 FlQ.l. ' .(■.■■vj-l W-^>M\ ' .IJ,. ' . »«' .'.«:. ' 'iL.v ' it'J'.' ' Ji. ' . ' -^ ;T" Fi«.6. ~^^'' FialO. Peja, FiQl4-. O O O -S^VosJe' >l — at *"■■• "I I-.-4-0"-... Ra, fiq.y: FiQ.8. Fia.9. ,-- ) I - u... V-q"t..-)J oursioe Flail. """" FiG.15. Fia.tS. o o o o o o BRJCK WALLS. ARJE SHOWN WITH CROSS tlATCMING. LmE riG.l. OaihlCOLOa. LIGHT BRICK RED. CONCRETE stone: OR TERRACOTTA WAULS LIKE. FIG.2.0FIIN COLOR USING LIGMTGREY.FORTER.RA - COTTA Bi-CONCRBTE:. LIQ HT BLUE T=Da STONE. INSIDE PARTITIONS IF FIREPROOF OF TERRA squares to be %". Draw plans to a scale of %" equal to 1' 0", unless requested otherwise. Larger plans and details will be asked for at times and two or more sheets of above size will then be used, pasted together. FURNITURE AND FIXTURES. In order to obtain a better idea of sizes of rooms, it is advisable to indicate in the plans some features, for instance furniture, which are essential to the room and which will show, when indicated on the plan, how much or little room is left free for moving about of the occupants. In your plans requested as exercises and answers to problems it will be required to show only the following fixtures and pieces of fur- niture : a. Kitchen range. b. All beds. c. Dining room table . d. Dining room chairs. e. Sinks, wash basins, water closets and bath tubs (if specially requested only). f. Dressers in pantries. g. Wash tubs in laundry. h. Bureaus in bed rooms (when requested), i. Ice box or refrigerator. Of these it is known already how to show the kitchen range. Beds are shown as indicated in drawings : Single beds, 3' 0" x 7' 0" ; double beds, 4' 6" X 7' 0"; crib, 2' 0" x 4' 0". 83 Hygiene In Man's Dwellings Double beds should be avoided where possible and two single beds shown, unless ' strict economy of money and space make double beds the only possibility. Dining Room table should never be shown less than 4' 0" x 4' 0", unless cramped for room. 4' 0" x 4' 0" is a real minimum size for seating four people, but even this is sometimes reduced to 3' 0" x 4' 0" and less. Do not show this in your plans. Figure 18a shows a 4' 0" x 4' 0" dining room table and Figure 18b shows a 4' 0" x 5' 0" table for six persons. The different plumbing fixtures are indicated as shown on the same sheet of fix- tures. Water closet 14" wide x 24" to 26" distance from the wall. Wash basins 18" to 24" deep and 20" to 36" long. Corner wash basins 10" to 18" radius. Bath tubs 2' 0", 2' 6" to 3' 0" wide and 4', 5' 0" to 6' 0" long. There are, of course, bath tubs which are much smaller but this should not be shown in your plans. Wash tubs 24" wide x 24" long. Sinks 14" to 24" wide and 18" to 28" long. Ice box 2' 0" to 3' 0" wide and 2' 0" to 3' 0" long. Urinals 18" deep and 20" to 24" wide. The use of urinals should be restricted to places where they are unavoidable. Dressers in pantries should be indicated not less than 12" deep and as long as can be allowed. The lower part of the dresser is sometimes shown to be wider for pots and pans and larger pieces of kitchen utensils; the dresser is then shown 18" wide. Bureaus in bedrooms are shown 20" to 28" wide and from 4' 0" up in length. Elevators are shown by indicating the enclosure of the shaft and the car in the shaft. The car is marked L for lift or E for elevator. Inside of shaft must not be shown less than 3' 0" x 4' 0" and larger as requirements will demand. In institutions a small car does require at least 5' 0" x 6" 0" shaft. In ordinary dwelling houses a 4' 0" X 5' 0" shaft is not too large but at times a 3' 0" x 4' 0" shaft, as the very min- imum, is all that can be provided. These minimum sizes will be considered in every special case for all fixtures, sizes of rooms, etc. They vary with each different prob- lem and can not be given in general except for certain fixtures which have fixed di- mensions. Above sizes are only given to enable the student to judge about minimum dimensions of rooms in the preliminary plans. PROBLEM NO. I. Plan a four room house for a family of four, consisting of father, mother, baby and a son of seventeen years. Consider carefully minimum size of rooms and proper use of rooms. This is to be a one story house without a cellar, the simplest kind of dwelling in the country. Walls of wood construction. Maximum area 600 sq. ft. Min- imum size of single bed rooms 75 sq. ft., double bed rooms 150 sq. ft. No water sup- ply, except well. PROBLEM NO. 2. Draw a plan of a one story house without a cellar for a family of seven, father, mother, two sons, two daughters and one servant. Total number of rooms seven. Wood construction. Maximum area, including walls, 1200 sq. ft. Minimum size of 84 nQ.l6. OUTSIOB WALU ASlNOICATfiD OF STONK .CONCneT£ OF^'TVRRA.COTTA _|P COLORCD BLjUB IT MfiAHS OAMC MATeRtAt5. If HATCHED OR COLOHKD HKO^BRjCK. WAU.) > RKnTlTIOH/iOHfllte PnooP,'^nBLU}v^/ofCet^NK « FlGtlZ .•-l6'-o" .|o'-6"— I ROOM 'O h KITCHEN. (tX> h- 2a"-o" • — 85 FUOITUTLE AND F1XTUR.E5 IN SED ILOOM DINJNG TLOOM AND KITCHEN SINGLE 5 DOVBLE BED FIG CL - b CJtIB -40- 5CALE 1/8=1-0" I n ^ D D SCALE 1/8= l-O" Q 1=1 n H^ 1-14 w c o s 4—t- O WASH BASINS- BATH TUBS — z*' 2+ 1 WASH TUBS 29- •55 51 N 1C3 xu UR.1NALS ALL SUES AND 0? ELEVATOTLOR- LIFT 2-OX2-0 AND MOR-E DUMB WAITER. ]C ALL SIZES AND MOU KEFR-IGER-ATOR I II I I =t •ALL SIZES- I I I l ==t -ALL SIZES' PANTTLY AND KITCHEN DRESSER. OIL CUPBOARD5 TROM^-O UP - BED TLOOM BUHEAU SCALE 1/4*= I -o' 87 ^HObLLM ^1 '/T o I - Z5-0 n I — ^=^ itvino llaorn. / '' r\%^A GOO o o JLi t c h e n b&d • Boom. ll*.fe."A^|S'-6" Cia ^1 5C^LE -g in \ • '• v^\ TOT/^L Al\EA 6oo 5GJ.FT 89 P B.O b LLM *2. T" 'r 9 .1 re N fafher 0 TOTAL AREA ll^fasq.^T. |< \i'-o i SC/KLE -5=1-0 91 Details Of Plan single bed rooms 75 sq. ft., double bed rooms 150 sq. ft. Show doors, windows and fireplaces. Kitchen must have two closets. There is no water supply, except well with ordinary hand pump. STAIRS. The most difficult part of the plan is the stair and it will take quite a time before planning of a stair is well understood. There should be no real difficulty about stair planning but it seems that for some mysterious reason only very few people do under- stand it. Even draughtsmen in architects' offices with many years of experience will off and on make serious mistakes in the planning and construction of stairs. In all preliminary plans, unless otherwise instructed, stairs will be shown 3' 0" wide and all steps 6" X 12". This is done again for simplicity only. Later on the different meas- urements which should be given to different types of stairs will be considered. An exception will be made with cellar stairs, the measurements for these will be given later. Supposing a house has a cellar 8' 0" below the first floor level, this cellar must be reached by a stair; a trap door and a ladder would not be sufficient. Taking the figures for width of stair and size of step as given above, the stair would be shown like Figure 19a in section and Figure 19b in plan. It will be noticed that a stair consists of a number of steps. The vertical part of the step is called the riser, the horizontal part the tread. The projection of the tread over the riser, which is usually found on all stairs and which adds from one to two inches to the width of the tread, is called the nosing. See Figures 20a, b and c. In our drawings we will ignore the nosing. To return to the stair shown in Figure 19, it will be noticed that in order to get down to the cellar level, 8' 0" below the first floor level, it will take 16 times 6" or 16 risers. Counting the treads of this stair, only 15 treads are found. Assuming the first floor construction to be 12" or 1' 0" in thickness, the cellar has a clear height of 7' 0". In order to make it possible for a person to go down these stairs in an erect position and without danger of striking his head against any part of the floor con- struction of the first floor, in other words, to allow for "head-room," which is the technical name, a large opening has to be framed in the first floor. This head-room will be called in future 7' 0" for all stairs except cellar stairs. For cellar stairs 6' 0" head-room is considered sufficient. It will be seen in Figure 19 that for proper head- room the stair well, as the opening in the floor is called, has to be 16' 0" long for a head-room of 7' 0", and for a head-room of 6' 0", 14' 0" length of stair well would be sufficient. The stair in Figure 19 is a straight stair in "one run" or "one flight." Assume that there was no room to allow for a 16' 0" long stair well, the stair would then be constructed in a different manner. See Figure 21 in elevation and Figure 22 in plan. The stair well, or opening, in the floor needed for head-room should then be 7' 0" X 10' 0". 93 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings ■:U^n^O The question of head-room is the fig, only difficulty in stair planning and in order to show at once all the difficulties, the best plan will be to solve a problem which has most of the different features of stair construction. Before this, it will be well to look at all the different types of stairs in plan and elevation. See Figures 23, 24, 25 and 26. A floor plan will show everything which is seen when making a horizontal section through a building about 5' 0" above the floor level and looking straight down. The upper half is not seen and, therefore, all lines showing what is above the dividing plane should be indicated in a different man- ner and this is done by making dotted lines or dashes. In the figures are shown: a cir- cular and straight stair combined in Figure 23 ; a circular stair in Figure 24; a stair with winders in Figure 25 and a stair with two straight flights with in- tervening platform in Figure 26. Where possible, closets may be shown under the stairs. As mentioned before, in all plans main stairs will be shown 3' 0" wide, risers 6" and treads 12", cellar stairs 8" risers and 9" treads unless otherwise specified. All platforms should be at least as wide as the stairs. Head-room must be allowed 6' 0" for cellar, 7' 0" for other floors. Winders may be used only in case of necessity. They should be avoided but are often needed in order to obtain head-room. The construction of the stairs proper will not be considered in this course but allowance for construction has to be made in the drawings and 12" thickness for all floors and all platforms, should be allowed, and 6" from the meeting point of tread and riser to the soffit of the stairs for the stair construction proper. To know more than this about stairs in simple planning is not necessary. In later chapters sanitary stair construction, sanitary details and the proper materials to be used will be considered. It will be necessary to know the good proportion between treads and risers for differ- ent kinds of stairs. Use figures in the list given below: \ni\ n>'' PtG 22 ' 1 — PLATFOR.M VOMH i O T . Q,' /-i'' : W) J PLAN ON JSJFLOOL For Cellar Stairs and Back Stairs or Service Stairs. For Main Stairs. RISER TREAD RISER TREAD RISER TREAD RISER TREAD 7" 8" 11" 10" 9" cases only. 8>^" 9" 10" 8" *7" *6" S^" 6" 6K" 14" 13" 12" r 7^" 11" 10" ♦Extreme 94 Details Of Plan Above figures are given so as to be easily remembered. With few exceptions and for ordinary cases twice the number of inches allowed for the riser plus the num- ber of inches allowed for the tread will make 25. Don'ts in relation to stair planning. Don't run a stair into a wall or partition but leave room for a platform. Don't run one stair through the other. Don't start a stair up where another stair goes down. Don't omit to allow sufficient opening in the floor for the stairs to go down. Don't forget to allow for sufficient head-room. Don't land outside of the building when getting up, nor in a remote corner of the house, but as near as possible in the center so you can reach the rooms on the second and upper floors without long walks. Don't spread the different stairs all over the house but put one under the other if possible. Separate service stairs from the main stairs. For the complete understanding of stair planning, make a careful study of the following problem. PROBLEM NO. 3. Draw at a scale of 1/^" to 1' 0", in plan and elevation, a stair from cellar to third floor in a building of which a sketch plan of the first floor is given below. The cellar is 8' 0" high from cellar floor to first floor, the first floor ir 0" to the second floor, and second floor to third floor 10' 0". Allow for a passage 6' 0" clear head-room under the stair platform to go from Kitchen to Pantry. The cellar stairs may be shown 2' 4" wide and with 8" riser, 9" tread and 6' 0" head- room. Show the first floor plan of the Hall and indicate thereon all the doors leading from the Hall to the different rooms. Use for this problem two sheets of 8"xl0%'" pasted together with 1" margin. PANTR.Y IOX14 PASSAGE KITCHEN IOX14 HALL e'WIDE 14 XZ4 DINING HOOM I4xa4 LIVING 7L00M VESTIBULE 95 5TA I R_S OPENING IN FIR.5T FLOOR. 16 LONG TO GiVE 15 70 HEAD HjOOM LE V_EL _A.T _WH I CH PLAN IS TAKEIT '0 <6 /CELLATL fLOPTL PIG 19 d. b r--i 1 —-■• 116 |I5 >I4 Il3 Il2 II 10 9 8 T 6 5 4 UP 3 J—' 2 1 1 1 i 1 PLAN AND 5ECTION-OF CELLATL STA1R,S k TXEAD 6- C^ NOSING ^ TR.EADS AND ILISETLS FOT2.THE PR.E5ENT 12 « 6 HEADR.OOM 7 o' IN CE.LLATL SkDALLOWED 96 FlG-23 ■A-5TR-AIGHT VIEW- 2V> FLOOTL FITLBT^F LOOTL-^ B SIDE VIEW I — » Z^P^LOOTL ,gr /IITLST TLQOTll r — I r i I J PLAN FOTll-A PLAN TOTL-B- 5CALE 1/4'= I'o' QUESTION:- AT WHAT DISTANCE FTLOM A-A CAN STAITL TO 31^-^ rLOOR. BEGIN ? 