depriving it of breadth; and too great a diversity of colour gives it a vulgar appearance, and frequently destroys the effect of really good proportions. The temptation to build picturesquely and to try experiments with new materials and methods of construction, is much greater in the country than in town. Coloured bricks, bands of ornamental tiles, glazed patera, and other similar attractions, may give variety to elevations, but they must be adopted with considerable caution in small buildings. New inventions and pseudoeconomical devices too often prove miserable and expensive delusions. As the details of construction, &c., which are given in the next section, are equally applicable to those in the country, this subject will be now dismissed.

3009. In the autumn of 1863 two premiums of 251, each were offered through the Society of Arts for the most approved designs for cottages, to be built singly or in pairs, at a cost not exceeding 1007. each. It was essential that each cottage should fulfil the following requirements. On the ground floor, a living-room of about 150 feet superficial; a scullery or kitchen of not less than 70 feet superficial; with a ventilated pantry. On the upper floor, three bedrooms, one to be not less than 100 feet superficial; fire-places to be provided in two of the rooms. The height from the ground to the first floor to be 9 feet, and the bedrooms to be 8 feet in the clear. The memorandum of the Inclosure Commissioners with respect to the substantiality of agricultural buildings to be adhered to. In the estimate, brickwork was to be taken at 87. per rod reduced; Countess slates at 23s. ; and Baltic timber at 2s. 3d. per foot cube. An allowance of 20 per cent. was to be made for contingencies and builder's profit on the cost prices of labour and materials, with 5 per cent. for superintendence. The prime cost, therefore, of each house was not to exceed 80%., including not only the cottage, but the fixtures, water supply or well, fencing, paving, and all those necessary addenda which the owner must supply.

3010. An able report was drawn up on the 184 designs submitted, by the three appointed judges (given in Builder, 1864, p. 359), towards the conclusion of which they observe "that although good cottages may possibly be erected, under favourable circumstances, in some parts of England for a lower sum, we consider the probable average cost of a pair of cottages built with the conveniences enumerated, would be about 280l. to 3007., and that the attempt to erect them at any considerable reduction upon this amount must result in some inferior kind of buildings, discreditable to the owner, and wanting in much of the necessary accommodation for a labourer and his family." The premiated design is given in the same volume, p. 952. On p. 295 of the following volume, six builders' estimates are given for erecting six cottages on the premiated plan, ranging from 3971. 13s. 4d. to 5271. the pair; a difference somewhat accounted for by the designer in his observations at p. 319, where he states that 2601. the pair would be the price of some he was then erecting, with modifications. On p. 394 is given a design estimated at 2007., and tendered for at 1804 the pair, which is deserving of comparison.

3011. The Central Cottage Improvement Society, London, stated in 1865, that “reports from different parts of the country, of the actual cost of building, prove that on the average, each room containing 100 superficial feet, or 10 feet square, of a cottage or block of buildings, costs from 20l. to 251., exclusive of land; this is equivalent to 3d. per foot cube. In the five sets of plans published by the society, No. 1, of four rooms, has been built for 1621.; No. 2, slightly larger, for 1681.; No. 3, same as No. 1, with a scullery, for 175l.; and No. 4, more commodious, for an artizan, for 2201 per pair. The Journal for 1858, of the Bath and West of England Society, vol. vi., details a cottage of five rooms, built on Exmoor, for 607, with a living room 15 feet by 13 feet.

SECT. IX.

TOWN DWELLINGS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES.

2012. The leading features of construction and detailed arrangement which may be considered peculiarly applicable to dwellings intended for working men whose wages range from 12s. to 24s. per week will be described herein. Workmen of this class have been hitherto strangers not only to the conveniences which render home attractive, but to the barest accommodation necessary to render social life tolerably decent. Unfortunately, the nearer an improved dwelling approaches its miserable predecessor in general aspect and character, the more popular it will be. The difficulty, therefore, in designing new homes for the poor consists in the introduction of improvements which shall lead to the gradual abandonment of injurious habits, and to give no sudden offence to jealously cherished prejudices. To do this effectively it is desirable to ascertain the leading require. ments of the inhabitants of the district in which it is proposed to build.

