Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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whole of this area will, in due course, be demolished and replanned with
large modern buildings. In the meantime as there is no tendency to
dampness, further action with regard to the illegally occupied rooms is
not being taken other than that of arranging for improved sleeping
apartments.
Overcrowding.
In this area, as noted above, 12 cases of overcrowding are recorded.
(2) St. James's District and part of Soho.—This district comprises
two distinct and widely different areas : (i) The St. James's area, known as
clubland, within and about which are many state and public buildings,
such as St. James's Palace, York House, Marlborough House, the
Admiralty, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, London Museum,
St. John's Hospital for Skin Diseases, the Royal Dental Hospital. There
are 9 large hotels, 6 theatres, and 3 cinemas. A number of fine residences
are situated in Carlton House Terrace, St. James's Square, &c. ; some of
these are gradually being converted into clubs and business premises.
With the exception of a few chauffeurs, caretakers and the employees
at clubs and hotels, there are no working-class people resident in the
area.
Stores, large shops and mixed business premises are found in St.
James's Street, Haymarket, the south side of Piccadilly, Jermyn Street, &c.
(ii) The northern portion of this district includes Leicester Square, the
west side of Charing Cross Road up to Oxford Street and part of Soho.
It is essentially a business district containing large and small business
premises and shops, with 4 large hotels. This is part of theatreland ; 9
theatres and 7 cinemas bring business to many restaurants in the immediate
vicinity. The names of the larger of these, close to Piccadilly,
are household words, but among the total of 257 in this district will be
found many cafes continental in character and cuisine. In some cases
the restaurateur lives over his cafe, while in others the rooms in the upper
floors of the four-storey buildings are let out as domestic workshops, where
tailors, mostly of Jewish nationality, are engaged as outworkers, tailoring
for large firms in the neighbourhood. Some of these tailoring premises
are used solely as workshops by the more prosperous, who may reside in
the suburbs, while in other cases the workshop forms part of a tenement
dwelling.
Industrial Dwellings.
There are 385 industrial tenements in this district, 89 of which are
in Sandringham Buildings on the west side of Charing Cross Road, while
the larger number constitute Newport Dwellings, between Shaftesbury
Avenue and Leicester Square. The former are occupied by skilled artizans,