97 an" FLodT?-- 7 FlG.24dL 1 ST rLOOK- ; isj FLO OIL, /A. T I I I l' I 1__ 1_ . FIG 25 b 5TAI1LWITH WINDETLS a - b' PLAN AND ELEVATION- a./ / ^S^ 1 1 - . C1R.CULA7L 5TAni-S- •PLAT^ AND ELEVATION- FIG. 26. a-b. TV^O STRAIGHT FLIGHTS OF STAIKS Vv'lTH TLATfOTLM BETWEEN. PLAN AND ELEVATION . W 16 R.- T PLATFOWW! 3'-0" I I J I i i _i_ T L..JL-1 1). 99 PR0BLEM.N^3. '^wiiitfJm 101 CHAPTER 2. PLANNING. In this chapter are given a few general remarks about planning of buildings. Even where there is no limit to cost, proper intercommunication between the differ- ent parts, economy in service and facility of same will prohibit a too great expansion of plans. The cost of the structure however, will, in nearly all instances, be the pre- dominating factor of planning. Limit of cost and requirements must harmonize; if they do not, then planning is an impossibility. It is impossible to plan a $10,000 house when the requirements, or the program, call for a $50,000 building. The first step in planning, therefore, is the making up of an exact program of requirements. Without such a program, planning is a wild goose chase. The program should give all the details which are required without giving decisions as to the actual grouping of the rooms. The actual grouping of the rooms should be left to the architect. In all planning there will exist a certain amount of classification, isolation and separation. Each of these should be carefully considered in advance and taken care of in the first sketches. For instance, kitchen and service quarters in dwelling houses should be kept separated; in dor- mitories, male and female occupation necessitates separation, the same in hospitals where, also, contagious and non-contagious diseases, medical and surgical depart- ments, adults and children, all will lead to separate quarters. Aside from this factor, it should be considered essential to condense the plans as much as possible in order to diminish the floor area or in order to actually bring the floor area to a minimum. This will directly contribute to proper economy and practical service. Even build- ings of the same area (floor area as well as cubical contents) will differ very much in economy of planning. We can not better study the different possibilities than by comparing the plans of diagram Figure 27. Here are drawn six different plans, each representing a building with a ground area of 1600 square feet. Each plan has its advantages and disadvantages. It is not possible to say which plan is better until we know for what purpose the building is to be used and how it is to be occupied. Requirements for a dwelling house, a dormitory, a school building, a hospital ward, or a factory building will all differ as to the amount of sunlight needed, the necessity of north light, the desirability of southern exposure, the same as to the exposure to prevailing winds, the intercommunication between the different parts, the allowable space for sec- ondary or inferior light and the amount of service rooms. According to each of these requirements, one plan will be preferred above the other as being actually superior in shape, giving better exposure and subdivision for its specific purpose. The chosen plan may not be the most economical plan. In order to judge about comparative costs of the buildings, we may assume that 103 NUMBER OF CORNERS Plan D— 200 feet, Plan D— 6 corners " E— 200 " " E— 8 " " F— 160 " " F— 4 " Hygiene in Man's Dwellings cost is in direct ratio to the cubical contents of the building. It may be further stated that a straight wall is cheaper than the same length in lineal feet of a wall turning a corner; also, that cost is in direct ratio to the actual number of lineal feet of exterior walls in the plan. Comparing the different plans of Diagram 27, we find as follows : Actual ground area equal for all plans 1600 square feet. LINEAL FEET OF EXTERIOR WALL Plan A— 200 feet, Plan A— 4 corners " B— 200 " " B— 8 " " C— 200 " " C— 12 " The amount of primary light, of corner light which may be called duplicated light and of infer iorly lighted space is shown in the plans very plainly. In a dormitory it is desirable to give all bedrooms sun exposure during part of the day. Thus the amount of space exposed to due north should not be more than needed for stairs, lavatories and other service rooms. For draughting rooms, studios and factory work northern exposure is the most favorable. Every plan has its own special advantages and objections, as was noted before and only a careful study and the weighing of the importance of the different qual- ities will enable us to select the best plan for the special conditions defining the problem. .Plan F, the cheapest plan as to cubical contents with the least amount of exter- ior wall, the smallest number of corners, also, the most compact plan, or, if we wish to express this differently, the plan which will give the most economical intercom- munication (the shortest distance from one point to the other), has two serious disadvantages, namely : A. A large amount of inferiorly lighted floor space. B. The difficult and expensive roof construction on account of the larger span. The study of similar diagrams for different types of buildings and the use of simple and straightforward logic in their comparison will point out without fail the best possible solution for each problem. What is true for the entire plan is also true for its details. The proper proportion of the rooms will decide their usefulness and will insure good service, good light, economy and beauty. Diagrams A, B and C herewith show rooms of 400 square feet area. Proportions 1 to 4, like A, would be bad in an ordinary dwelling house and can only be useful and excusable when used for a picture gallery or similar purpose. B and C have each their special good qualities. Proper proportion of rooms is a necessity for consideration of beauty. Plan A would be a poor proportion and would look more like a hall or corridor than a room. Good - --^•- 1 1 1 c 1 +. * 2S' -^ 104 60" 6- 1 — 40 -0" r T _ —« aoio * 1 a a 1 1 — ■ 1 a ' ' ^- ^m 1 a 1 c ■ -6 1 1 i a a a 1 1 1 THIS DIAGTLAM TO BE STUDtD WITH AVIEWTO- SUN LIGHT. WIND EXT05UTi.E. GENERAL UGHTING . INTERCOMMUNICATION . COST. _ASSUMED LINE OF •PB.IMAH.Y IIGHT. ^ 40-0- DAKK SPACES, Oli IHTEMOR. UQ»T, DlAGl^AM FIG 27 5CALE -1 INCH = 20TEET 105 107 109 Planning proportions for rooms are square and circular rooms. These, however, should be spar- ingly used, as frequent use will give a certain monotony, 3x5, 4x5 and 2x3 are all good proportions. 1x2 is on the verge of being too long in most instances. In exhi- bition halls and picture galleries a long room finds its good use, it gives a great deal of wall space and is very well lighted on account of the great number of windows on the long side. These long galleries are, however, subdivided by architectural lines. Any room with a corner taken out as shown in the sketch, be it for a closet or a passage, must be consid- ered very poor planning. If two angles of the room are taken off, like Sketch 2, it is permissible. In this case it does not hurt the light nor does it look very bad. Simplicity of plan nearly always gives proof of its 1. .\. having been well studied, to be econornical and a prop- er solution. Long corridors and winding halls are al- ways wrong. A plan with dark halls is to be avoided. Too large rooms are costly, wasteful and impractica- ble; so are rooms which are too high. All extremes are bad in planning. Plain and practical reasoning al- ways will give the proper solution. The four main fac- tors of the plan are simplicity, regularity, economy and beauty, the following may be given : 1. No room or hall should be dark. No room or hall should contain waste room. Access to upper floors must be centrally located. Service rooms should be isolated as much as possible. a. As fundamental rules. 2, 3. 4, 5. Public part of building should be isolated from private part; business por- tion from living rooms. PROBLEM NO, 4, A man wishes to build a cheap house and, for this reason, wants to use the foun- dation walls of an old build- ing of sizes and shape as in- dicated in sketch. In por- tions A and B the walls go down eight feet in the ground, in part C the walls go only three feet below the ground. All these walls go up eighteen inches above the ground. In the first floor of his house he desires the fol- lowing rooms : Dining Room, 17' 0"x28' 6"; Liv- ing Room, 17' 0"x28' 6"; It- -li*- -+ — 1 : - s^' '=^1 B., 1 '•0 T ■j«- J^. i. <--.7---; IS. 'r - - It-' U \ ■0 T _i- St. I< 5'^' J| 111 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings Parlor, 16' 0"x 17' 0"; Kitchen, 14' 6" x 16' 0"; Pantry, 8' 6" x 16' 0"; a large Hall, 17' 0"x22' 0", where the stairs to the second floor must be located; a small Vestibule and in connection therewith a large coat closet and a small lavatory; a Storeroom; a Laundry, 15' 6" x 16' 6"; a Servant's Bedroom, 8' 0" x 12' 0", and stairs to cellar,— all to be shown on this first floor plan. There are no Servants' Rooms upstairs. The Living Room, Dining Room and Parlor should have fireplaces. There are doors lead- ing from the Storeroom to the rear garden and from the Living Room to the front garden. Make a careful study of the first floor plan of this house. PROBLEM NO. 5. When the first floor of the house in Problem No. 4 is nearly completed, the same man desires to make a change and wants now in the first floor a Dining Room, 17' 0"x28' 6"; Library, 16' 0"x 17' 0"; a Music Room, 16' 0"x26' 0"; a Parlor, 12' 0"x21' 0"; a Kitchen, 14' 6" x 16' 6"; a Kitchen Pantry and a Service Pantry; two Servants' Bedrooms; a Workroom for a secretary; Service stairs or back stairs to the upper floors and cellar; a Vestibule, small Lavatory and Coat Closet; a large Dining Room Porch and a small Kitchen Porch, and closets in Bedrooms, Secretary's RooAi, Hall and Library, — the Laundry to be in the cellar. Over part B there is no second story. Make a plan of this new first floor showing the possibility of the change without tearing down more of the building than absolutely necessary. PROBLEM NO. 6. Make a second and third floor plan over first floor plan of Problem No. 5. DRAWINGS. The following drawings are made in order to show the entire of the building construction and its appearance: A plan of the different floors, each of which shows what is visible under the dividing horizontal plane. The sections, showing what is visible in one direction on the one side of the dividing vertical plane. The elevations showing the direct view of each side of the building. The perspective, the general view from a distance. A bird's-eye view, from above. We will only consider plans. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS FOR COUNTRY DWELLINGS. 1. Selection of building plot. It should be carefully noted in what neighbor- hood the building should be located with reference to business quarters, communica- tion with other parts of the town or neighborhood, with reference to residential dis- tricts, proper surroundings or proximity to buildings of the same type and absence of such buildings which would diminish the value or cheapen it. 2, Exposure to cold and heat should be carefully considered as it may have influence on the exact location of the building. 112 Planning 3. A careful examination as to the quality of the soil. 4. The same for the sewage disposal. 5. The same for the surface drainage. 6. The possibility of supplying gas and electric light and power, proper water supply and heat supply from central systems. 7. The neighborhood of streams, creeks, etc., even if underground. This must be considered in reference to mosquitoes, malaria and typhoid germs. 8. Flies from stables and similar places, smoke nuisance and gasses, even from far distant factories. 9. The view above or below the surroiindings. The advantages or disadvan- tages of different levels. Increased exposure at higher levels to wind. Dust of roads, especially roads used for automobile traflfic. 10. The ease or difficulty in delivering building material; also, the local build- ing materials and such materials as have to be brought from great distances. 11. A program of the complete contents of the building and approximate size of same. After all these conditions have been carefully considered, it is then time to make the plans. 113 CHAPTER 3. Plans of Dwelling Houses in the Country. Once more attention is called to the fact that this is not a course in architecture. Planning, the study of plans and the criticism of plans form, however, a principal part of this course. The study is not based on architectural principles and designi but on economy and sanitation. Plans for free standing country dwellings are unlimited in number and variety. A great many types may be found and it would take more space than can be spared to treat of them all. We will consider a few plans, mainly as examples, and while requirements are very much the same from a sanitary point of view, the difference between plans is found principally in their cost. We may classify houses in the coun- try as follows : A. Houses for one family. B. Houses for more than one family. C. Blocks of houses in the country. These classes are again sub-divided as follows: A 1. The simplest and cheapest dwellings for people of very small means. Houses for unskilled workmen or cheap labor. 