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106
There are six hotels, many large office buildings, theatres and cinemas,
and shops of varying size in this area. Since the war, 4 of the large hotels
have been converted into premises for business purposes. Two large
public garages are in course of construction in Buckingham Palace
Road ; one is for use as a station for long-distance motor coaches.
High-class residences and mansion flats are found in Eaton Square
and in the neighbourhood of Buckingham Palace Road. Some of the
streets formerly entirely occupied by members of the working classes
are now gradually but surely changing to cater for more affluent tenants.
Here again, but for the protection afforded by the Rent (Restriction) Acts
many more of the working-class houses in this locality would by now
have ceased to be occupied as such.
The majority of the working-class houses in the district belong to
one of the large ground landlords, and any arrangement that would
envisage an orderly development, together with the preservation of
sufficient working-class houses, would be an ideal conferring practical
benefits. Such an ideal is rapidly becoming an accomplished fact in the
development of the Grosvenor housing scheme at Millbank.
Working-class dwellings.
Quite a large number of blocks of industrial dwellings are situated
in this area; there are 11 estates with 1,124 tenements, including those
already erected and occupied on the City Council's estate by Ebury
Bridge. On one of these estates of 104 tenements, owned by a private
Company, the working classes have been replaced by lower middle-class
tenants and increased rents are accordingly charged.
Tenement houses number 261 ; there are 207 of the cottage type
and 187 dwellings over garages, &c. Of the tenement houses, 55 are also
partly occupied for business purposes. Almost all these premises are
old, and 64 of them, situated in four small areas, have been specially
reported upon by the Medical Officer of Health.
One of these areas comprises 22 old and dilapidated cottages in a
narrow court, and the owners are endeavouring to transfer the occupants
to more suitable habitations and so release the site for building
purposes.
Overcrowding.
Fifty-nine cases of overcrowding were noticed : 45 were overcrowding
in the social sense, but 14 were below the legal standard and have either
been relieved or will be dealt with as opportunities occur.
Restaurants, hotels, cafes and licensed houses number 99.