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60
to four rooms. A separate W.C. and scullery, with sink and copper are
provided to each tenement; baths and laundries are for common use.
The Housing Committee, in July last, in view of certain criticisms
which had been made from time to time thought it well to remind the
citizens of Westminster of their efforts to obtain suitable sites for working
class dwellings in the years following the war. They drew up and
circulated a report which by courtesy of the late Chairman is summarized
below. It traces the course of various inquiries and negotiations, and
gives reasons why schemes which they prepared were reluctantly
abandoned. Some of the sites were too small to permit of any adequate
housing scheme, and the cost of the land was often out of proportion to
its utility. Schemes for the conversion of existing large buildings into
working class flats were also drawn up, but later set aside for financial
reasons laid down by the Ministry. The success of the scheme for
Walden House was largely due to the generosity of the Duke of
Westminster, who gave a 99 years' lease of the land at a ground
rent of £1 per annum. This block of 40 tenements, housing 285 persons,
was opened in 1924. The cost of this structure was approximately
£26,000, and although the land is free there is an annual deficit of between
£600 and £700 on the scheme.
During 1923 and 1924 other sites were considered, and among them
may be mentioned a small area with frontages on Willow Street and
Greencoat Place. This was found to be awkward in shape and had
insurmountable difficulties in other directions. Another fronting on
Vauxhall Bridge Road possessed similar drawbacks. A site owned by
the London County Council extending almost to the Embankment and
bounded on one side by Pulford Street, was rejected because of general
inaccessibility. Interest has revived, however, in regard to this site
in view7 of the opinions expressed by the agents of the Duke of Westminster,
who is the freeholder of the Pulford Street side of the area.
There is a prospect that the Westminster Estate might be willing to
co-operate in clearing away the buildings which render the site inaccessible,
thus making a large open space worthy of consideration for housing
purposes.
In the concluding paragraph of the report, attention is drawn to the
fact that the City of Westminster has already contributed up to March,
1925, £156,430 to the County Rate for housing schemes for the County of
London, the present annual rate of contribution being approximately
£33,500.
Among the many sites which have been considered by the Housing
Committee the only one concerning which it has been possible to