This morning Lord Shaftesbury came according to appointment, to take
me to see the Model Lodging Houses. He remarked that it would be
impossible to give me the full effect of seeing them, unless I could
first visit the dens of filth, disease, and degradation, in which the
poor of London formerly were lodged. With a good deal of satisfaction
he told me that the American minister, Mr. Ingersoll, previous to
leaving London, had requested the police to take him over the dirtiest
and most unwholesome parts of it, that he might see the lowest as well
as the highest sphere of London life. After this, however, the
policeman took him through the baths, wash houses, and model lodging
houses, which we were going to visit, and he expressed himself both
surprised and delighted with the improvement that had been made.
[Illustration: _of the facade of "The Model Lodging House."_]
We first visited the lodging house for single men in Charles Street,
Drury Lane. This was one of the first experiments made in this line,
and to effect the thing in the most economical manner possible, three
old houses were bought and thrown into one, and fitted up for the
purpose. On the ground floor we saw the superintendent's apartment,
and a large, long sitting room, furnished with benches and clean,
scoured tables, where the inmates were, some of them, reading books or
papers: the day being wet, perhaps, kept them from their work. In the
kitchen were ample cooking accommodations, and each inmate, as I
understand, cooks for himself. Lord Shaftesbury said, that--something
like a common table had been tried, but that it was found altogether
easier or more satisfactory for each one to suit himself. On this
floor, also, was a bathing room, and a well-selected library of useful
reading books, history, travels, &c. On the next floor were the
dormitories--a great hall divided by board partitions into little
sleeping cells about eight feet square, each containing a neat bed,
chair, and stand. The partition does not extend quite up to the wall,
and by this means while each inmate enjoys the privacy of a small
room, he has all the comfort of breathing the air of the whole hall.
A working man returning from his daily toil to this place, can first
enjoy the comfort of a bath; then, going into the kitchen, make his
cup of tea or coffee, and sitting down at one of the clean, scoured
tables in the sitting room, sip his tea, and look over a book. Or a
friendly company may prepare their supper and sit down to tea
together. Lord Shaftesbury said that the effect produced on the men by
such an arrangement was wonderful. They became decent, decorous, and
self-respecting. They passed rules of order for their community. They
subscribed for their library from their own earnings, and the books
are mostly of their own selection. "It is remarkable," said his
lordship, "that of their own accord they decided to reject every
profane, indecent, or immoral work. It showed," he said, "how strong
are the influences of the surroundings in reforming or ruining the
character." It should be remarked that all these advantages are
enjoyed for the same price charged by the most crowded and filthy of
lodging houses, namely, fourpence per night, or two shillings per
week. The building will accommodate eighty-two. The operation supports
itself handsomely.
I should remark, by the by, that in order to test more fully the
practicability of the thing, this was accomplished in one of the worst
neighborhoods in London.
From these we proceeded to view a more perfect specimen of the same
sort in the Model Lodging House of George Street, Bloomsbury Square, a
house which was built _de novo_, for the purpose of perfectly
illustrating the principle. This house accommodates one hundred and
four working men, and combines every thing essential or valuable in
such an establishment--complete ventilation and drainage; the use of a
distinct living room; a kitchen and a wash house, a bath, and an ample
supply of water, and all the conveniences which, while promoting the
physical comfort of the inmates, tend to increase their self-respect,
and elevate them in the scale of moral and intellectual beings. The
arrangement of the principal apartments are such as to insure economy
as well as domestic comfort, the kitchen and wash house being
furnished with every requisite convenience, including a bath supplied
with hot and cold water; also a separate and well-ventilated safe for
the food of each inmate. Under the care of the superintendent is a
small, but well-selected library.
The common room, thirty-three feet long, twenty-three feet wide, and
ten feet nine inches high, is paved with white tiles, laid on brick
arches, and on each side are two rows of tables with seats; at the
fireplace is a constant supply of hot water, and above it are the
rules of the establishment. The staircase, which occupies the centre
of the building, is of stone. The dormitories, eight in number, ten
feet high, are subdivided with movable wood partitions six feet nine
inches high; each compartment, enclosed by its own door, is fitted up
with a bed, chair, and clothes box. A shaft is carried up at the end
of every room, the ventilation through it being assisted by the
introduction of gas, which lights the apartment. A similar shaft is
carried up the staircase, supplying fresh air to the dormitories, with
a provision for warming it, if necessary. The washing closets on each
floor are fitted up with slate, having japanned iron basins, and water
laid on.
During the fearful ravages of the cholera in this immediate
neighborhood, not one case occurred in this house among its one
hundred and four inmates.
From this place we proceeded to one, if any thing, more interesting to
me. This was upon the same principle appropriated to the lodgment of
single women. When one considers the defenceless condition of single
women, who labor for their own subsistence in a large city, how easily
they are imposed upon and oppressed, and how quickly a constitution
may be destroyed for want of pure air, fresh water, and other common
necessaries of life, one fully appreciates the worth of a large and
beautiful building, which provides for this oppressed, fragile class.
The Thanksgiving Model Buildings at Port Pool Lane, Gray's Inn, are so
called because they were built with a thank-offering collected in the
various religious societies of London, as an appropriate expression of
their gratitude to God for the removal of the cholera. This block of
buildings has in it accommodations for twenty families, and one
hundred and twenty-eight single women; together with a public wash
house, and a large cellar, in which are stored away the goods of those
women who live by the huckster's trade.
The hundred and twenty-eight single women, of whom the majority are
supposed to be poor needlewomen, occupy sixty-four rooms in a building
of four stories, divided by a central staircase; a corridor on either
side forms a lobby to eight rooms, each twelve feet six inches long,
by nine feet six inches wide, sufficiently large for two persons. They
are fitted up with two bedsteads, a table, chairs, and a washing
stand. The charge is one shilling per week for each person, or two
shillings per room.
Lord Shaftesbury took me into one of the rooms, where was an aged
female partially bedridden, who maintained herself by sewing, The room
was the picture of neatness and comfort; a good supply of hot and cold
water was furnished in it. Her work was spread out by her upon the
bed, together with her Bible and hymn book; she looked cheerful and
comfortable. She seemed pleased to see Lord Shaftesbury, whom she had
evidently seen many times before, as his is a familiar countenance in
all these places. She expressed the most fervent thankfulness for the
quiet, order, and comfort of her pleasant lodgings, comparing them
very feelingly with what used to be her condition before any such
place had been provided.
[Illustration: _of a four story rectangular brick/masonry structure._]
From this place we drove to the Streatham Street Lodging House for
families, of which the following is an outside view. This building is,
in the first place, fire proof; in the second, the separation in the
parts belonging to different families is rendered complete and perfect
by the use of hollow brick for the partitions, which entirely
prevents, as I am told, the transmission of sound.
The accompanying print shows the plan of one tenement.
[Illustration: _of an apartment's plan (no scale)_:
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