feet, a closet, ashpit, sink, and coal bunker. The height of the storeys from floor to ceiling is 9 feet, the top storeys being 3-inch higher to compensate for space occupied by roof eaves. Here the sanitary accommodation is sufficient, the ventilation of the staircases and landings is fairly good, the living room is large enough, but the bedroom, though divided off into two compartments by a screen, is really only large enough for a married couple without children, the air-space being 1,134 cubic feet. Between the blocks is a drying ground measuring about 70 feet x 60 feet, which is a great convenience, and furnishes the means of ventilating the back premises. The plan and section marked "J" illustrates a good example of tenement house adapted to suit the requirements of single working men, small or large families. It represents a portion of a block in Cartwright Street, London, erected under the auspices of the East End Dwellings Company. The height of the building from the ground to the roof eaves is 45 feet, the height of the rooms from floor to ceiling being 8 feet. The arrangement of the ground floor and the four floors above it corresponds. The size of the portion of each block accessible by a common stair is about 92 feet x 30 feet. The arrangement of half a flat is shown on the plan, the other half is similar but reversed. Thus it will be seen that in a space containing 2,760 square feet there are 14 rooms, a staircase, six closets, and two sinks. The four rooms in the centre are approached direct from the stairs, the five rooms at each end by means of a balcony. The floor is so planned that ten of the fourteen rooms may be let off separately, or two, three, four, or five may be let together. Each room has a window looking to the front or back, a fire-place, and space for a 6-feet bed. The closets are placed together and in the best position to ensure ventilation. Such dwellings may of course be continued without break along a street of considerable length. Four of the rooms in each floortwo containing about 690 cubic feet and two about 620 cubic feet of air-space-appear too small to be occupied by single men as living and sleeping rooms, but such men commonly take all their meals at coffee-rooms or eating-houses. The dwellings seem to me compact, and on the whole well designed. The plan and elevation marked "K" is a design for a model house for working people, for erection on a New York town lot measuring 25 feet x 100 feet. It will be seen that the space covered by the building is only 25 feet x 84 feet, a yard 16 feet deep being left in the rear. There are five flats, and each flat is divided off into four separate tenements-two in front and two behind-each 38 feet deep. In the centre is the common staircase, on either side of which is an open court. On each landing are two closets, built out into the court on one side. Each separate tenement comprises three rooms, varying in size from 12 feet x II feet to 10 feet × 63 feet. This design is well worth study. With it I submit for your careful consideration a selection of original plans for model tenement houses which were sent in competition for the prizes some time since offered by the proprietors of the Sanitary Engineer. Many of them are very clever, and well deserving of your best attention. Certainly one of the problems presented-How to secure light and efficient ventilation for houses many storeys high, three times as deep as wide, and placed in a row-is not easily solved. The plans were kindly sent me at my request by Professor Chandler, of the School of Mines, Columbia College. The order in which they are arranged is not in order of merit, but one that appeared to be convenient for purposes of comparison. It The plan and elevation I now draw your attention to is marked "L." It is a design for a large tenement house having a basement and three floors. The building is 88 feet deep and 50 feet wide, and is built round a quadrangle 30 feet square. is arranged as two distinct houses, the first, second, and third floor in each house containing nine, ten, and ten rooms respectively. The rooms vary in size from 13 feet x 13 feet to 9 feet x 7 feet. As the building is designed to form one of a row, the windows look to the front or back or into the quadrangle. This design has some obvious defects, as, for instance, the closets being placed right in the interior or against a party-wall. However, the defects in the plan could be easily corrected. quadrangle and the wide arched entrance to it would furnish a larger supply of air to the building than the arrangement for providing air adopted in design "K." The I have no special observations to make as regards the construction of tenement houses. The rules as to construction of smaller houses hold good. The more people you accommodate on a given space the greater will be the necessity for precautions against foul air, danger from fire, &c. In large tenement houses, too, it is most important to admit daylight to all the rooms and passages, as dark corners are sure to be dirty corners. The thorough ventilation of every part will also have to be well considered, and no facilities for accumulating refuse should be afforded. The thickness of the wall will have to be regulated in proportion to the height of the building. Rules are given in local bye-laws with reference to this. According to the model bye-laws all buildings exceeding 25 feet in height or 35 feet in length, or comprising more than two storeys, must have 13-inch walls below the top storey, &c. Each portion of such blocks accessible by a common staircase should be treated as a separate building, having the party-wall intact, and this, as a precaution against fire, should be carried up through the roof. Before I conclude I should like to add a few words on aspect. In tenement houses there is rarely much choice, the problem presented being mainly how to make the utmost out of the site, and blocks having to be placed parallel with or at right angles to some particular street. Even in small town houses in rows the question of aspect is commonly decided by the position of the street. But in country or suburban cottages an opportunity is frequently afforded of selecting the aspect. What is the best will often depend on the position of the site and environment. However, as a general rule, it is well to have the corners of the house nearly true to the points of the compass. Usually a front directed to the south-east is to be preferred, and the next best is probably a north-west aspect. A north-east front is to be avoided, because it is unduly exposed to cold wind, and a south-west front is objectionable in most cases as exposing to rain. But where it is desired to insure the greatest amount of warmth and light in the front rooms, a south-west aspect should be selected, as being most exposed to the sun. In regard to town dwellings, it is not beyond the truth to say that in nearly all cases where the architect cannot pick an aspect to suit his plan, he can modify his plan to suit the aspect prescribed for him. For instance, in planning small terrace houses for the north-east and south-west side of a street the plan should be varied, a suitable design for one side would not be suitable for the other side. The kitchen and larder, &c., should be on the cool side of the house; the bedrooms, where there is rarely a fire, on the warm side. It now only remains for me to thank you all for your kind attention. There are some plans and sections here which I have not been able specially to refer to, which I hope you may have time to look at. The examples I have taken in illustration have been selected as leading up step by step from the smallest rural cottage to the large modern tenement house. I trust I have succeeded in communicating some elementary information about house construction, for it is a subject no householder can afford to be ignorant of. FOUNDATIONS AND MATERIALS USED IN BUILDINGS. BY JOHN HOLDEN, F.R.I.B.A., F.S.I. HE subject of this paper will, I think, be interesting to all THE those who are in any way connected with building opera tions, and I will commence by stating that it is addressed more particularly to the students who are assembled here, although I hope that those who are more advanced in years may gather something from it which may interest and be of use to them. Many no doubt amongst you, although you may be employed daily in building operations, may not have many opportunities of seeing the actual commencement of the building upon which you may afterwards be engaged, as the foundations are usually got out, and in many cases filled in again, before the general workpeople come upon the ground, with the exception, perhaps, of one or two carpenters, who will be engaged in preparing the first portions of the timbers, such as lintels, joists, centres, &c. Probably few of the students or apprentices will see the building until the work is more advanced or until there is something for them to do, and even should it be your good fortune to be sent to the building at its commencement, probably few of you will give more than a passing thought at the foundations. Now, I wish to impress upon you that the foundations are the most important part of the building, as they influence the whole of the structure, and should any failure take place in this part the entire structure suffers. Without such failure can be looked to at once, and the mischief prevented from extending to the superstructure, settlements and cracks will appear which will destroy the beauty of the building, as they can never be properly repaired— or, rather, prevented from showing-and they almost always indicate defects in the foundations, for which somebody is responsible. |