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95
and the Report was forwarded to the Skinners Company for their information.
The main subject matter of the Report was as follows:—
" With the desire of assisting the Skinners Company in improving the
Sandhills Estate, the past, present, and future conditions if clearly recorded will
enable sound judgments to be formed as to public requirements, and the
interests both of the owners and the possible occupiers of the houses.
“The Skinners’ Estate in St. Pancras, commencing at the Euston Road end
of Mabledon Place, includes the area bounded roughly by, and including the
houses on both sides of, Brantome Place (as it formerly existed), Burton
Street, Leigh Street, Judd Street, Tonbridge Street, and Euston Road, south
side only, back to Mabledon Place. Within this area are wholly or partially
embraced some fourteen streets, containing some 480 or more houses, of which
more than one-third are upon the Register of Houses let in Lodgings. It is
very doubtful whether any alteration of name of street only will induce tenants
to take houses in this part of London to be occupied only by one family, such
being the mode of construction and arrangement of these houses, and the mode
of equipment with domestic and sanitary conveniences. The day for securing
this class of tenants in this part of London is past.
“Judging by estates to the south of the Sandhills Estate, the leases on which
have also expired within recent years, the whole house single family tenants
have nearly all gone away, and the changes that have taken place have been
(1) letting the houses in shops and offices, (2) letting the houses as good class
furnished lodging and boarding houses, (3) adaptation of the houses into selfcomplete
flats, and (4) reconstruction in self-contained flats with or without
shops beneath.
In reference to each of these changes:—
“(1) The neighbourhood is now fairly well supplied with shops and
offices.
“(2) As it is the greater number of the guests that can be accommodated
which enables the good class furnished lodging house and boarding
house to pay its way in the face of the keen competition in this
neighbourhood, it follows that single houses let as lodging houses
will be too small and will inevitably fail to secure a good class of
tenant and raise themselves above the tenement house condition in
which they have been. This will necessitate periodical inspection
as hitherto and possibly the addition of more houses to the
register. That this is the probable destiny of many of the empty
houses is evidenced by the fact that thay have bills in the windows
announcing ‘Floor to let’—presumably this means that it is the
definite intention to let these houses in floors. If so it may in
future become necessary to consider (a) whether these houses
should be registered for periodical inspection (b) whether the
Borough Council is bound by Section 78, London County Council
(General Powers) Act, 1907, to close the houses as unfit for human
habitation unless they are provided with a proper and sufficient
supply of water on each floor, which will also imply the provision
of a proper sink and waste pipe, (c) whether Clause 20, London