RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 159 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



Many of the things that are prohibited by Section 39 of the Tenement 

 House Law in tenement houses or on the same lot with tenements are fre- 

 quently found upon adjacent lots and in adjacent houses. Under such cir- 

 cumstances the damage to the occupants of the tenement houses is nearly as 

 great as if there were no tenement house- law. The prohibition of the 

 storage of excelsior, straw, hay, and other combustible material in tenement 

 houses which are considered sources of fire or conflagrations is only half 

 effective by reason of the fact that our housing reform measures have not 

 been co-ordinated and have not had the support of kindred laws governing 

 other kinds of buildings in the city of New York. 



Deaths in tenement house fires 



There have been, many lives lost in tenements since the passage of the 

 Tenement House Law. In all of these cases, possibly with one or two excep- 

 tions, the buildings were equipped with exits and fire escapes and other 

 fire prevention equipment, as required by the Tenement House Law. The 

 fatalities have come in spite of the provisions of the law. I would charge 

 a large proportion of this loss of life up to panicky conditions that have 

 obtained among people who live in these houses. 



I think the experience of other cities, Chicago, for example, indicate 

 that no loss of life need be feared in tenement houses that are not more 

 than three stories in height. We have had one bad case of loss of life in 

 a three-story building in Williamsburg due to suffocation. The people had 

 not awakened and the smoke filtered in through cracks in the floor and suf- 

 focated people in their beds, but with this exception, and with the provisions 

 of the means of fire escapes, which the law now requires it would be almost 

 certain that we would have no loss of life by fire in tenement houses. 



Our universal experience is that people are usually suffocated rather 

 than burned to death in tenement house fires. It may fairly be said that the 

 greatest proportion of the loss of life in tenement house fires has been 

 due to suffocation, panic and ignorance as to the means of escape provided. 

 If I should be asked what I thought was the most serious factor in the loss 

 of life by fire in tenement houses I would say it was ignorance of how to 

 use the means of escape actually provided. 



Size of outer courts 



In some sections of the City, I feel that it is desirable to increase 

 the requirements of the Tenement House Law as to courts, yards, and 

 open spaces and to decrease the height of buildings allowed under the Tene- 

 ment House Law. This is desirable in the interest of public health, safety 

 and general welfare, in the new law tenements, the undesirability of the 

 light and ventilation in rear apartments is fairly indicated by the reduced 

 rentals that they bring. 



An outer court on the lot line, six and one-half feet wide and sixty-five 

 to seventy feet long, as allowed under the Tenement House Law in a six 

 story building does not adequately light the lower rooms facing on the court, 

 neither does a nineteen-foot rear yard and a nine and one-half foot outer 

 court on the lot line adequately light the lower stories of a twelve-story 

 apartment house. 



The present provision of the Tenement House Law allowing the length 

 of an outer court to be ten to twelve times its width, does not admit ade- 

 quate lighting in that portion of the court which is nearest the closed end. 

 The maximum length of an outer court should not exceed eight times its 

 width if proper allowance is to be made for light and ventilation. 