2. Houses for skilled labor and the so-called middle class of people. 3. Houses of the well-to-do. We will not consider here the housing of the very poor nor the non-self-support- ing class, paupers, etc. These will be taken up separately. B 1. The two family house, laboring class. 2. More than two families. This practically comes under the same cat- egory as apartment houses. C Blocks of houses. Usually for the middle class, built in rows, two or three stories, in the suburbs of large cities. We will now take up the general requirements for country dwellings and the points of greatest importance which should be considered in their planning. Class A — 1. Even the poorest house must have a kitchen or a proper place for cooking; also, a separate bedroom. H it can be avoided, the kitchen should not be used as a living room but it is often more important to obtain for the available funds one more bedroom than a living room. The cheapest house contains a kitchen, a bed- room and an outhouse located as near the house as possible but sufficiently separated to avoid the odors from it reaching the house. The kitchen is here, at the same time, the dining room and living room. Out-door living and out-door sleeping in this type of house should be more encouraged than anywhere else and the first extension possible should be a covered porch. This porch would allow living and sleeping in the open at least during the mild weather. 114 } STOVS CU/WIIN4 ere. ro \ TABwe D o I |<- - -S'-o'- ->1 COUNTRY DWELLINGS. Class. -A-. I. Housee roRoNe FAMtL.y, BR «. c* ^ / □ D D \4,. ,V □ n iizzl □ □ ni I — I KITCHEN lo' K 1 4> DINI>fc~ POI^CM _□_ F1Q.54-. FIRST. FLOOR. 5ECOND.FLOOR,, NOTE. BADAI^I^NqeivieMTor Biros AVOIO^HIS By CHAMQE INCUOjETd. I ' I- 1 H a \ o ID toVtfef LI t n '■ - < u_ uJ lU < z: o u to uJ to D o *0 OO ' t }0 !^ J? o 'i (V '') 11^^° z t 1- '-" c/9 ^:: O < low £ ! - » u; z -|(D CO 2 3 2 ■"0 . I o v9 J < 125 FiG.sr. C0UMT1^Y.DW£.LLIMG5. CLA55.A.I. MOUSES. FOF^ .ONE. FAMlL-V. ONP STORY HOUSfe ^R.0O/v^SR-B^TH. SCA<-B i"= I -O" )«. 1«^'-£,"___^ TWO 5 TORY HOUSE. WITH ClEUl-AR 6 R.OOAS* , B>.TH . 127 Plans Of Dwelling Houses In The Country 7. A cellar with heating apparatus, coal storage, wood bins and general storerooms. 8. Sufficient bedrooms to accommodate all members of the family. 9. Bathrooms for same, the number of bathrooms will depend upon the number of bedrooms, one bathroom at least for two bedrooms. 10. Bedrooms for guests, one, two or more. 11. Bathrooms for guests. 12. Bedrooms for servants. 13. Bathrooms for servants. 14. A lavatory and toilet for visitors, preferably near the entrance. 15. Service stairs to lead to all floors. In addition to those enumerated above, we will find houses provided with a sew- ing room, a billiard room, secretary's rooms, a breakfast room, a housekeeper's room, children's rooms and playrooms, and others. The number of rooms is unlimited and dependent upon the wealth of the owner. If people do not desire guests, guests' chambers and bathrooms are not required and the reduction in the number of rooms is possible according to the desires or habits of the owner. For minimum sizes in this division, the following may be used : Width of exterior windows, 4' 0" in all main rooms. Width of exterior windows, 3' 4" in kitchen and service rooms, Width of exterior windows, 20" to 2' 0" in bathrooms. Exterior doors, 3' 4" for service doors. Exterior doors, 4' 0" for main doors. Interior doors, 3' 0" for service doors. Interior doors, 3' 4" for main bedrooms, Interior doors, 3' 4" to 3' 8" for main rooms. Interior doors, 5' 6" for double doors, Interior doors, 5' 0" to 6' 0" for sliding doors. Interior doors, 2' 8" to 3' 0" for closets, Width of halls, 3' 8" to 4' 0", Fireplaces, 5' 0" wide and more, Kitchen range, 5' 0" and more, Width of trim, 4" in service quarters, 5" to 6" in other parts of house, Bath tubs, 2' 6" x 5' 0" servants, 2' 6" to 3' 0" x 6' 0" for other baths. Wash basins from 20" in service quarters up to 3' 0" and more in master's rooms. Width of service stairs, 3' 0", Width of main stairs, 3' 6" and more. Heights of floors, cellar T 0" in the clear, first floor from 10' 0" up, 10' 0" is the minimum, second floor from 9' 0" up, servants' rooms, not less than 8' 6" in the clear Figures 41 and 42 give two examples of houses of this Class. 129 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings The absolute requirements for houses in this division are: The strict separation of kitchen service from the other parts of the house. No direct connection from dining room to kitchen but service through the pantry. PubHc part of the house, or part where strangers enter, should be sep- arated from the private part, or living part, of the house. For practice in criticising and comparing of plans, make a careful examination of the different divisions of Class A as given in Figures 28 to 42 inclusive. Give a comment on these plans in writing. Class B: Houses for more than one family, subdivided as follows: B 1. Houses for two families. 2. Houses for more than two families. Class B-2 is practically an apartment house in the country, mostly in the suburbs of large cities. The houses of Class B are the natural result of lack of space ; high cost of land, even in the country and possible economy on account of the combination of similar features; a decreased cost on account of duplication of building details; combined use of some parts of the building by more than one tenant; cost of only one foundation for more than one tenant and the cost of only one roof for more than one tenant. Against these economical advantages are the following disadvantages: 1. The tenants of the upper floors have practically no out-door life. They have no use of the garden unless separate gardens with separate entrances are provided. This feature is of great importance. The use of gardens, as well as porches, for upper floors is expensive and difficult in operation. 2. The climbing of stairs and the distance from the upper floors to the ground is objectionable. 3. Loss of room on account of stairs. 4. Increased danger in case of fire. 5. The nearness of other families, lack of sufficient separation add to the danger of infection in case of contagious diseases. 6. The effect of moral influence of one tenant over the other may be seriously objectionable. 7. Difficulty of the proper airing of wash. 8. Added difficulty in the removal of garbage. 9. The same in the bringing in of supplies. 10. Difficulty in arrangement for taking care of the heating apparatus. 11. Differences between tenants. Uncongenial occupants and actually undesir- able tenants. The main reason for the existence of this class of dwelling is economy and, with the great increase of living expenses, they becon-ie an unavoidable necessity. We have to make the best of the situation and do as much as possible to avoid or diminish the evil features or influences. Some of the bad features can be well taken care of in the 130 COUMTRY-DWELLINGS. CLASS.A.X. ON B . FAMiuy. House . D D F(G.39. ecA n D D □ DINING. ROOM. PARLOR^ 8 3 FIRST. FLOOR.. PLAN., tZ. i 1 HOtrSE WITH. CELLAR .ATTIC . FIRST sciSElCOND. FJjOOR^ BED ROO/A. U'xiH'-fc" ID V_>' x ^ BEO.RPOK. n <&*. 3L- \ SYORE.R>\. I i" 5ECONQ.FU0OR. PLAN BED.ROOA It' X I t '- 1 I h- 131 C0UNTRY,DWELL1NGS., ONE. FAMIuy. HOUSE. -- — 30-0 - - — c D D KITCHEN / PANTRY \ (3 / 5'x ici \ D K' D D D □ DlNlWG.RpOIA- is"» If" w'ltniiy ^ ' ( 1:1:-. I I I I ri RST. FUOORPLAN . ^ / PARLOR, 13'.' IH' ^^ POR.CH. scaleX'I-I'.o" ai I — I HOUSE WITH CELLAR, ATTIC. FIR5T ©-SECOND FLOOR,. SECOND.FLjOOR.PLAM. Note:, compare plan5 STATE AbVANTAGES AHD. DI&AOVANTAQeS OF EACH. 133 COUHTKY-DWE.LLINGS. ONE. FAM I Ly. HOUSES FIRST. FLOOR. PLAN. na.41 .a.- 6. Scale ' "^I'-o" 1 o NOTE . STyoy THESE PLANS As TO FAULTS. PARLOR . SERV IC E _ BATH RPOnS . ETC . %. SECOND.FLOOR.PtAN COUNTRY-DWELLINGS CLASS. Am. ONE FAMIL-V HOUSES. Fig. -^2.. PLAN .OF.FIRST.FLOOf\^. PUAN.OF.SECONU.KLOOR.. ac/^ Hi 141 Plans Of Dwelling Houses In The Country planning. The main principle of planning for this type will be separation of the different tenants carried through in all features. It is not necessary to go into the planning of the two divisions further than giv- ing a few examples. Plans of Class B-1 are shown in figures 43 and 44. Attention is called to the separate entrance for each family in Figure 43, while in Figure 44 a combined entrance and vestibule is shown. Figures 45, 46 and 47 show examples of Class B-2. All plans shown thus far have been made without reference to architectural design. It must be remembered, however, that for economy, good light and clean- liness, simple forms of plan and simple forms of rooms are always preferable. Sym- metry in plan does not necessarily mean uniformity of treatment in the interior. Sufficient variety in interior treatment will always be possible and prevent monotony. Class C: Blocks of houses. In the neighborhood of large cities the ground values are comparatively too high to admit of large areas being given up for private dwellings for the middle classes. Independent, free standing country houses take up too much room. If there is sufficient open ground left on the plot to insure proper light and air, the building plots will certainly become too expensive and the tenants cannot afford the neces- sarily high rents. In addition to this, it is a great burden to the tenants to take care of the open ground, the grass plots and gardens in a proper manner. To keep these grounds clean and good looking means a great deal of labor and often great expense. Thus it becomes necessary to build houses on small plots, combine them in groups and, at times, even supplying them with central heating systems. The gardens in this scheme are reduced to a small area in the rear of the houses ; while in the front, the open space is reduced to a small grass plot, enough to set the house back from the main street or road. There is no advantage in leaving narrow alleyways between houses. These alleys are very objectionable, as they allow the placing of living rooms and some- times bedrooms on them, which results in inferior lighting of the rooms and loss of privacy of the tenants and these disadvantages are far more objectionable than to build house against house. If this is done, it is advisable to make the houses only two rooms deep, thus giving good light to the front rooms and good light to the back rooms ; also, complete privacy and good air. It is of greater advantage to add a story to the house than to take up more ground area. In the block system small houses from 16 ft. to 30 ft. wide, consisting of two, three, four or five rooms on a floor, are built in rows taking up the length of half a block or an entire block. The smallest type consists of a ground floor of two rooms with an attic or second floor of two rooms, and a cellar. The next type will have three rooms on the ground floor, three rooms and bath on the second floor, and also a cellar. Instead of the second floor, often a simple attic partly taken up by roof construction is used. In diagrams "A" and "B" are shown two types— "A" for a house with a living room and kitchen on the ground floor, and two bedrooms and bath on the attic or second floor. In scheme "B", a kitchen, dining room and living 143 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings room on the ground floor, and on the attic or second floor a bath and three bedrooms. The width of the smallest houses are from 16 ft. to 20 ft. with a depth of 24 ft. to 30 ft. ; the second type, a width of 20 ft. to 30 ft. and a depth of 30 ft. to 36 ft. The use of fireproof material in these blocks of houses for exterior walls should be mandatory, also for the walls separating the two buildings. Danger from fire— a proper isolation or separation of the individual buildings will require a safe sub- stantial building material. With a separation wall of frame construction, one house would suffer in case of neglect in cleanliness by its neighbor, as well as in case of care- lessness as to fire dangers. Often the objection is raised that blocks of houses are monotonous in appearance and that they have a look of stiffness and uniformity. A true judge and lover of beauty will not make such a complaint. It may be well left to a good Architect to make use of this uniformity and the repeating of certain motives to create a very good effect and to have in his details sufficient variety to avoid monotony. The creation of independent houses, surrounded by little gardens, has for rea- sons given above, a certain advantage, but it is not always possible on account of necessary economy. If by means of combination and grouping of dwellings such an amount of money can be saved that it is possible to obtain for the tenant more san- itary dwellings, better construction and arrangement, a safer dwelling in respect to danger from fire, more comfort and less running expenses, these are certainly suffi- cient advantages to compare with the advantages of the single house, namely, ab- solute separation from other