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117
ditions, &c., and in some instances for overcrowding. Dampness also
calls for frequent attention. It is in this area in which moat of the
families rehoused by the City Council and County Council dwelt, and
where rehousing is in constant progress.
A tendency towards change in character and occupation is also noted
here. The large private houses are being taken as offices or converted
to better-class flats, and it is calculated that in course of time the whole
district will be encroached upon by business interests.
Industrial Dwellings.
There are two estates of Industrial Dwellings : the Peabody Avenue
Estate, near Ebury Bridge, containing 526 tenements, and Cambridge
Buildings, owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, with 69 tenements.
These dwellings are of the old type, with common conveniences and
without baths, but otherwise are satisfactory. When overcrowding occurs
in these buildings it is remedied by the owners as soon as vacancies allow.
Rents are low, from 3s. 5d. to 5s. a room.
Cottages and various.
Dwellings of the cottage type, and including those in the mews over
garages, workshops and stores, number 239. These vary considerably.
Some 93 are owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 44 being welldesigned
modem dwellings, and 49 nearly a century old. These properties
belonging to the Commissioners, including the 69 dwellings,
(Cambridge Buildings previously referred to), a number of tenement
houses and some modern dwellings of the cottage and maisonette types in
St. John's District, are well managed by a trained woman property
manager on the Octavia Hill system, and require little attention by
the Council's officers. The rents are remarkably low and average
3s. 6d. a room. Rents charged for cottages other than those owned by the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners vary from 5s. to 10s. 6(2. a room.
An area off Wilton Road, comprising about 80 cottages, of 2, 3 and
4 rooms each, and another of 17 dwellings over garages, workshops, &c.,
in a mews off Bessborough Place, have been included in a special report
by the Medical Officer of Health.
There are 312 dwellings over, or in connection with, business premises.
Usually the basements under shops are entirely under the street level
and are unfit for separate occupation as dwellings. Some of the business
premises have very small yards, or none at all, and the entrances are, as a
rule, by a narrow passage at side of the shops. These premises are
generally less desirable as residences than the average tenement house.
Rents are from 5s. to 15s. 6d. a room.