CHAPTER THIRTY NINE 



FLATS 



: HE ordinary town house, in distinction from the country house, 

 may be considered as a dwelling which, owing to its restricted 

 size enforced by the costliness of land, cannot expand laterally. 

 As the land is sold in pieces like cloth of a constant width it 

 is capable of easier extension to the back, and the form of 

 house which results from these arbitrary conditions is long and narrow, 

 and as the plan is unable to expand laterally it develops vertically, and its 

 rooms, instead of being placed side by side, are placed on top of each 

 other. 



But in the flat, the houses instead of being packed laterally are packed 

 vertically, and so a block of flats is really a series of one-storey country houses 

 placed on top of each other. But the conditions which have led to the 

 development of flats in modern towns have not been favourable ones. Built 

 as commercial speculations on restricted sites to meet a demand which is 

 generally in excess of the supply, the object of their existence has been to 

 secure the highest rent for the minimum of space and convenience. But as 

 the flat is more economical to work than the town house, and as it possesses 

 several other advantages over it which will be alluded to later on, its tenant is 

 prepared to put up with certain restrictions which do not essentially belong to 

 the flat at all, but only to the flat as it is now built. Tradition has fixed the 

 lowest standard of comfort demanded in the house, but no tradition applies 

 to the modern flat, and the fact that in its present state it still competes suc- 

 cessfully with the more commodious house of equal rent seems to show that 

 it is more adapted for town life. 



In the flat one might suppose the utilitarian spirit which prides itself on 

 its practical qualities and sound common sense would at least find expression. 

 Here it might be assumed there is no margin for the art of the house, and the 

 lift, the electric light and the other modern conveniences seem to bear witness 

 to the prevalence of conditions with which it is popularly supposed that art 

 has little to do. 



And yet a visit to the average flat will impress the intelligent observer 

 chiefly with the extraordinary ignorance of planning which it displays, the 

 reckless squandering of space, and the want of any sort of arrangement in 

 the rooms. 



He may be duly impressed with the imposing facade, but on opening the 

 front door of the flat he is visiting he will be confronted with an apparently 

 interminable passage, narrow and lofty. On each side of this dismal thorough- 

 fare are rows of shut doors, each opening into minute compartments having 

 no definite arrangement or sequence, so that the unattended visitor on open- 

 ing one at a venture may find himself confronted by the elegance or the 

 miniature drawing-room, or precipitated into the more homely if less preten- 

 tious appointments of the kitchen. And such a dwelling is cheerfully regarded 

 by its occupants as a " cosy flat," and its inconveniences and restrictions are 

 R 113 