buildings, and a possibly greater architectural beauty. This last advantage of beauty is in many cases to be ignored for the reason that on account of the neglect of the property, caused by the expense needed for the upkeep and the burden of additional work, soon the original advantage will change to a disad- vantage and become an objectionable feature. In the block plans of Figure 48 are indicated two rows of twelve houses, each house consisting of a first floor, a small cellar and a small attic, a total of six rooms with bath and a cellar. These houses can be built on plots from 25 ft. to 30 ft. wide. The corner plots are indicated SO ft. wide, which is, of course, unnecessary except for landscape effect. In Figure 49, a detail plan of the first floor of these houses is shown, and in Figure 50, a detail plan of a two story house with cellar 25 ft. 2 in. wide is shown as another example of a block system possibility. Attention is called once more to the principal advantage of the block plan system, namely, the greater possibility of cleanliness, neatness in general appearance, econ- omy, greater possibility for good roads and approaches to the building. If the time set aside for this course will allow, it is of great importance to have students solve various problems as exercises. A few suggestions are given below: — Plans of two-family houses for a given number of occupants and a maximum floor area. Families on different floors. Plans of two-family houses with vertical floor separation between the families. Plans of one family houses of various size and number of occupants. The principal questions involved in the planning of entire country or suburban 144 COUNTRY-DWELLtNG6. CLASS. B.JL . HOUSES. FOR. 3 ANDNOf\E. FAMJLIES- -, ^ Z5'-o"- D D D KITCHtN. lO Sr Beorooa\. \m \ x^ ^ r\ :::c S SI S ,^ 3 O N BED r{pof\. □ □ 'B INq-B,UVl G R.M • an I I a KITCHEN. I II =t K) BE-DF^OOM ^Nr^7=^N \ J \ yp BED HpofA,. I i I □ p I I DiNJuJc anoL|viiiE1fJL. Houses. POR.MORE.THAN. 2. FAMILIES. -38- o' -ass-o" ->j P L-AfJ , O FJ^J RST. FLOOR. . t»LAK OF. SECOMO.^MIKD.ri.XKJR.S.. FIG. 47. HOUSE .For. 6. famjueSl SCALE -^"^sl'-o" PLOORAKEA-l2.OOSq.FT. pER-.TAHtuy. OUTER WALI-i ANt> WAulj /^ROUND 5TAIRS ARE Pme-PROOP. NOTE SEPARATION TKROOQH STAIKS. IM PKAME HOUSE .SAftE PUAKl . »(OQ SCJ.FT PER.. FAMJUV. 147 COUNTRY.r)W£LLING5_CLA53 .C • D1A<3RAM5-0F-TYPE5. 'l.S-Ol^ 6 R.OOMS. >A/(OTH l6'-Z0' DEPTH af -3o' B S. M ., iu Bbd Room Bed Roon ■^ PIRJST FLOOR, SECONtS FLOOR. T=i f=\ ■g. wioTH 2o*.3o' 0EPT4 3o'-36' :lxH 11 irxi: i Bed.r. B.n., B.R. Beo.K. FiaST P-LOOIK^. THESE Second fuoo»^. Ill !• II StALB j^ = I -o HOVJSES HAVE' FURNACE OR BOlLea INCELLAR-- 149 COUNTRY CLA^ r BLOCKS. OF T £ U. O o o 93 It O I \- a o < _L 50"- o" , ► - - 30 - o". - . I 3 o'-o"- - 1 5o'- o"- -J 3o'- o- -* ^ 5o'- o - 150 aci-A-UE. DWELLINGS. HOUSES. ■^ J. ^ w S5-C.- BL OCKS.OF.HOUSrS . ii":-'-vr".:''r',"i''„.. v.',',,., i^. Mil. ...11 „. 3o-o v"" "■-•■isl' '■'■."■/ r:;^-- 1, ■■,■:• -A ."••'■• ■.■-;ii:;'„,.iu-..f,.>? \lL,.':-,.VuMr,;.'.»i..„:-..!-.i.i.Ai,., ["Miiii' u.,ir,. « i y iw i ir *iKii i- % ;n-..iA<>i..^- kii|i. ' ^-'ii.,i ? ■;,^v'^„;;-,-:r,K .,.,,'1 ,w r'.-,,Vc^-V'- v''*--^] 14,', lii*"''"" ""■/ A-'"- ' "• \.V (.. '' *'Hl/'''l^ iiii,'."„.^.\ "'.■■■ i,,i." ■i'-'''.l ■"-.;"',. ■'t-.^.^.i..'':^...;v; « I'',"' • '.'V'' /„;■;•-(• ■ lll«u.'r.,-H.-„ll| .-,..^l..,.^.4y ••,,ik.''-.';%vj»""';; "'* F1G_4S- SEE . BLOCK. PLAK. FIG. A-B- - SCALE -^"=1-0" House WITH. 5M ALU CELLAR -TWO ROOMS IN ATTIC 153 COUKTi^ -DWELLINGS. CLASS. O. BLOCKS. or. HOUSES . F1G.50. 1^ ZS'-%" 4 X5'—2' '-->} SECONb.FLOOR.PLAN, FIRST. FLOOR,, PL AM "-o" >ii II SCALE "Q =' ^LOCK. OP. HOUSES. TWO FSLOORS .TiPELLAR . 155 Plans Of Dwelling Houses In The Country communities do not belong here. This will be taken up later in connection with gen- eral city planning. A few points, however, must be mentioned at this time, especially in connection with blocks of houses or groups of houses in the country. 1st. As a general rule architects will plan groups of country houses in such a manner that they form a picturesque ensemble. It is much easier to obtain this re- sult with separate or individual houses than it is with blocks of houses. The coun- try effect is more easily kept with separate houses surrounded by grass plots, flower beds and vegetable gardens. With the block system the immediate result is a sub- urban, if not a city street effect. The neglect of the surroundings, possible with the separate house plan, is, of course, not an absolute result nor an absolute necessity of the scheme, and the architect is often inclined to overlook the fact that it will be the only natural outcome in the majority of cases. On account of lack of free time to take care of the grounds, or through lack of money to pay for the necessary im- provements in numerous instances and especially with groups of houses for ordinary labor, the most unsatisfactory results have been obtained. The fact that only few classes of labor can be considered as permanent in respect to a residence location, is the principal cause of the trouble. Little care will be given to a dwelling by the pres- ent occupant and less to the surroundings if the next occupant of the house will derive the benefit thereof. 2nd. The difficulties of snow removal, longer and more expensive walks around the building, greater difficulties of direct access to the houses and reaching the Rail- road station and car tracks, are very important factors in the decision of the type of plan. 3rd. No matter how pleasing and artistic winding or curving roads may be, there are many difficulties involved in the planning of the individual houses when adopting such a system of roads. These difficulties are not counter-balanced by the one doubt- ful or uncertain advantage of a pleasing aspect. Even this advantage of a more pleasing effect may be lost if the architect will only give to the more difficult prob- lem of the block system more time and study and not consider this system in ad- vance an uninteresting scheme. As one of the greatest difficulties may be mentioned the impossibility to take proper advantage of sun and wind exposure. Bedrooms located due north, kitchens due south, etc., are a common occurrence in these plans and other similar mistakes which from a sanitary point of view may be called fatal. Such mistakes are often unavoidable in parts of the block system, but the number there is reduced to a minimum. 4th. The original price of land is but a very small factor in deciding or select- ing the scheme to be adopted. The large increase of values following the proper se- lection of building plan and the proper importance of the entire area of ground re- duce that factor to a minimum. 5th. The proper choice of building materials is not only for sanitary reasons of primary importance but of even greater influence in respect to safety and economy. 6th. The protection of the building site from damaging outside influence must be considered in the most careful manner. Smoke, noise, danger from explosion of 157 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings fire and similar factors, may have serious influence on the success of the housing scheme even when they are miles distant. 7th. Every square foot of ground not properly taken care of is not only wasted area but is damaging the value of the remainder of the property. 8th. Water supply, drainage and sewerage are of greater importance than the conditions of the soil. Even the waste ground can, by comparatively simple means, be made into proper building sites. Where rock is found near the surface various considerations are necessary to establish the advisability of selecting such ground. Even combined with excellent location and proper slope for drainage, the cost of excavation for general improvements may make the choice of other ground ad- visable. 9th. The solution of traffic for passengers and freight within the community and to distant points, should receive due consideration before any other factor is definitely decided. This solution has direct bearing on the general value of the first development and is of still greater influence on the future growth and expansion. Many towns which had a large initial growth succumbed to the fatal lack of proper communication of general traffic possibilities. 158 CHAPTER 4. City Dwellings. Dwellings in the City may be divided into four classes: Class "A" — Private dwellings — houses for one family. 1. Small houses for the middle classes. 2. Houses of the well-to-do and rich. Class "B" — Houses for more than one family. 1. The two family house. 2. Houses for three and more families. Class "C" Apartment houses. 1. Simplex Apartments. 2. Duplex Apartments. Class "D" — Tenement houses. Class "A"— "A-2" The principal differences between the two divisions of this class are — First the location, either in the better and expensive residential districts or in the cheaper quarters of the city. Second — The size of the house. Third — The interior finish. Fourth — The arrangement of the rooms, in the one type simple arrangement with only the most needed rooms — in the other a great variety of rooms and especially rooms for entertaining and reception of guests. Inasmuch as the hygienic values of the different features are in both divisions based on the same principles of planning, construction and finish, these two divisions need not be considered separately. The houses which are classed under the division "A 1", private homes for the middle classes, are usually small houses, located in the cheaper quarters of the Cities, in or near manufacturing districts, near the suburbs, or at distant points from the expensive residential districts. Sometimes near these districts but in sections where the ground for one reason or another is very much less in value and where more wealthy residents do not desire to live. They are very often grouped together on plots made up of two or more city lots and subdivided into different combinations. A plot of three 25 ft. wide, standard city lots, may be divided into five building plots of 15 ft. each, which is really the smallest size that should be built. Other com- binations possible, are: % of 50 Feet— Width of each House— 16' 8" 14 of 75 Feet— Width of each House— 18' 9" % of 100 Feet— Width of each House— 20' 0" % of 125 Feet— Width of each House— 20' 10" 159 2" Hygiene in Man's Dwellings 1-7 of 125 Feet— Width of each House— 17' 10 2-7" 1-7 of 150 Feet— Width of each House— 21' 5 1-7" l/g of 175 Feet— Width of each House— 21' IOI/2" 1-9 of 200 Feet— Width of each House— 22' 2%" and many other similar combinations. Corner lots are usually too valuable to be used for houses of this type. The greatest number of the smaller houses of Class "A" have three stories— with a cellar and often with a basement also, but are seldom four stories high. The cellar contains the heating apparatus and storage room for coal and wood. The basement is used for kitchen or kitchen and laundry combined, kitchen store rooms, a toilet for servants, and other rooms dependent on the type of house. There are — namely — three general types of private houses of the smaller as well as larger size: "A" The American basement house with kitchen and service rooms, also the entrance — a reception hall or reception room and the main stair to upper floors in the basement. "B" The English basement house with reception room and dining room in base- ment. Kitchen either in cellar or basement. Entrance and stairs to upper floors also in basement. "C" The French basement — (high stoop house) with entrance on main or first floor. Dining room and reception room in basement. Usually with a cellar or a total of two stories below entrance floor. A much simpler and more correct division would be — "A" The high stoop house with entrance and all the masters rooms above ground level, including the dining room. "B" The low stoop house with entrance at ground level. Of this type two va- rieties — namely, 1. Entrance and reception room on ground floor. 2. Entrance, reception room and also dining room on ground floor. In the smaller houses, the service stairs or back stairs are entirely omitted. Even the reception hall is often omitted in the low stoop houses of very small size. The first floor of the small house of the high stoop type will usually contain a parlor, a dining room with or without pantry, the main entrance, the main stairs and a central room between parlor and diningroom used as music room, hack parlor or library, which in most cases is a very poorly lighted room. In the larger house, added to these rooms we find at least a pantry and service stairs to first or second bedroom floor, and direct communication with the kitchen pantry. The first floor of the low stoop house will contain the same rooms as the high stoop house but the entire front is then used for parlor. Elevators are only used in the high class private houses. Dumbwaiter service from basement to top floor is found in nearly all private dwellings, large or small. Only in the very simplest dwellings is the dumbwaiter omitted. The entrance floor will 160 CITY-EWEILLIMGS. DlAGKAM. SHOWING DIFFERENT. POSSIBI LITIES. !(.