THE SOCIAL AND ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY TENEMENT
HOUSES
In the late 19th century/ early 20th century, tenements were
created to solve the "housing crisis" caused by the influx of imigration.
Amy Kallman Epstein once said the tenement was "a structure intended 'to hold'
rather than 'to house' a number of families"(1)
(The word "tenement" can actually be traced back to the Latin word tenere,
meaning "to hold"). The architectural history of
tenements involves a long series of ideas, competition and controversy. Many
tenement reform activists spoke out against the
harsh environment that tenement-dwellers had to endure. The conditions of tenement
life had a tremendous social impact on the lives of
those that lived in tenements. All in all, tenement houses enormously affected
not only the lives of the people who lived in them, but New York City history
was influenced--perhaps altered--a great deal as well..
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PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY BERNICE ABBOTT, FEBRUARY 11, 1937. (A)
AN OLD LAW TENEMENT
TENEMENT DEFINITION
Tenement: "Any house, building, or portion thereof, which is
rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied or is occupied, as
the home
or residence of mare than three families living independently of one
another
and doing their own cooking upon the premises, or by more than two
families
upon a floor, so living and cooking and having a common right in the
halls,
stairways, yards, waterclosets, or privies, or some of them"(2)
Tenements were "built with the design of supplying laboring people
with
cheap lodging." -Elizabeth Blackmar(3)
For an interesting look at the architectural history of
tenements, click here.
To see who was involved in tenement reform, click
here.
To see and experience the grueling social aspects of tenement
life, click here.
THIS WEBSITE WAS CREATED BY,
MIKE NORTH,
SAM GLADIS,
AND MOLLY KAWACHI
HISTORY OF NYC, FIELDSTON SCHOOL, ANDREW MEYERS