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20
Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890.
Barnham Street Buildings.
A resolution was passed at a Ratepayers' Public Meeting
declaring these Buildings and part of Vine Street Buildings to
be unhealthy areas, and a copy was forwarded to the Board.
Barnham Street Buildings were so constructed that many
of the rooms, w.c's., passages and staircases of the ground and
first floors are generally very dark, and the Buildings
have not been maintained in a sanitary condition, notwithstanding
the hundreds of notices that have been served the
past five years. The encroachments of the S.E. Railway
extension also tended to make many of the rooms, See., darker
and to impede the circulation of air. I, therefore, after careful
consideration and advice, formed the opinion that the most
satisfactory and reasonable way of dealing with these Buildings
was to represent the two middle Blocks as "obstructive buildings"
within the meaning of Sec. 38 (1), and that it was
expedient to have them pulled down ; and to have the remainder
of the Blocks registered under Sec. 94 of the P. H. (London)
Act, 1891.
The great importance of good light, air and ventilation
in the prevention and cure of disease is now more and more
recognised, not only by the Medical Profession but also by
many of the general public.
The average death-rate of the past five years of the unhealthy
tenements (all the ground and first floor rooms except
those facing the front, Barnham Street, and the rear of the