RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 153 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



we lose sight of one point when it comes to respiratory troubles. Where 

 the necessary humidity is taken out of the atmosphere there follows a con- 

 gestion of the mucous membrane of the nasal passages due to the continuous 

 breathing of dry hot air. When an individual is subjected to a change of 

 temperature of from 25 to 30 degrees by going from his house into the 

 street, coupled with a change in the humidity of over 20 per cent, an inflam- 

 matory reaction follows. It is due to this, I think, that we suffer a great 

 deal in New York City, from catarrhal conditions. 



Statement by Benjamin C. Marsh, Secretary of the New 

 York Congestion Committee, April 27, 1916 



The Commission on Building Districts and Restrictions has made the 

 most painstaking and careful study of existing conditions of development, 

 use and future needs of New York City, ever made in this country, and 

 probably in the world. 



The principles of yoUr report must commend themselves universally, 

 the districting of the city to prevent the construction of as high buildings in 

 the outlying boroughs, as have injured Manhattan, and the restriction of 

 districts against industry. 



It seems to us, however, that these restrictions can be applied more 

 fully than you have done. We submit, therefore, the following suggestions : 



Limitations on the Size of Buildings Should Be More Drastic 



Very few tenements (except high class apartment houses) will have 

 elevators, unless they are over five stories high. It is undesirable to require 

 any family to climb over three flights of stairs, above the first floor ; although 

 five-story tenements are permitted, under the tentative plans of the Com- 

 mission, in The Bronx and Queens up to the City Line, throughout Brooklyn 

 and in almost all of Richmond. It would be wiser to increase the acreage 

 that is entirely restricted, to lower the heights of buildings used for resi- 

 dential purposes, to increase the area restricted to one and two-family 

 houses, and to permit more intensive use of land in unrestricted areas for 

 business and industrial purposes than for residential purposes. 



Height limitation alone, in relation to street width, is not adequate, be- 

 cause the width of streets varies greatly within the same height districts. 



The maximum number of ' stories for each height district should be 

 established, in addition to the height limitation, with a sliding scale per- 

 mitting an additional story for every additional 10 per cent of the lot area 

 left unoccupied above the requirement for the district. 



To equalize conditions of specially intensive development, a regulation 

 might be adopted that when 50 or more per cent of the frontage of a block 

 is more intensively developed than the regulations permit, the rest of the 

 block may be similarly developed. 



Suggestions Regarding Number of Stories and Heights 

 Manhattan 



No building should be permitted to exceed in height one and three- 

 quarters times the width of the street, with a maximum of sixteen stories, 

 except in the area in the center of the lower end of the island, where the 

 Commission recommends a height of two and a half times the width of 

 the street. The area along the water front, where the Commission recom- 