3013. A poor man's town dwelling should consist of a living room and bedroom; a plentiful supply of water; a water-closet, sink, and lavatory, distinct but not far removed from his tenement; a wash-house, with the means of drying clothes in any weather without artificial heat; and, when practicable, a play-ground for children.

CHAP. V

TOWN DWELLINGS FOR INDUSTRIAL CLASSES.

3014. The living-room should be 12 feet by 10 feet jections, and 8 feet high, giving 960 cubic feet at least. form, as being easily kept clean and made comfortable. of the arrangements. The door should open into a porch or vestibule, and be placed at the end of the wall opposite to the window, so that when both are open the air in the dwelling may be effectively changed. The window should be sufficiently large to light every part of the room. It should be fitted with sashes, to insure top and bottom ventilation; and its sill should not be more than 2 feet 9 inches from the floor, to prevent high furniture being placed under it. Tolerably large panes of glass will be found to last longer than if the panes be small. The fire-place should be as near the centre of its own wall as possible, and be furnished with a range containing a

1089

clear of all obstructions or proThe rooms should be of a square Fig. 1353. presents a general plan

boiler, with a tap of the best description fixed Fig. 1555. PEABODY DWELLINGS, COMMERCIAL STREET. 2 inches above the bottom; an oven; and a cooking place at least 10 inches wide from side to side, with sliding bars, flap and catch, all of which ought to be of wrought iron. The living-room should have a good serviceable closet the entire height of the room, the front flush with the chimney breast, to contain shelves for cooking utensils and crockery, &c., and a large covered box for coal; this closet should be lighted by a small window hung upon centres and to be easily opened.

3015. The bedrooms should be 12 feet by 8 feet, and 8 feet high, communicating with the living room by a door in the wall opposite to the fire-place at the end nearest to the window, so that enough wall space may be secured for the bed. As these rooms would be sufficiently warmed from the living-room, fire-places can be dispensed with where space is limited or expense of much importance.

3016. The walls should be well-built with sound stock bricks (the partitions being half a brick thick) and coloured with two coats of well sized distemper colour of a warm cheerful tint. Such walls offer no harbour for vermin; they are uninjured when nails are driven into them; and their freshness and colour are easily renewed at a trifling expense. The ceilings should be plastered, not only for a clean appearance, but also as a preventive against the spread of fire. The floor is best made of wood, though it is apt to get dirty and tolerably difficult to clean. If firewood or coal be broken upon any other floor than a wooden one the concussion is injurious to it. Tile and asphalte floors are often recommended as the best; but though they have a clean appearance, they are cold to the feet when uncovered by a carpet; are more liable to injury; and are more troublesome to repair. Asphalte and cement floors depend in a great measure upon their rigidity for their efficiency, and require iron beams and brick arches, which are expensive.

3017. As regards ventilation, beyond supplying doors that do not fit too close, windows that will open at top and bottom, and fire-places with air-channels underneath the floor, it is extremely difficult to know how to proceed further without detection. A ventilator once discovered is instantly rendered useless by being pasted over. Perforated bricks placed throughout the length of the wall in which the window is set, and in that opposite to it, causes the air to be so diffused by its passage through the narrow channels with which the bricks are provided, that the paste-brush is seldom used.

3018. The lavatory should contain a water-closet fitted with a strong galvanized iron valve; a lead trough, for washing purposes, supplied with a high-pressure loose valve cock, and an enamelled iron basin. A smaller lead trough or waste, for the discharge of dirty water, should have an inch service cock above it for supplying pails and kettles. The walls, coloured as those of the dwelling, should be well painted to the height of 18 inches above each trough, for frequent and easy washing. The floor is best covered with thick 9-inch square tiles, which bear a good deal of wear and tear and slopping in one spot without injury. The lavatory should have two windows at least, one in the external wall of the water-closet and one at the furthest end of the wall at right angles to it.

3019. To attach a laundry to an extensive range of such dwellings becomes a positive duty. A washing tub and rinsing tub are necessary, about 3 feet 3 inches long by 1 foot 9 inches wide, with washer, plug, and chain, and a separate cold water service to each. The top of the tubs should be 3 feet 3 inches above the foot-board, or the floor, if not provided. A 10-gallon copper, with cold water service, and a tin ladle. The flue of the copper is to be carefully constructed to insure the heat being well distributed over the sides and bottom, and to afford facilities for regulating it and for cleaning. Wringing machines might be provided if hydrometers are not used; they are easily attached to the tubs. Artificial means of drying clothes, as adopted with advantage in public wash-houses,

are to be avoided in small laundries, because they cannot be maintained without considerable expense. Clothes are more easily and effectively dried when protected from rain, and suspended in strong cross currents of air.

