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59
be viewed from the street or yard. The late medical officer of health,
when making a survey of cottages in 21 streets which were alleged
to be insanitary, pointed out that in many cases the owners themselves
had intended to demolish them, but were unable to proceed owing to
lack of accommodation for the rehousing of the tenants and to the expense
of rebuilding. In certain streets some of the properties mentioned are
scheduled to be demolished to make way for street improvement
schemes. During 1925 progress was made towards this end, and houses
in the following streets were demolished or closed with a view to
demolition : 2 in Wood's Place, 4 in Wood Street and 3 in Tufton Street.
The conditions at St. George's House have received considerable
attention from the Press. This building, the old casual wards of the
workhouse, was adapted to house temporarily the tenants displaced
from Chadwick Street when the new Peabody Buildings were erected
on the Horseferry Road site. The conditions were not ideal, the chief
defect being the dark badly ventilated corridor which runs throughout
the length of the upper floor, but it was a temporary improvisation
devised to meet urgent circumstances. Most of the tenants have not been in
haste to leave their much abused quarters where the rents are conveniently
low. Originally 28 families were lodged there. In March, 1925, there
were 13, and in December, 6. The owners have assisted all the tenants
who have found other homes, and have held out monetary inducements
to the others to encourage them to do likewise.
Before anything on a considerable scale can be done in the way of
clearing old and dilapidated houses new houses must be built. Although
Westminster in relation to its population contains a larger number of
industrial dwellings than any other borough in London—there are 6,089
tenement flats in 70 blocks of buildings—there is still need for further
housing accommodation. There are those who consider that block
dwellings are undesirable, and allege that they are deficient in light and
air. They would prefer to see modern cottages with gardens in the City.
The area of the City cannot be extended, and there are consequently
no suburbs capable of development. In order to find sufficient space
therefore even to house 40 or 50 families it is necessary to build upwards.
No blocks of industrial dwellings were completed during the year,
but the additional block to the Peabody Estate which will have a frontage
to Horseferry Road was well advanced. This block will complete the
new estate, and will contain 25 flats with a total of 75 rooms. The
total number of tenements on this estate when the new block is completed
will be 120 ; "the rents vary from 7s. to 18s., exclusive of rates, for one
(6375)q E 2