-- .oo'.o" . - - 4"^^4:-^>^>"'-^'^>'^>'^-^ o 10 I . I - 1 8 I «>4 T- V*" f 't I'. Q -fO- ■o 10 ; |t- lOO-O iioVJ'. .i'icL- U. i ASSUMED LENQTH OF= BLOCK. ■^Oo'-O ^ REGULAR SIZES OF PLOTS 25' X 100' corner 50' X 100' " 75' X 100' " 25' X 100' interior plot 50' X 100' " 75' X 100' " DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF LOTS With Various Subdivisions 1/3 of 2 lots 16' 8" X 100' 1/4 " 3 " 18' 9" X 100' 1/5 " 4 " 20' 0" X 100' 1/6 of 5 lots 20' 10" X 100' 1/3 " 4 " 33' 4" X 100' 1/2 " 3 •■ 37' 6" X 100' Corner plot 30;xlOO;)^^j^^^ and int. 20' x 100') With different lengths of blocks many other combinations are possible, viz., 1/7 of 6 lots 21' 5 1/7" X 100'; 1/8 of 7 lots 21' 10 1/2" x 100', etc. Regular size city lot assumed 25' x 100'. 161 CITY' DWELLINGS PR.IVATE-HOU5E5 16-6'WIDE.- PAR.TY-WALL5 FIG.51 KITCV 5ERVAHTJ. ;^--h6'-8" y. OiNIHaROOH- A\USIC ROO/* PARLOR BED K0Ot\ : r BED ROOM. L _ 2.'^"FLOOR^ BASe/AENT. |5T puooR. 163 CITY'DWELL1NG5 PR-IVATE-H0U5E5 aO-WIDE-NOPA(iTY WALL PLAN OP 4-^" FLOOR^ S^VANT^J^M STOI«et^K j3A5EMeNT FLAN \fr 20" ^ I J a L FlRsr F^.ooR.PLA^4 ^'"'g^S" floor. Altew^at^. 2*'°oi3'"'FLooR.. I " I • n 3CAl_E -j^ =l-o riG.52.. 165 City Dwellings then contain dining room and kitchen and only one or two floors of bedrooms are plan*- ned above the entrance floor. In houses of four floors and basement, the top floor is usually divided up into servants' bedrooms, storerooms or trunk rooms. In the smaller houses one or two servants' rooms only are provided. In the small houses of the high stoop type, the only servants' rooms are often found in the front part of the basement. All the upper floor bedrooms, (usually not many) are needed for the family. In the narrow houses from 15 to 20 feet wide, a subdivision of the width of rear and front for bedrooms is often very difficult. It means a complication with nar- row halls and much waste of room. The bedrooms will also be of small width and of insufficient area. With every foot increase of width the difficulty of planning will become less. C=MI3U I- DINING.ROOM. MU9IC .nOOM. HUT •ATM bed.r'h H 1 X 3 nl 1 h- I- * BASEMENT. ' i'VLOOR. S^S"" FLOOR TYPICAL PLAN OF LOW.-STOOP. HOUSE. SSTORIE^.EMSeNENT AMD CELLAR.. ENTRANCE AT BASEMENT LEYCl_. KITCHEN n^EPTION RM ,j €:.5W.l ». ,- J l , J Jl .OINInC ROOM. N I" FLOOR. Z'-^a"" FUlOFl. LOW. STOOP.HOOSE . n nrx 175 OiNiNft aoori. BAacMENT. CI-ASS.B. CITY. DWELLINGS . TWO.FAM1 LV. HOUSES . .FIS35.A . ,.J eeofiooM. ■gH FUOOI^. DIHtNAAOOM. KITCHeN. El n^nuM^. u Z"°PW>OR.. .FIG.55.B. TWO.FAMtLY.HOUSE-S.FLOOaS^CEtLAR M 10 IV 30 IS aO 35 4a M MP4ltT F BH 3'»'»ru>oa. [ 9VMK HALL I KCCSTKIH HALL enouMonoML QIHINS.KMM. UBimr BACK mnton "i ^ PINIMCROpn. •minrr~ • SACK RXkALOF^. .J:! ••'rtooR A'^FiOOft. « "FLOOR . ^^fiJOOR. MoTK.TVPB SSb ALTHOUAM VCny MAneLV ItttaHOW MAY ftftCOMC PofWLAR, ATSOMC rUrWAC TIM* mLOCALITItS Wn«M. LAn<^e APAWTMtHT MOUOCO AR* HOT »»OPm>A , rOH, TKIS »«BA3<»H fT«ar •oi4k val.uk toatudv vAitioua acHCKtKs Pom. c»wiii.uNC9 CATAhTiiKJiTA] ran S-f .s.6. A.MD MOftK fWHtuaa OM LjOTS oooovvvvV/yy' "^^"^ stone floors, floors of marble, terazzo, tile and ^^-^ *" composition, this cove can be made of the same material as the floor. The radius of the cove need not be more than one half inch. In fact, greater radius has serious objections. The joints between floor and coved base may be at o or & when in stone, but when of tile — should not be further out than a. The use of a sanitary base or cove, the omission of all projecting woodwork like a wood base, chair rail, wainscot and last but not least the picture moulding should be generally adopted for bed- rooms. Of course, the owners of private houses and tenants of luxurious apartments will in most cases object to these severe measures. This objection will be overcome if these owners and tenants are carefully instructed as to the dangers lurking in bed- 183 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings rooms finished with the unsanitary and unnecessary details. At present there are ob- jections raised, while against any forward step in the march of scientific methods of living, man's conservative mind will generally hold to the old methods. Thus it is with the Architects, who will with the greatest tenacity cling to the old and conservative methods of detail of design and finish. If the help of architects can be obtained in advanced methods of house planning, construction and decoration, the owners and ten- ants of dwellings would soon follow the better ideas. It does lay principally with the Architects to erect sanitary buildings and to use hygienic principles in details of construction and in decoration. Without much interference this can be done at once in public buildings and Insti- tutional buildings like dormitories, schools and hospitals. It is also possible to apply these principles without objection from owners in the service quarters, servants bed- rooms, kitchens and laundries. Neither owners nor Architects seriously object to begin reform in these quarters. In all cases where a sanitary base should be used in connection with wood floors, it is necessary to provide a sanitary base of other material. A wood base cannot be made sanitary. The usual method at present is to use a base of drawn steel, a com- position base, a marble base or a tile base, j\ I PLA5TER whichever scheme is best and most fitting for the special cases in question. The drawn steel base is used as shown in sketch, of about 1/16" thickness of metal, fastened to wood blocks with screws. Cor- ners, inner and outer corners are made of cast iron. To receive door trims a plinth of marble slate or cast iron is used. Height of base is from 6" to 10" — The joint at A with plaster above should be flush in all cases. WALLS OF BEDROOMS. As absolutely unfit for finish of bedroom walls may be mentioned the following materials : Silk, velour, burlap, embossed wall paper, wood panelling, carving except very flat relief work, any and all absorbent or dust collecting material. The entire wall surface of bedrooms from ceiling to floor should be kept smooth and without projections or dust ledges. Successful decorative effects can be ob- tained by adoption of flat decoration in paint directly on the plaster walls, on the flat wood surfaces or on canvas stretched on wood strips forming panels. In expensively finished bedrooms it will be necessary to decorate the panel borders and make these perhaps of ornamental design. They should, however, be kept as flat as possible, ornament or low relief, painted in different tones if necessary, but designed so as to be of the least dust catching and easiest cleanable type. FlOOfi 184 Sanitary Planning And Finish In Dwelling Houses Wall papers will be used to a great extent and until the masses wake up to the serious objections to this material the use of it has to be considered. Where used in bedrooms, a selection should be made of smooth paper with possibly a glossy finish so as to prevent the catching of dust on the walls, and be certain of the least absorbtion. Plaster walls finished in oil paint, or a flat enamel paint will always be a very desirable finish. Wall paper must be removed and renewed after cases of contagious diseases have occurred in the room. This renewal does often not take place and inas- much as fumigation does not in many cases destroy disease germs, the practice of leaving old paper on walls is very dangerous. The omission of picture mouldings in bed- rooms is becoming more and more general. The il^vood picture mouldings or picture strips with the deep dust ledges offer most favorable hiding places and breeding places for vermin, bugs, roaches and flies. In place of this unsanitary de- tail, a picture rod of iron, brass or bronze sup- ported on small metal brackets of simplest de- sign is used now in many instances and does give great satisfaction. Cornices can be used without objection if they are so designed as not to offer dust ledges ; in other words, if they are without horizontal projections. A few examples are given below : The cornices and ceilings are nearly always of plaster. The plaster should be of the hardest possible kind, which is less absorbent than the soft plaster. Covering with oil paint in one or more tones and colors will offer sufficient opportunity for dec- orative effects. 185 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings The trim on doors and windows should be as simple as possible. In Institutional buildings and especially dormitories, hospitals, schools and prisons, trim should be abandoned wherever possible. Doors of bedrooms, if panelled, should have mouldings around panels so arranged that cleaning is possible and easy. The use of flush doors without panels is recommended in all bedrooms of service parts in private dwellings and in all institutions. In the case of bedrooms in institutions, where at times, viz. : extreme cold weather, ventilation of rooms is very difficult, a transom over doors is allowable. Only when there is absolute necessity for a transom, for the purpose of ventilation, should same be used. The transoms have many objectionable features, principally the dust ledges, and when the general construction of details is considered they will be mentioned again. Rugs as floor coverings are allowable even in servants' bedrooms. They can be removed, properly cleaned and put in place in perfect sanitary condition. Even lino- leum floors should have a small rug in front of bed. Use of mats, grass mats or sim- ilar fabric is commendable. Covering the entire floor of bedrooms with carpets is a most unsanitary practice. They remain too long without proper cleaning and even when cleaned cannot be relied upon as being sanitary clean. Every bedroom, except those in a few special institutions should have a good size closet of minimum dimensions, 20" deep by 36" wide. In some types of bedrooms, closets are objectionable as they may be receptacles of unclean clothing and other material, a hiding place of vermin. When possible, a bedroom should have two windows. If only one can be provided, this window should 186 Sanitary Planning And Finish In Dwelling Houses be 4' wide. The best type of windows for bedrooms will be considered with the chapter of house details. In bedrooms of smallest type, in servants' room, dormitories, houses of the poor and middle classes, one window is the most which can be expected. The small bed- rooms should be made 70 sq. ft. area and 9 ft. in height if possible. These are the minimum dimensions required in many communities by law. Often we find 60 sq. ft. area and 8' 6" high. If the choice has to be made between no bedroom at all or a small additional bedroom, a simple place for sleeping, an additional private room for son or daughter, then even the smallest size room would be allowable if not desirable. A room of 50 sq. ft. with a window should then be advantageous. The law does not make proper allowance for the advantages of privacy and the strict adherence to the 70 sq. ft. prevents many improvevents. Woeful abuse by spec- ulators is the cause of this. It should be possible to heat bedrooms at all times, at least to some extent. Pos- sible cases of sickness and the impossibility of removal of a patient will demand this. In extreme cases indirect heating from the halls is allowable. Preferable, however, is always to be able to heat the bedroom to 60° in zero weather. The limit of 70° is too high in general, bedroom temperature should be kept low. It is of greatest importance to keep bedrooms free from dampness. Screening of windows against flies and mosquitoes is very desirable and with Eastern exposure, free to early morning sun, shades of dark color should be provided unless the occu- pants' mode of living will allow him or her to be exceptionally early risers. Lighting fixtures in bedrooms should be provided as follows : In small rooms, one bracket light over dresser of bureau with independent switch. In addition to this is allowable a ceiling light in center of room for general lighting and placed as high as possible. For larger rooms, two side lights, one for each side of bureau and one ceiling fixture with one or more lamps. Possible additional light to small writing desk, table or standard on dresser. All fixtures to be very simple and easily cleaned. General size of bedrooms — Minimum Desirable Good For one occupant 50 sq. ft. 70 sq. ft. 96 sq. ft. For two occupants 120 sq. ft. 140 sq. ft. 180 sq. ft. Three and more 60 sq. ft. 70 sq. ft. 90 sq. ft. occupants per person per person per person 2. KITCHENS. This chapter will only consider the desirable finish of the dwelling house kitchen. A later chapter will deal with the complete arrangement of the larger institutional kitchens. Dwelling house kitchens of the smallest type are in most cases kitchen and laundry combined. They should contain as minimum equipment, a kitchen stove or range, a 187 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings hot water boiler, a sink, two washtubs, kitchen table, kitchen dresser, and a closet for kitchen utensils. A storeroom or closet to take care of the minimum of supplies should also be provided. The kitchen stove of the smallest size is about 2' x 3', and all dif- ferent sizes of ranges can be obtained of dimensions larger than above figures — 2''x3' 6", 2' 6" X 4', 2' 6" X 5', 3' x 6' up to extra large ranges which may take up as much room as 4' x 16' and even more. If a kitchen