3020. The water-cistern should be as close to the laundry as possible, in order that the piping may be short, with very few joints and bends so as to be free from the risks which attend a variety of levels. More attention is desirable to the dimensions of the iron piping, and the nature and position of the services, than they usually receive. Thus means should be provided for filling, emptying, and cleaning the cistern or tank; also for regulating the supply during the time that any portion of the piping is under repair. Every rising main should be furnished with at least two valves. The first is best fixed in the junction between the rising main and the company's street main, so as to regulate the entire supply of the building. The second should be fixed at the bottom of the rising main, so as to release the water which remains in the pipe after the cistern has been filled. In some cases an additional cock, 2 feet above each floor level, for the supply of buckets, or for the connexion of hose in case of fire, may be desirable.

3021. A few square yards of play-ground is of inestimable value for the labouring man's children. One large play-ground to a block of buildings is of much greater use than many small yards to as many cottages, and has tended as much as anything to ensure the success of the large blocks of dwellings in London.

3022. The drain-pipes should be of the best description, and their diameters larger than those employed under ordinary circumstances, because their liabilities to obstruction are very much greater. The main drains should be external to the building, and supplied with examination holes at intervals for repair and cleansing, and should possess the means of being regularly flushed with water. When the ground is soft, the drains, both large and small, should be laid upon beds of concrete, to preserve them in their proper falls. Soil and other pipes should be ventilated by being taken above the roof of the building.

3023. The site for a block of associated dwellings should be as open and in a situation as public as possible, not only to receive the advantages of light ana ventilation, but that it may be easily found and readily accessible, and that its residents may have contact with neighbours whose habits and appearance are superior to their own. The ends of the site should face north and south, so that its east and west sides should have the morning and evening sun. It should offer every facility for good drainage; the nature of the subsoil should be well ascertained, and every necessary precaution taken to avoid, or to clear out, any accumulation of foul refuse that may have been carted into the vacant site. The most economical dimensions for a site within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works in London, are 108 feet long by 60 feet wide. This area will accommodate a building 108 feet long by 34 feet wide, and admit of a playground 26 feet deep in its rear. The multiple of 108 by 34-3600 in round numbers, is the area allowed by Act of Parliament for a building containing several distinct tenements, and possessing only one entrance and staircase. The height of the building is best kept at 46 feet from the ground-line to the eaves of the roof; it admits of as many stories of dwellings as can be occupied with comfort to the tenants, and it requires no unnecessary thickness of walls. If made five stories in height it will contain 40 or 45 dwellings, about 16 water-closets, 8 lavatories, 8 wash tubs and coppers.

3024. The following paragraphs comprise a brief description of the dwellings lately built or now constructing. In the basement, only a small cellar need be provided for dust, access to it is to be obtained by a small external staircase under its first landing, but distinct, so that the dust may be removed without annoyance. The ground, first, second, and third floor plans may be divided throughout their entire length into two equal portions, by a corridor 4 feet 2 inches wide, on each side of which are arranged the dwellings (fig. 1354.).

In the centre is the principal entrance, which is 5 feet 6 inches wide, and furnished with external and internal folding-doors under the immediate supervision of the porter whose office adjoins it. The staircase, placed immediately opposite to the entrance, is 8 feet wide, with solid square stone steps having a 10-inch tread, and an average rise of 7 inches. The side furthest from the corridor has an arch 7 feet wide, and ex

CHAP. V.

SANITARY ASPECT OF HOUSE CONSTRUCTION.

