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than 150 square feet, extending throughout the entire width of the building, and to a depth in every
part of at least 10 feet from such building; except that where there is a basement storey directly and
sufficiently lighted and ventilated by the 100 square feet of open space before mentioned, or where
there is no basement storey and the ground storey is not constructed or adapted to be inhabited, the
required open space of 150 square feet may be provided above the level of the ceiling of the ground
storey or a level of 16 feet above the adjoining pavement.
The height of such domestic building is, moreover, to be limited by the extent of the open space
at the rear, so that the height shall not exceed twice the distance from the rear of the building to the
boundary of the open space.
A modification of this last requirement is made in the case of domestic buildings abutting upon
a street formed or laid out before the commencement of the Act. Under such circumstances the height
of such part of the building as is 16 feet above the level of the adjoining pavement, is not to exceed
twice the distance from the rear of the building to the boundary of the open space; and further, the
requirements as to the extent of 150 square feet of open space, and that such open space shall extend
throughout the entire width of the building and to a depth in every part of at least 10 feet from such
building, may be met by providing such open space above the level of the ceiling of the ground storey
or above a level of 16 feet above the level of the adjoining pavement. Dwelling-houses to be inhabited
or adapted to be inhabited by persons of the working class do not, however, share in this modification,
as far as it deals with the height at which the open space may be provided in the rear of the building.
Special provisions allow domestic buildings to be erected on the site of domestic buildings
existing at the time of the passing of the Act, which had less than the newly prescribed rear air space,,
provided that no more ground is occupied by the newly erected buildings than was occupied by the
previously existing buildings.
For the purpose of ensuring the provision of open space about dwelling-houses to be inhabited
or adapted to be inhabited by persons of the working class when such houses will not abut upon a
street, plans exhibiting the extent and height of the dwelling-house and its position in relation to other
buildings must be submitted to the Council, and the Council, if satisfied that the open space about the
dwelling-house for the admission of light and air is insufficient, may refuse its sanction to such plans
or may approve them subject to conditions. The Council, however, may not require more open space
or open spaces than would have to be provided if the dwelling-house were erected abutting on a street
or way formed or laid out before the commencement of the Act.
Following previous legislation no building (other than a church or chapel) may be erected
in a street of less width than fifty feet formed or laid out after the 7th August, 1862, to a height
exceeding the distance from the nearest external wall of such building to the opposite side of such
street. This provision has been incorporated in the Act of 1894, and the law has been extended so
that no dwelling house inhabited or adapted to be inhabited by the working class may be erected
without the consent of the Council within "the prescribed distance" (20 feet from the centre of a
roadway used for the purpose of carriage traffic, and 10 feet from the centre of a roadway used for the
purpose of foot traffic), to a height exceeding the distance of the front or nearest external wall of
such building from the opposite side of such street, and no building or structure may be converted
into such dwelling house within the prescribed distance so as to exceed such height. The effect of
this extension of the law will benefit less the dwellings which are thus limited in height than those
which are in their immediate vicinity.
In my report for the year 1892 I commented on the system frequently adopted in buildings
constructed in "flats," in which the only light and air received in some rooms is derived from small
internal courts which are inadequate in size, and through which air does not circulate, with the result
that such rooms are dark and unwholesome. The Building Act of 1894 imposes conditions on the
construction of such courts. Where the court is wholly or in part open at the top, but enclosed on
every side and constructed or used for admitting light or air to a domestic building, and where the
depth of such court from the eaves or top of the parapet to the ceiling of the ground storey exceeds the
length or breadth of such court, adequate provision for the ventilation of the court must be made and
maintained by the owner of the building by means of a communication between the lower end of the
court and the outer air. Further, no habitable room, not having a window directly opening into the
external air otherwise than into a court enclosed on every side, shall be constructed in any building
unless the width of the court measured from such window to the opposite wall shall be equal to half
the height measured from the sill of such window to the eaves or top of the parapet of the opposite wall.
A court, however, of which the greater dimension does not exceed twice the less dimension is
held to comply with these requirements if a court of the same area but square in shape would comply
with it.
It is a frequent custom in London to construct extensions from the main building of a house or
back additions which have the light of the rooms in these extensions or back additions obstructed by
similar extensions or back additions of other houses. In large blocks of dwellings, numerous extensions
are frequently made from the same building with similar result. The Act, therefore, endeavours to ensure
light from above for those rooms having their windows facing such back extensions or additions. For
this purpose the Act provides that no habitable room above the level of the ground storey, not having a
window directly opening into the external air otherwise than into a court open on one side, the depth
whereof measured from the open side exceeds twice the width, shall be constructed in any building
unless every window of such room be placed not nearer to the opposite wall of such court, or to any
other building, than one-half the height of the top of such wall or building above the level of the sill
of such window.
With a view to ensuring the proper lighting of staircases in houses the Act requires that in every
building constructed or adapted to be occupied in separate tenements by more than two families the
principal staircase used by the several families in common shall be ventilated upon every storey above