View report page

71
floor. As a result of this most of the ceilings are sagging and
unsound. The ceilings of the upper floors are sagged and
unsound and some are dangerous, as a result of past or
present dampness due to the dilapidated and defective roofs.
Practically all the ground floor walls are hoarded for a distance
of 3 to 4 feet from the ground. This has evidently been done
to cover up the damp condition of the walls. In some cases
the boards are worn through and the damp condition of walls
can be demonstrated above the boards.
The wall of No. 5, Aspen Place, abutting on Trafalgar
Street, bulges in a dangerous manner from the level of the
first floor up to the roof.
The ground floors of the houses are below the street level.
The rooms are small, badly lighted and ventilated. Some
of the windows open at the bottom, but few at the top. Very
few windows were found open during the inspection, and they
are the principal and practically the only means of ventilation.
This is not entirely the fault of the occupier as the windows
are old and decayed and of defective construction. The floors
are in many cases worn, the woodwork perished and defective.
The tenants invariably complain of being overrun with
rats, some of which have been seen on the bed and in two
cases children have been bitten.
The area of some of the yards of the houses are very
limited. In the case of Nos. 3, 4 and 5, Aspen Place, there is
an area of only about 465 square feet between three houses.
This is unevenly divided, but the average is only 155 square
feet. There are only two water closets for the three houses.
In the case of Nos. 6, 7 and 8, Aspen Place, there is only
a back area of 12 feet by 8 feet=96 square feet per house,
and this is very badly paved. There is a water closet for each
house, but two have no doors and are in a dangerous condition.
These houses are in a worse condition of dilapidation
than Nos. 3, 4 and 5, and are very badly infested with rats.
There is an archway under No. 8 leading to the back, which
is used by the occupier as an access to his stable in the rear
and also for sheltering his barrow. The walls of the houses
on either side of this archway have been much damaged by
the passage of the coster's barrow, and the wall on the right
is dangerous.
With regard to Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12, Aspen Place, these
are structurally not so dilapidated as Nos. 6, 7 and 8. The
roofs are somewhat better and the walls not so defective. The