1091

tending from the ground-line to within a few feet of the eaves of the roof. It is separated from the corridor by two arches, whose centre pier contains a dust shaft, traversing the entire height of the building, and communicating with the cellar above named in the basement. It is 14 inches wide within, open above the roof for ventilation, and is furnished with a hopper, which receives the dust, and closing flush with the wall at each floor level. 3025. The lavatories adjoin the staircase, those for the men on one side, for the women on the other. The fourth or topmost floor contains a laundry, about 22 feet long by 12 feet wide, covered with an open timber roof, the tie-beams having standards helping to support it, and serving as clothes posts. It is lighted by a range of small casements, admitting air sufficient to remove any unpleasantness that might arise from the laundry, and to thoroughly dry the clothes. It is furnished with eight sets of wash tubs, some being separated by slate partitions, for privacy; eight 10-gallon coppers; eight wringing machines, or a patent hydrometer; trellis framed standing boards; s'ools (as being better than tables) for clothes baskets; soap boxes and ladles. This floor also contains a bathroom for each sex, placed over the lavatories; it is furnished with one of Rufford and Finch's stoneware baths, and has a service of cold water. Hot water is supplied from the laundry when required. A cistern lined with lead adjoins each bath-room, and also supplies the lavatories below it; this position secures a direct fall to the several services, and avoids the necessity for frequent bends and joints.

3026. The main drains are 12 or 9 inches in diameter; the smaller drains, kept as short as possible, are 6 and 4 inches, according to their requirements. The ventilation is secured by the side corridor having a window at each end of it, and by the open staircase in the middle of its length, all which forbid stagnation and remove impurities. These very practical observations are mainly due to the paper by H. A. Darbishire, who has designed several blocks of dwellings in the metropolis, as given, with illustrations of those in Commercial Street, Whitechapel Road, in the Civil Engineer, &c. for 1864.

SECT. X.

SANITARY ASPECT OF HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

3027. This subject may usefully be referred to. Granting that a house is well drained and that the plumber's work is properly carried out, there are yet other matters to be considered, so that a house may be a healthy residence. It should have plenty of light, plenty of air at all times, pure and dry, or at least as much so as possible. During the period when the number of windows and the glass in them were each taxed, large windows were advocated; but as soon as both were taken off, a change of fashion occurred, and small windows and small panes were again introduced. As regards street architecture, it is important that the houses should be erected of a height bearing a direct relation to the breadth of the street in which they are situated. Perhaps the height of the house should not exceed two-thirds of the width. As regards the direction of a street, the best is one nearly north and south, as the sun shines on a house on the west side from morning till mid-day in the front, and from mid-day till the evening on the back of it. In the other case, the houses on the south side get scarcely any direct sunlight, in winter none at all in front; while those on the north side get none to the back rooms. Hence, large windows are necessary to compensate, by giving as much light as possible, for the direct sunlight which is necessary to make an apartment wholesome.

3028. Purity of air cannot be maintained in a house unless it be thoroughly dry. Setting aside the not inconsiderable quantity of water in the atmosphere produced by those living in it, and by the combustion of gas, oil, and candles, the air in a house is liable to be rendered moist, 1, by absorption from the soil below it; and 2, from the porous material of which it may be built.

3029. The porosity of most building stones and bricks is remarkable. A cubic foot of stone will absorb from 5 to 9 lbs. of water, or from half a gallon to nearly one gallon. The absorption by certain kinds of stone is so rapid that in slight showers the water is all imbibed; and if the surface be kept wet by constant rains, a large portion must find its way inwards, Freestone also allows of the passage of air or other gas by transpiration and diffusion; also bricks, unless these have been exposed to a temperature high enough to flux the material. The quantity of air diffused into and out of a house by the walls is very considerable. If the stone be coated with oil, paint, or any silicate solution, and the absorption be prevented, the valuable property of diffusing air into the house is prevented. Hollow wills may secure these advantages. These may be of brick, or of concrete, or of stone outside and brick inside. In some parts of the country the material is laid with beds slightly sloping upwards somewhat to counteract the effects of the rain, especially when blown from the south-west; perhaps the two inches of the bed of the stone on the outside might be bevelled, and the remainder be worked level.

3030. Where rubble walls are used, the best thing to be done is perhaps to point them with a mixture of 1 of Portland cement to 2 of sand, and then to colour the whole with cement wash. But this should not be done until after one summer's sun has assisted in drying the stone, or the damp may dry inwards. It is considered that a 2-feet stone will not dry thoroughly, even under favourable circumstances, in less than two years.

