London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1936
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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46
The council in the first place considered the possibility of purchasing a number of large tenement
houses and letting each one to a large family. For this purpose they included in their estimates
for 1935-1936 a sum of £10,000. Several hundreds of these houses were surveyed in blocks and
groups but the amount of available vacant accommodation was so small as not to warrant the
expenditure.
Accordingly attention was given to the acquisition of empty properties. A group of seven
houses in Princes Road and Pottery Lane, which were practically unoccupied, were surveyed and the
council decided to acquire them. In addition two large houses in St. Charles Square, one empty
and the other containing only two persons, were surveyed and the council here again decided to
purchase them. These houses will eventually provide suitable accommodation for very large and
poor families.
This procedure is thought to be more advantageous to the council than the erection of blocks of
new flats for large families. To provide satisfactory accommodation, the flats would have to be large,
and consequently more expensive than those hitherto built. The era of large families is rapidly
disappearing, and neither the council nor private enterprise can be expected to build at considerable
cost new blocks of six- or seven-roomed flats to meet what is probably only a temporary problem.
| Ward. | Name of registered keeper. | Address of common lodging house. | No. of lodgers for which licensed. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male. | Female. | Total. | |||
| Golborne Norland m | Chesterton, Ada Elizabeth | 194, Kensal Road | ____ | 71 | 71 |
| Hankins, John W. | 28 & 30, Crescent Street | 54 | — | 54 | |
| Woodhouse, Jane E. | 40, do | — | 21 | 21 | |
| Totals | 54 | 92 | 146 | ||
In June, 1936, the council renewed the licence in each of the three above cases. Although these
three houses are licensed to receive 146 persons, a recent census taken at night time showed only
82 in residence. These three houses are inspected weekly by officers of the council to ensure that
the keepers and their deputies maintain reasonably good conditions, and to secure compliance with
the council's regulations.
| Situation of properties. | No. of houses or flats. | |
|---|---|---|
| Kenley Street, Seymour King Buildings, 4, Hesketh Place and 6, Runcorn Place | 120 | |
| St. James's Place, Bosworth Road, Sirdar Road, Hesketh Place, Runcorn Place, Walmer Road and Windsor House | 95 | |
| Southam House | 9 | |
| Powis Square, Colville Terrace, Elgin Crescent, 85, Ladbroke Grove, 47, Bassett Road and 20a, Adair Road (conversions) | 102 | |
| St. Quintin Estate (Sec. 1 & 2), and Avondale Park Gardens | 116 | |
| St. Quintin Estate (Sec. 3, 4 & 5), Threshers Place, etc | 133 | |
| Morland House | 20 | |
| Talbot Grove and Mews | 44 | |
In addition to the above property within the borough, the council, by virtue of rate contributionsto
the county council, have the right to nominate tenants to 99 county council houses on the
Wormholt estate, and 50 houses on other county council estates.