128 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



Value of different kinds of courts 



Approaching the subject of free air space of tenants I would urge the 

 recognition of the following general principle as fundamental, that is : 



A " through court," extending from street to yard is twice as good as an 

 " outer court." An " outer court " is twice as good as an " inner court." 



In practical effect the " through courts " would be given preference, as 

 against the penalization of the " inner courts." It would encourage " semi- 

 detached " planning in the form of isolated and lesser units. This would 

 result beneficially not only with reference to light and air circulation, but 

 also as to accessibility, sanitation and fire hazard. Financing, ownershii 

 and marketability become more mobile. The " inner court " on the con- 

 trary makes for larger units and, by duplication, for the enclosure of the 

 entire block area, the " rear yards " themselves becoming aggregated into 

 an " inner court." If this principle were established the difficulties relating 

 to outer courts would disappear. Designers would favor the through courts 

 and plan the principal rooms upon it. leaving baths, staircases and smaller 

 rooms to find a location upon the inferior court for which the present 

 requirements of the Tenement Law would be ample. 



Minimum dimension of courts 



The determination of the related minimum dimensions of yards and 

 courts depends entirely upon what skillful planning permits of as feasible. 

 Obviously the least dimension of the court should bear .some relation — first, 

 to the depth of the room space located upon it, and secondly, to its other two 

 dimensions. No scientific rule as to this has been devised, so far as I am 

 aware, which would apply at all reasonably to a wide diversity of lot dimen- 

 sions, to say nothing of a wide diversity of uses of buildings. The present 

 tenement rule was born of a large number of plans submitted in competition 

 for standard tenements by over 100 architects and was made to fit specific 

 types of tenements about six stories in height upon 25 by 100-foot lot units. 

 The 12-story tenement of Manhattan and the blocks of various shapes and 

 dimension in Queens and Richmond were not considered at that time and 

 the Tenement Law does not fit these cases. 



If it be the object to hold an outer court above a fixed minimum, it 

 would be more certain of operation to fix an arbitrary minimum width of 

 five, six or seven feet, particularly as the height also enters into considera- 

 tion. In practice it is found that long outer courts occur with low buildings, 

 while the shorter and wider courts accompany higher structures. Perhaps 

 a rule something like this would work out acceptably : 



The minimum width of a " through court " shall be 4 feet. 



The minimum width of an " outer court " shall be 6 feet. 



The minimum width of an " inner court " shall be 10 feet. 



A limitation of length may thus be omitted. 



Statement by Edward R. Hardy. Assistant Manager, New York 

 Fire Insurance Exchange, May 22. 1916 



Districting will reduce fire waste 



Any plan which would establish a uniform character to a district as 

 to height, use and occupancy, will, in the main be beneficial in reducing the 

 fire waste. This is due primarily to the fact that with no restrictions there 

 creeps into business districts businesses which are altogether out of propor- 

 tion to the ordinary fire risks in that district. That is, they threaten the 

 whole district, as a block may be spoiled from a fire standpoint, by a single 