3031. Plaster, whether on brick or lath, is exceedingly porous, and permits of a ready diffusion of gases. A wall merely whitewashed or coloured is better in a sanitary point of view than one that is covered with oil paint, which is then practically impervious to the passage of gases. Wall papers are probably not so bad in this respect as oil paint, out inferior to colouring or distemper work.

3032. The foundation of a house is an important part of it. The most perfect is a solid platform of concrete extending over the entire area of the building, from 2 to 3 feet in thickness, and coated on the top with nearly pure cement. Damp cannot penetrate this, it is considered. The joists should be laid on sleepers, so as to obtain venti. lation to the space; in case of the bursting of a water pipe or of water getting into the concrete bed, it should be laid sloping, so that water could be carried off by outside gratings. This would be expensive, it is true. Another system would be, to build the walls and dwarf-walls to a certain level, and then to fill in with hard dry rubbish, and cover the whole with cement 3 inches thick, composed of 1 of cement and 2 of coarse sand. Or, this might be covered with asphalte, also over the walls, or the usual damp course take its place. This damp course must be put to main and dwarf walls.

3033. Gratings should be placed all round the building, thoroughly to ventilate the space under the basement floor, about 10 feet apart. If a town house, then about 5 or 6 feet apart and each about 10 by 6 inches. Cross walls should have good openings in them to obtain this circulation of air. The floor may be considered cold by this ventilation; if so, the floor can be pugged, or the boards be grooved and tongued.

3034. In this wet climate, where occasionally half an inch of rain falls in a day, it is well to cover the tops of the chimneys, in order to prevent rain from coming down the straight flues into the grate, or down others into the gable walls and keeping them damp, preventing the smoke rising; and this cover can be combined with some means for preventing downdraughts.

3035. A simple method of ventilating a room is to drill a series of smallish holes vertically through the lower frame or meeting bar of the top sash of the window, say six or eight to the sash; the air rises through them into the room in the same manner as in a Tobin's tube. This is an old custom, and often tends to cure a smoky chimney caused in a room. Another is to have a bar of 3 or 4 inches in height to fit in between the frame on the sill of the lower sash, when raised for the purpose; there will then be a space left at the meeting rails for inlet of air.

3036. At the meeting of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, held at Bolton, Mr. R. E. Middleton, C.E, read a paper on the then proposed Sanitary Registration of Buildings Bill, 1887, in which he quoted a specification where water-closets are used. It is here given, as showing the present views, extreme or otherwise, of many sanitary officials. "1. Every drain or part of a drain inside a house and all soil pipes shall be watertight throughout.

2. The main drain of the house shall be ventilated at its upper extremity by means of a continuation of the soil pipe, or by a special pipe provided for the purpose; such ventilating pipe, whether connected with the soil pipe or otherwise, having a clear sectional area of 10 square inches throughout, and being carried to such a height that its outlet shall be at least 3 feet above the eaves of the roof, and the same distance above any window or opening in the roof, not being a chimney, and not less than 6 feet distant from any chimney or opening in the roof, whether of the house to which it belongs or of the next adjoining house, measured in any direction. The main soil pipe shall be similarly ventilated, and if there be more than one soil pipe, then each such soil pipe which shall be longer between the basin of the closet and the main drain than 8 feet shall be similarly ventilated. The main drain shall be disconnected from the sewer or cesspit by means of a syphon trap of approved construction, provided with means for cleaning the trap and the portion of the drain between the trap and the sewer or cesspit; and it shall be ventilated by an inlet air-pipe or ventilating disconnecting manhole; and if there be more than one outlet ventilating pipe connected with the house drain, then each such portion of drain and outlet ventilating pipe shall be provided with a suitable syphon trap and an inlet air-pipe or disconnecting manhole, as already described; and the area of the inlet airpipe shall in all cases be at least double that of the outlet ventilating pipe in the clear. 3. No pipe which passes through any part of a house, not being a soil pipe or soil drain, shall be connected directly with the main drain.

"4. No water-closet shall be situated next to a larder or place where food is stored. No pan-closet or ▷ trap shall be used, and every water-closet shall be trapped, and shall be arranged so as to prevent syphonage.

5. The overflows from safes of closets and of baths, and from cisterns, shall be