stove or range is not needed to supply heat to the kitchen and perhaps adjacent rooms during cold weather, it is advisable in all places where gas can be obtained to use gas ranges and abandon the coal range. If sufficient room is available and funds can be allowed for the gas range, it is even advisable to install one in addition to the coal range to be used during summer and mild weather. The omission of the coal range, if possible, is of the greatest sani- tary importance. The fact that dirt, coal and ashes are thereby eliminated is sufficient argument. The supply of a proper size and good drawing smoke flue and in addition a good drawing vent flue also of proper dimensions, must be considered essential with the coal range. For the gas range a flue must be constructed to carry off fumes and grease va- pors, and this flue must also have a good draught. The hot water boiler should be of a size large enough to supply hot water for kitchen use and such bath rooms as are dependent on this boiler for hot water supply. In large dwellings independent hot water supply and large hot water boilers are sup- plied in connection with the heating plant. The kitchen sink should always be of fairly large size, preferably not smaller than 18" X 24" outside measures. In most cases kitchen sinks are set too low. If set at 2' 10" to 3' 0" high they are used by occupants of kitchens with greater comfort and it will then not be necessary to bend over so much. It is obvious that no piping should be exposed in kitchens which can in a practical way be enclosed and covered in the construction of floors, walls and ceilings. Hot and cold water pipes should be hidden in walls and it is a serious objection to allow the exposed traps of sinks and washtubs. Not only is it difficult to keep the pipes clean, especially the numerous bends, but the space behind pipes is never thoroughly cleaned and is a special hiding place for vermin. One small table is the minimum requirement for even the smallest kitchen. The use of the top of washtubs is not to be recommended, although it is very common. Materials for floor — wood, even hardwood floors are objectionable. With the washing of kitchen floors, even the highest priced and best laid wood floors will soon be in a very sad condition. The wood strips will shrink and warp and the floor will have wide cracks allowing large amounts of dirt to collect there. If wood floors are used they must be protected with waterproof coating, for instance, two coats of Lithol, or it should be covered with linoleum. Objections to linoleum used in this man- ner are the same as in bedrooms. Cement floors, finished with waterproofing and dust proofing are cheap and to be recommended. Plastic linoleum, Amflorite, terazzo, tile in different sizes from one 188 Sanitary Planning And Finish In Dwelling Houses inch square to nine inches square, marble and stone are all good sanitary floors. San- itary base should be used with all floor materials. The porous and uneven quarry tiles of brick red color used to a great extent, are not to be recommended. They ab- sorb and get very dirty ; the cleaning is very difficult. Asphalt for kitchen floors would be sanitary but of undesirable dark color and unpleasant in appearance. Same remarks about different materials as made for bed- room floor materials. Also for the sanitary base. Kitchen Walls — Cheapest and at the same time proper sanitary finish, if of hard plaster, oil painted. Further application of enamel paint is still better but more expen- sive. Still better, but again more costly, white enamel or glazed tile walls, entire height of kitchen or about 5' to 6' high, if saving is necessary. Eventually glass walls will be considered the best. Great care should be taken in the selection of the tile. There is a great variety in the quality of tile. Only those should be used where guarantee is given against cracking. (Small but numerous cracks in the glazed surface eventually developing in breaking of the entire surface.) Use of various colors in base, wainscot line, ceiling borders, etc., give abundant possibility for pleasant decorative effects, eliminating the severe and cold appearance of pure white surfaces. Kitchen ceilings — of hard plaster painted in lead and oil, with or without enamel finish, is the most common finish. Kalsomining of kitchen ceilings is not to be recom- mended. The use of glazed tile is again the best but also the most expensive. i ' ■ ""° ' ■ • ■' TILt \ F I G A F I G B The hood which is provided over kitchen ranges, to collect vapors and lead these to the vent flue, should be finished whenever possible in the manner as shown in sketch "A", not as in sketch "B". The curved finish of hood is the greatest dirt, dust and grease collector. The collection of grease from cooking vapors in the vent flues should be consid- ered and if kitchen vent flues are cleaned once in six months by pouring some gasoline or kerosene in the vent and setting fire to it, the flues will be thoroughly clean. This 189 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings method necessitates existence of well built, safe vent flues and should not be attempted, (although the best and only efficient process of cleaning) unless the building is well built in this respect. The objections to hard floors, marble, tile or stone, and the advantages of a more resilient floor material need not be repeated here. It must be kept in mind, however, that this objection is serious and that for this reason composition floors, well laid and of the few types mentioned before as non-disintegrating, are very much softer and less noisy. A cork floor is a good kitchen floor. The same objections exist here to its use however, as have been mentioned under bedrooms. Trim to doors and windows should be flush. Doors should be also flush doors without panels. All doors and windows should be screened even the doors between pantry and kitchen are often protected by a second screen door. Avoid all projecting dust ledges, round all corners to make cleaning possible — generally speaking, make the cleaning possible of every detail part of the kitchen. The greatest difficulty is found in making a proper finish between bottom and back of range, in order to prevent croton bugs and roaches hiding under or back of range. This is possible with careful fitting of the wall and setting of range on con- crete base with tile border. A sanitary kitchen should not give a single hiding place for vermin and it should be made practically impossible for flies, mosquitoes, ants, bugs, roaches, rats and mice to enter a kitchen and escape detection. This one feature added to clean habits of the occupants of the kitchen and a pure water supply will practically solve completely the sanitation of the food problem in any dwelling. Even the smallest kitchen should not be made less than 70 sq. ft. area. 3. BATHROOMS: Very little need be said about the finish of bathrooms. Floors may be of cement, asphalt, wood, composition, terazzo, mosaic, cork, mar- ble, tile or stone. Objections or advantages to these as mentioned for kitchens and bedrooms. There is no need, however, to consider here the objectionable hardness. Wood floors should no longer be allowed, and rather any of the other cheaper materials used. Here sanitary base is again a necessity. Bathtub should be built-in type, or sufficient room should be left behind tubs to make cleaning possible. Where shower bath is used a perfect system of waterproofing under the floor and behind base is a necessity — in other words the construction of a waterproof basin under the floor. Under ordinary circumstances a simple system of waterproofing is sufficient, inasmuch as flooding of floor is gross neglect. Walls. The same arguments for and against the different wall coverings or wall finish as mentioned for kitchens should be considered in the finish of bathrooms. Ceilings. Plaster finished with lead and oil paint or enamel paint is the best. Minimum of pipe should be exposed. As to trim, doors and windows, although not of as great sanitary importance as is the case in kitchens, in general the same rules should be followed. 190 Sanitary Planning And Finish In Dwelling Houses The size of bathrooms is dependent upon the dimensions of the fixtures, the num- ber of fixtures and the type of building. A liberal size room should be allowed for houses of the well-to-do and rich. Heating should be possible in all seasons. 4. DINING ROOMS: For private dwellings, large allowances should be made for the general appear- ance of the room and even in the most unassuming and simplest dwellings, comfort, cheerfulness and cosiness should dominate. The looks, the lighting, the decoration and general appearance may all be helpful to good digestion and the lengthening of the dinner hour. Too much anxiety to leave the table in a hurry and reduce meal times to a minimum is cause for a great deal of stomach troubles. On the other hand, san- itary principles should be kept in mind at all times. When the above named effect can be obtained with a great amount of simplicity, but without actual severity, the result will be good and satisfactory. For institutional dwellings, the dining room must retain its attractiveness. In the finish a greater simplicity is allowable. The choice of materials should be given the same consideration as in other parts of the building and the same reasoning fol- lowed as given before for bedrooms. The use of screens on the windows to keep out flies is here again strongly rec- ommended. Complete covering with carpets must be considered a mistake. Rugs are always preferable. 5. LIVING ROOMS: The freedom here is still greater than in dining rooms. As a rule it should be considered strongly advisable to introduce all such sanitary details in construction and finish wherever possible and where no objection is raised by the occupants on account of the lesser attractiveness and cheerfulness of the room on account of such finish. The fact will remain that dust collecting, absorbent material, angles and corners which cannot be cleaned, always will be unsanitary. This principle and the require- ments of homeliness, personal tastes and cheerfulness must all be considered. 6. LAUNDRIES. Application of the principles mentioned for kitchens can be carried through to the full extent. For floor finish, if funds allow, much consideration should be given to a resil- ient floor material. Cork is excellent floor material in laundries. The same care should be taken against removal of vapors and also of hot air from the laundry as is done in kitchens. Excellent ventilation should be provided and where possible, heat and vapors removed directly from the place of origin or where they are created (the machinery). Mechanical ventilation of laundries and kitchens is nearly unavoidable when they are of considerable size and contain much equipment. This is practically mandatory in institutional kitchens and laundries. 191 PART II. CHAPTER 6 City Dwellings-^Apartment Houses CLASS C. When more than three families Hve in one house, under one roof, each family occupying a separate floor or part of a floor, such a dwelling is called an apartment house. It is only during the last thirty years that apartment houses play a very great part in city life and it may be said that at the present time, in the second largest city of the world. New York City, it is the m<)st important type of city dwelling. New York City, although as yet considerably behind London in actual number of its pop- ulation, is growing at such a rapid pace that we may expect it to occupy first place within a very limited time. On account of this rapid growth, its peculiar geograph- ical shape, the long narrow island between two large rivers, the housing problem in New York is much more difficult than in most localities. For this reason it will be well to consider the apartment house planning, principally with a view to New York City requirements and therefore follow the New York building laws, tenement house laws and requirements of the Bureau of Fire Prevention as far as such is necessary. The laws and ordinances of New York City do not recognize any difference between ten- ement houses and apartment houses or flat houses, which is perfectly correct in most cases, but not always. A tenement house may be the apartment house of the poor, but conditions in a tenement house vary considerably from conditions in apartment houses of the better classes, especially in the number of occupants, the sanitary conditions, the amount of floor area per capita, etc. There is, however, a great difficulty in defining the exact point where difference between the two types should be made in law. The placing of both types under the same rules and regulations does constitute a disad- vantage to the apartment house, sometimes leading to unnecessary expense. It may be assumed, however, that for the extra safety an expense can be well afforded in the better and the best class of tenements, "apartment houses". In this chapter only the apartment house will be considered. The actual tenement house, for the housing of the very poor, containing small apartments of two and three rooms of very small sizes, will be treated in a separate chapter. Apartment houses proper are occupied by skilled labor, by people