View report page

70
14th December, 1914.
To the Public Health Committee of the Hammersmith
Borough Council.
Gentlemen.—Acting under your instructions I have,
together with the Inspector for the district, made an inspection
of some of the houses in the River Ward as to their sanitary
and hygenic condition.
Before giving the result of this inspection, I should like
to say that I had intended carrying out this work before the
Committee paid their visit to this area, and had already discussed
the matter with the Town Clerk. It was my intention
originally, to embrace in the inspection and report, the whole
of that district which lies between King Street on the North
and the River on the South, Waterloo Street on the East and
Hog Lane on the West. Unfortunately, owing to pressure
of other work it has been impossible in the time to carry out
the whole of the work originally intended, and in this report,
I have only included that area which was in most urgent need
of attention.
This consists of some property in Aspen Place, Trafalgar
Street, Lower and Upper Mall.
Aspen Place.
This is little more than a pathway, the width of which in
its widest place is only 11 feet, and in its narrowest is as little
as 5 feet 6 inches. It is often obstructed by the barrows of
the residents. The part extending from Waterloo Street as far
as the Common Lodging House is fairly wide, but about 10
feet of the path is railed off and not in public use.
No. 1, Aspen Place is a Motor Car works.
No. 2, Aspen Place is a Common Lodging House which
is in good structural condition. A small one-story addition
has been built to this and projects on to the pathway.
Nos. 3 to 15, Aspen Place consist of cottages situated on
the North side.
Nos. 3, 4 and 5, are situated to the East of Trafalgar
Street, whilst Nos. 6 to 15, lie to the West. They consist
generally of four-roomed cottages and are badly lighted and
ventilated. For the most part they are in an extremely bad
condition of repair, some are even dangerous. Generally
speaking the defects of most importance are the lack of damp
proof courses and ventilation under floors, dampness of the
walls which in many cases extends to the ceiling of the ground