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98
In all 550 flats have been built in the Borough since the war.
Whatever the changes in the population, it is certain that there will be a large
residential population in Shoreditch for very many years to come of which an increasing
proportion will be housed in flats. A few general observations upon flats may
accordingly not be out of place.
As stated, the flats recently built are a very great improvement upon the houses
which they replaced. Ideas, however, regarding housing accommodation are moving
rapidly. It is now realised that a house should not only meet the essential
requirements of health, but that the surroundings should be spacious and pleasant.
The place called "home" should be so designed as to make possible the contented
enjoyment of leisure upon which the health of the mind depends as much as does
the health of the body upon fresh air and good food.
Reports of flats recently built in Germany and elsewhere indicate that it has
been possible upon the Continent to pay more attention to this aspect of the housing
question than we are doing in London. One hears of gardens round the flats, nurseries
in which children can be left while their parents are at work or enjoying themselves
at the theatre, bathing pools and so forth.
The dwellers in a densely crowded urban area are at a disadvantage as regards
health and happiness compared with those living where there is more elbow room,
and for this reason houses should be designed so as to compensate, as far as possible,
for this disadvantage.