who earn fairly good wages, the middle classes, the well-to-do, and in later years, also by the rich. In order to properly point out the advantages and disadvantages of apartments, it will be necessary to thoroughly study the planning. On account of the enormous variety in apartments, it would take too much time and space to consider them all, but it is of great value to give examples of many types built during the last twenty years, — to 192 City Dwellings — Apartment Houses point out their defects, their disadvantages or their good points; to call attention to good and bad methods of planning, not from the Architect's view point, but consider- ing the laws of hygiene, of household economy and proper housekeeping. In later years the New York building laws and tenement house laws have been made so strict that the old type of apartments with their great number of dark rooms, their small and poorly ventilated bedrooms, their improper kitchen and service quarters, their unsanitary rooms for janitors, etc., now gradually disappear. It can be safely said that the well planned apartment of the present day has a great many advantages over the private house. The principle of — "My house is my Castle" has often thwarted entirely justified interference. Certain private dwellings have been fire traps, dirt holes, breeding places of disease, hiding places of criminals, a threat to the community during a number of years, without interference from police or the courts. In the apartment house of today we have a guarantee against most of these evils, — unfortunately, not against all of them. It is necessary to make one pro- viso, namely: that safety will exist only if the building inspectors and inspectors of tenement house laws, etc., do their full duty. The apartment house has at least a cer- tain amount of official supervision as to cleanliness, overcrowding, safety from fire, preventatives against spread of occasional contagious diseases, proper construction, etc., which in a less amount is given to private dwellings. In considering the planning of apartment houses, it will be seen from the diagrams of two city blocks on the next plate, that there are a great many varieties in sizes of apartment houses. The smaller are on plots from 25 ft. wide to 30 ft., 40 ft. and 50 ft. wide, by 100 ft. in length, on corner plots or inside plots. The most common sizes of building plots for apartment houses are given in the following list: — CORNER PLOTS INSIDE PLOTS 25' on Avenue x 100' on Street Z7' 40' on Avenue x 100' on Street 50' 50' on Avenue x 100' on Street 60' 60' on Avenue x 100' on Street 62' 75' on Avenue x 100' on Street 75' 100' on Avenue x 100' on Street 83' 125' on Avenue x 100' on Street 87' 200' on Avenue x 100' on Street 100' 125' 150' The modern building laws of large cities have carefully considered the require- ments of light and air, safety of construction, as well as danger from fire. The laws prescribe in detail sizes of light shafts and courts, dependent on the various heights of buildings. The heights of buildings are also restricted and it is no longer possible to erect structures to unlimited heights. Furthermore, in New York City a zone sys- tem has been adopted, unfortunately fifty years too late to prevent enormous damage 193 6" x 100' x 100' x 100' 6" X 100' X 100' 4" X 100' 6" X 100' X 100' X 100' X 100' Hygiene In Man's Dwellings being done. This zone system does divide the city in height zones, business zones and residence zones. For the purpose of comparing and criticising plans, it is not neces- sary to consider these zone regulations at this time. Their general purpose and achievement will be considered later. The building and tenement laws, however, reg- ulate the amount of ground area which may be covered with a building, how much unoccupied space should be left on each building plot, also how much light living rooms and bedrooms should have, the number and dimensions of stairs, dimensions of pub- lic halls, etc. So much detailed information on diiferent subjects is given, that students of hygienic house building will find a great treasure of information on good sensible safety measures in both the New York Building Law and the New York Tenement House Law. It is to be sincerely regretted that notwithstanding the careful study given to the subject of the laws and ordinances governing apartment house construction, two fac- tors of great importance have been entirely ignored, namely: sun exposure and wind exposure. It must not be lost sight of, that in considering New York City as an example, the theories and conclusions for this locality can be applied to all other cities, to different locations, different climates. New York City will be taken as the best example and the most far reaching one. It is obvious that any open court exposed to the Southeast, South or Southwest in New York City during the summer months and winter months, is to be preferred- very much to a northern, western or eastern exposure. Southern courts will get the cool breezes in summer and are protected against the cold blasts of winter. From the view point of light, a southern court has much greater value than a court exposed to the north. In addition to the greater amount of light, "the greater light intensity" the effect of sunlight as a destroyer of disease germs and also as a creator of draught in the courts must be considered of great hygienic value. It has been proven that the greatest objection against courts is the stagnancy of the air there- in and on account of this a great deal of danger of infection. This oversight in the law, namely, ignoring the sun exposure, has made it impossible to always construct apartment houses in the best manner or to build them from the best solution of the plan. A few diagrams which are given in the following pages will indicate the ex- traordinary results of this regrettable oversight. It is difficult to express in actual figures the difference in light intensity for courts with different exposure. Only by making a careful experiment and collecting data during a long time, at least one complete year, would it be possible to obtain fairly accurate figures for comparison. In making the experiments, account should be taken of all possible varieties of exposure. The experiment should accurately determine the comparative amount of light received during the period of one year on each of the surfaces of equal area, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h and k, each of which have a different ex- posure, and each of these will give a different light intensity. Only the totals of light quantities during the entire period of one year should be considered, in order to equalize as much as possible interfering factors like influence of weather — for instance, 194 APARTMEMT_HOU6£^. DIAGRAM. SHOW J NQ.DIFFERENTSl-ZETS. 5CALE . l.mcH «8oFeET. 2 I ff 'P 4; 4 too'- o- - ^^ 5o'-o4 25o^-o" ■0 li) _Jl -eo'-o .» -•• ff 4 100 '-o- ^, — a.t -a" — 4 — a=— ^ H ■^ e' _i 300'- o" ^». »oo-o— .5oo'-o" I 1^ L-2SO'-o"- i a," ;^ sro'- -A loo' — —^ J "0 I I .1 d r «B —\ » .1 f^ 100-0— I* -67'-6,"-*- 67'-^"- ll'l-^Tylto'E ® ''I t!-^ _ , 00 • _ o"- 4. J 25'- o"_ _ ^ I I « I '6 I 7 • I 1 f A6SU^^EP stzg OF pity block 2.oo'xsoo STReeT PLOT5- So'xioo' ,6oa joo' .^2-6*>iioo -^Vi-ilkiooL/sUioo'-Ss^-^x loo* Sy^fxioo' _ lOO'xIOO' — tZS'.>MOO* ETO AVEWUE PUOT^- 40'^ 5O'„60'-67'6V75'_ loo'_ 1^5 -15.KD 2obVwiDfe 195 City Dwellings — ^Apartment Houses height of 96 ft. A great many varieties of these four plans can be made with the shortening of the two outer courts and increasing the width of yards and courts. In all four diagrams only 74% of the ground is occupied, while the law does allow 90%. It is required by law that the yard be continuous behind the entire width of the building. There seems no good reiason for this and there is a serious objection against it. The open space on the Street front or the Avenue front is of no value except at the first floor above the Street level where a passage should be left free for air currents and also for an exit from the courts in case of fire. The open space above the first floor is usually a badly treated feature from an architectural point of view, on account of the exposure of roughly finished side walls and a great loss of useful area in the plans. If the law would allow the yard to be covered over on the other floor levels, ex- cept the first floor, there would be a greater variety of planning possible and more chance to take advantage of the best sun and wind exposure. Of the four diagrams A, B, C and D, the Western exposure of the courts is better than the Eastern. Diagram "A" is better than the others while Street and Avenue exposure is from south and east and on these two fronts the best rooms of the building will be located. In diagrams E, F, G and H are shown four plans with inner courts. "E" and "F" have inner courts surrounded by four walls; "G" and "H" an additional inner court on the lot line. The yard of "E" and "G" if on the west side is of greater light value than the yard in "¥'' and "H". The actual ground occupation is 81.21% and 76.565%. Without as yet indicating the amount of dark area or inferior light in the plan, by drawing the primary light lines, — it is seen that each of the lawful diagrams — E, F, G and H, is inferior to the lawful diagrams A, B, C and D. Unlawful, and against tenement house law is plan "K" with an excellent long court, good sun and wind expo- sure, equal distribution of light, and entirely without inferior light; also with a pos- sibility of perfect cross ventilation. Lawful, however, is diagram "L" with a large percentage of inferior light, absolute lack of cross ventilation and a very much larger percentage of occupied ground area. Of the four diagrams M, N, O and P, the only one with proper light distribution "O", and also the one with better exposure and least percentage of occupied ground area, is the only one against the law. Plan "P" which is the worst possible, is lawful. Of course, against this may be said that plan "Q" is lawful and nearly as good as "O", but there are occasions when it is necessary to place the yard on the Avenue and not on the Street side, even if this is more expensive. The law should not prevent or hinder desirable solutions of the architectural problems. The entire difficulty of planning good apartments, is the question of light and air and the New York tenement house law has made this very much more difficult. It has at times legalized poor plans and prevented good plans. An argument may possibly be made from the fact that plans as shown in diagrams L, N and P will not be 197 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings NoR,TH 1 1 f 1 f h c M e 1 ' a 1 clouds, rain, snow, storm, fog, etc. The result of a careful experiment would prove of great value and it is to be hoped that some scientist who is in a position to sacrifice time and study to this subject, will soon supply the world with this very important and much needed information. There has been a great deal of study and time given to light intensity, but the data which is here required has not as yet been obtained. It is, of course, seen from the dia- gram that extreme care should be taken to eliminate or equalize reflected light and absorbed light, also that an experiment should be made for different results with differ- ent heights of the vertical dividing planes. Without any definite knowledge about the actual light quantities, it may be safely estimated that the total amount of light on plane "a" will be at least double the amount which is received by plane "g". A court exposed to the south will improve with greater length; a court to the north will be harmed with every foot additional length. This principle should be kept in mind when deciding about the outline of the apartment building. The factors which will decide the main outline of the building are as follows : a. The height of the building. b. The location and size of yards and courts. c. The location of the building plot, either on a corner of the Street and Avenue or an inside lot on the Street. It will be well to consider a few possibilities in varieties of outline of corner build- ings and inside lots and for this purpose are shown on the following pages, diagrams "A" to "W" for corner lots, and "A" to "X" for inside lots. For the full understanding it should be known, that the requirements of the New York tenement house law are as follows : — For buildings below 96 ft. high, yards to be 10 ft. wide; for 50 ft. length 15 ft. for the other part. Outer courts on the lot line 7 ft. 6" wide for 65 ft. length, one foot more for every 30 ft. additional length. Outer courts between wings 15 ft. wide up to 65 ft. length. Inner courts on the lot line 13 ft. 6" x 27 ft. Other inner courts 27 ft. x 27 ft. See the New York tenement house law with amendments 1915-1916, Sections 52 to 59 inclusive. It may be considered the usual practice, by reason of the high land values on Avenues, to place the yard on the Street front rather than the Avenue front. There are a good many instances, however where it is desirable to place the yard on the Avenue. Diagrams A, B, C and D show four plans for corner lots 100 x 100 with outer courts and yards. These plans differ only in exposure of the outer courts and the yards. These courts and yards are shown minimum lawful width for a maximum 198 APARTMENT_H0U5ES - 0IAGRAM5.0F.C0RNEK-PL0T3. LAWFUL. AND i/NLAWFUL . CORNER PLOTS IOo'kCOO" .ASSUMED MEIGHT.BELOW S6FEET» SEE N.Y.CITY TE.NEMENT.H0U5E.UAW . WITH AMENDMENTS. 