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(4) Mayfair district.—Mayfair is the heart of fashionable London,
and contains a large number of mansions and high-class private residences,
family and service flats, hotels, clubs, &c. From the point of view of
the housing of the working classes and the purpose of the housing survey,
it need only be briefly dealt with.
Industrial Dwellings.
There are but few working-class dwellings in this district other than those
in the large blocks of industrial dwellings south of Oxford Street belonging
to the Improved Industrial Dwellings Co., and others in different parts
of Mayfair. The 15 estates in all comprise 639 tenements of from 1 to 5
rooms each. They are occupied by the families of domestic servants,
policemen, postmen, commissionaires, club and hotel servants and shop
assistants. Rents average 5s. per room.
Dwellings in Mews.
In the mews and similar byways behind large private houses, about
309 families of chauffeurs and others employed in private households
live in rooms above garages and business premises.
Many of these dwellings have of recent years been improved and
converted into small high-class residences, thus lessening the number
of working-class dwellings in this area.
Special Characteristics.
Business premises, hotels and blocks of expensive flats are fast
displacing the large mansions of Mayfair, notably in Park Lane to the
west, Piccadilly in the south along Berkeley Street to Berkeley Square,
and the encroachment of business is also taking place in the streets leading
out of Bond Street in the east.
The working-class dwellings in this area call for little attention from
the Public Health Department; they are mostly well kept and the
sanitary visits paid are mostly in connection with notifications of
infectious diseases.
In this district the inspector is kept fully occupied supervising sanitary
alterations and advising generally with regard to sanitary fittings, drainage
ventilation, &c. Occasionally notices have to be served under the City
Council's Regulations with regard to basement bedrooms. Usually these
cases occur in hotels and boarding houses when servants are provided
with sleeping rooms in the basement. In new buildings where alterations
are made to existing premises, basements receive particular
attention, and the advice of the inspector is frequently sought, usually
accepted, and acted upon without question.
There are 117 cafes, restaurants, and other catering establishments
in this district.