19IS. 1916. SECTIONS Si TO 59 INCLUSIVE . ^M/////MMx'/M////.m//////M'^M-y'»/«^^^ I t-IS'- tmm. rib- l5'-o" 74-°/. NORTH . B. 7454 6TRE.ET. aTREST. I If xir 81.21?; z > < STREET,' STREET. 199 6TREET. STREET. G. 76.565% H. 76.566*/. STKJEET STRpET. K. UNLAWFUL I— 71% 78505; i. M. jasoy. ^ N, 75.25% aTRPET. OTf^EET. 201 u 2 U NOT. LAWFUL. 66.751; 79.28% 5THEET. (..JO'--> 1 eft 9- j^a.so'/. 5Tf\r.ET X)IAGRAM5.R.B^S. SHOW BUILDINGS ON COfWEf?.. PLOTS.WITHA5SUNE0 MAXIMUM HEIGHT or 150' FL- MOT OVER ^ go! -7 69.% STREET. S >.--2o'--i Ill 3i»3a' D Im_ > < 1 10') 74.76?, 5TR.EET 203 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings possible of execution; that they are not practical on account of the large area of dark spaces, but with the introduction of so called fire stairs without exterior light and com- pletely enclosed with fireproof material, the adoption of light shafts or air shafts for interior bathrooms, pantries and all such rooms not used for living or sleeping rooms, — furthermore, the great use of large foyers or lobbies or reception halls usually absolutely dark spaces, there is a great possibility for plans just as bad as those shown or nearly as bad. A great many apartments have been built where dark foyers, halls and large closets have been planned only for the purpose of using up room which could not be given direct daylight. In several of the expensive apartments, 40% of floor area has been used up by dark spaces. For the principle of good hygienic planning, dark spaces cannot be allowed except to a very small extent in halls and corridors, where in apart- ments they are nearly unavoidable. A large foyer, lobby or reception hall without light and entirely without ventilation, may be shown in plan as a hall space only and not as a living room. In actual apartment house life these stuffy unhealthy places, where never a ray of daylight penetrates, nor even a slight draught of air circulates, are used to a great extent and principally on such occasions when conditions are most unfavorable, namely — when entertainments are given and when the apartments have more occupants than usual. These spaces are then used for dancing, receptions and other functions. The best possible plan from this view point is such a plan where no dark areas can exist. Diagrams E, F, G and H all show a very fair distribution of light, as long as the largest distances between outer walls and court walls is kept less than 50 ft. These four forms of plan are very common and used to a great extent. This can mainly be attributed to the great facility of obtaining access to the different apartments on one floor from one public hall and one elevator. In plans like diagrams A, B, C and D, each of which, from the view point of hygiene, light and ventilation, are much better than the plans E, F, G and H. Great difficulty is found with sub-division of floors into separate apartments on account of dividing the building into two separate wings. It can be definitely said that large plots of ground are not economically fit to be used for apartment buildings containing small apartments, unless more stairs and more elevators are introduced. Without long halls and corridors it is not possible to plan small apartments on a large plot without increasing the number of stairs and elevators. This difficulty also does exist to the same degree with the service elevators. Enclosed courts are bad for many reasons. The principal objection is the lack of air currents, stagnant air, noise, lack of privacy for all the rooms on these courts where all sound is plainly heard across the width of the court during those hours when street noises are subdued. The sounds are even magnified to a certain extent. This also may be the case with the long and narrow outer courts, but the magnifying of sound is not as great, and the interference of outside noises much greater, which will give more diffusion of sound and make the noises indistinct so that it will be difficult to hear across the width of the outer courts, although smaller of width than the inner courts. 205 City Dwellings — Apartment Houses The lack of air currents and difficulty of ventilation of the inner courts, would be considerably improved by demanding a connecting opening or passage at the street level from tliese inner courts to the street. This would result in creating a through draught having the same effect as a chimney. With proper air currents created in these courts, the hygienic objections, except the light problem in the four corners would have been overcome. The greatest difficulty in prescribing by law fixed rules for planning, is the fact that those who build with good intentions really do not need the law, and those who intend wrong will always try to avoid the law, — avoid it in such a manner as to obtain the greatest financial benefit from this evasion. Account has to be taken of this class of unscrupulous building speculators who will attempt to use a maximum of ground area and give a minimum of light and air. It seems a wrong principle in law that the good and well meaning usually suflFer for the bad ones, thus putting a premium on illegal practice. There seems to be no rea- son, however, to prevent by strict application of the letter of the law — not the purpose or meaning — the addition of more light and air than the law requires. It should be possible, after once a legal outline of the building has been adopted, to add at random to the unoccupied ground area, as architect or owner deems desirable. A ■ For instance, — if plan "A" is legal, plan '"B" should be legal also, no matter how deep or narrow the additional extensions of courts are. The additional courts do not de- crease the amount of light and air, but increase same. With this concession it would be possible in many cases to take better advantage of orientation, sun and wind expo- sure, as well as even distribution of light. In diagrams "R" and "S" are shown the requirements for yards, outer courts and inner courts for buildings on corner plots 150 feet high, which is practically the maximum height for apartment houses in New York City. Yards must be 10' wide for the first 50' length, then increase to 20' width. Inner courts 32' x 32'. Inner courts on lot line 16' x 32'. Outer courts on lot line 10' wide to a length of 65'. Outer courts between wings 20' wide for 65' length. Diagrams T, U, V and W give illustrations of vmlawful plans, all based upon 206 Hygiene in Man's Dwellings lawful outlines, but with increased unoccupied ground area and better light distri- bution. If any additional severity in the law is suggested, it would be well to prohibit the use of inner courts, as shown in diagrams E, F, G, H and J for lighting of bedrooms, unless such courts have an open passage to the street at the ground level free and unobstructed to air currents. Diagrams for inner plots from 40' to 100' wide are shown on the next plate. The yards for the maximum height of 90' on a 60' street, should be 15' wide; outer courts on lot line 7' 6" ; outer courts between wings 1 5' ; inner courts 27' x 27' ; inner courts on lot line 13' 6"x27'. The percentage of ground area covered by buildings is also indicated. At a glance the least desirable plan form will be selected from these several plans, namely, — plan "K". Here the distribution of light is most unsatisfactoi-y. That this plan is the only unlawful outline unless sizes of courts are increased, does speak well for the soundness of the tenement house law regulations in reference to inside build- ing plots, or plots in the street, not on corners. This plan "K" would occupy 70% ground area with outer court 15' wide. The New York City tenement house law is very satisfactory in respect to sizes of courts and yards for inside plot. The diagrams show all buildings to have a fair distribution of light. Here again, the objection to inner courts should be just as strong as to those of corner buildings. Inner Courts are used to a great extent for lighting of bedrooms. Talking from one side of the court is at night plainly heard in the rooms on the other side if windows are kept the least bit open. Inner courts are very noisy; they often smell bad on account of neglect in stores on the ground floor. For instance — decayed fruit and veg- etables and similar odors are often perceptible. Sometimes proper drainage is neg- lected and odors from drain traps or dirt at bottom of court reach the bedrooms and last but not least — air in the courts is often stagnant. All of these are very serious objections. Add to this at least two or four dark areas at the two or four angles of the inner courts — there are in all enough objections to attempt the omission of inner courts in plan. Except for large plots of land, and in large apartments with many service rooms, most of which can be located on the inner court, it would be a step in the right direction to abolish interior courts. It is, of course, undesirable to make a too severe law, thereby interfering with building operations to such an extent that they could not be carried out except at a financial loss to the investors. To the financial success it is necessary to cover a maximum of ground area. In many instances apartment houses have open courts on the street. These courts wherever they have southern, eastern or western exposure are far better than any in- ner court and any outer court to the north. Southern exposure is to be preferred at all times. But western exposure has in New York City the great disadvantage in that during the summer months, or four to 207 City- Dwellings — Apartment Houses six months of the year, apartments are very hot and lack air currents, being shut ofif from the light southerly breezes. In diagrams S, T, U, V, W and X of Fig. 56, are shown plans with outer courts on the street. S, T and U show these street courts for interior plots. By shade lines is indicated the inferior lighted area. Diagram "U" — where the two outer street courts are only 7' 6" wide, would be a very undesirable plan unless the next building plot were developed in the same manner, and a street court of 15' wide created. Diagrams V. W and X show plans of a plot occupying the entire avenue front, or a double cor- ner plot. Plans V and W show a great amount of dark space, but in diagram "X" with one street court and two outer courts on yard, this dark space has been greatly reduced. In this last plan, however, there would be found considerable difficulty with proper intercommunication if divided into small apartments. Unless at least two independent entrances, each with stairs and elevators are provided, diagram "X" would be a bad plan for sub-division in small apartments. One of the greatest objections of a street court is the collecting of dirt and dust at the ground level. This is overcome by covering over this street court area at that level and thereby creating a protected entrance, also obtaining a proper architectural improvement. A building which is cut in two or three parts from top to bottom by one or more narrow street courts, will be of a very poor architectural design. By covering the courts at the street level at least an uninterrupted base is provided for the entire building. A certain amount of secondary light is allowable for halls, corridors, lobbies and foyers, but beyond these there should be no dark space. There is no reason whatever to make lobbies and foyers of large size only to be able to use up a very large amount of dark floor area. This is however, done to a great extent and in some of the very high class apartment houses. After studying the various possibilities in outline of apartment houses from the diagram given before, the next consideration is the sub-division of the floors into apartments of different sizes. The two main types of apartment houses have been men- tioned before, namely, the simplex apartments and the duplex apartments. In general method of planning there is not much difference between these. It will not be neces- sary to consider the duplex apartments until after the different plans of simplex apartments have been carefully studied, when a few examples of duplex apartments will then be sufficient to illustrate the principal differences. The principal varieties in type of apartments are as follows: — A. Housekeeping apartments. B. Non-housekeeping apartments. Of the housekeeping apartments we find the following sub-division : a. 1 Apartment on a floor. b. 2 Apartments on a floor. c. 3, 4, 5 and more apartments on a floor, which sub-division may also hold for non-housekeeping apartments, but to a certain extent only. Non-housekeeping apart- 208 STREET. STREET. u. D X 3 2 14 > < STREET STREET SINGLE CKOS5.UNE5 indicate: LAWFUL DIAGRAMS. P053IBLE BUT UNLAWFUL IMPROVEMENTS ARE INDICATED BY DOUBLE CR03S.UNE5. 209 y^PARTMflMT-HOU/SElS. OlAGF?,AMS FOR INSIDE PLOTS- MAXIMUM HEIGHT. ® 7 6" "in &" 1 |— IM-' X 27* 10 K) 1. ® - -5o' 7°% k- -5o' ^ 10. 'in V .Id -1 T © 1 1^ 6o' — — »| 7o7o K *W . in' is' X , k so 3o' © \<- - -So' — -* 70% ■0, J T i 15' 30 ® . -6o"- 70% -4 ,«■. J L © k 6i'-