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Included in this area are two back-to-back cottages, and sixteen single-storey
two-roomed cottages, which are extremely aged and dilapidated.
The smaller dwellings, especially, possess only a bare minimum of domestic
comfort or convenience. It can be definitely stated that practically every dwelling
is damp, and many seriously so.
Reviewing the condition of the properties as a whole, the area is composed
of extremely aged, damp and worn-out dwellings, many of which are badly designed
as regards internal arrangement; and by the process of superficial "patching"
—both externally and internally—have received prolongation far beyond their
normal term of effective life.
Photograph No. 4 indicates the conditions met with in this area.
WARBURTON SQUARE AREA.
This is a small lesidential area in the centre of an industrial district. High
factories, workshops, warehouses, a place of worship, etc., enclose the area, and
in many cases have been built so close to the houses as seriously to interfere with
lighting and ventilation of the rear spaces. In addition, a permanent obstruction
which affects future planning is the railway viaduct, bisecting the area and
interfering with ventilation from an easterly or westerly direction. Ventilation
from other directions is interfered with by high factories and workshops. The
beneficial effects of London Fields is largely nullified by the railway viaduct,
the surrounding buildings and the ill-arrangement of the houses on the area, also
on account of the bad formation—narrowness and closeness—of the streets contained
in the area. The condition of the houses generally is old and worn, although
some have been better cared for and maintained in a comparatively better condition.
Speaking generally, the houses are badly planned. The street
doors in many cases open direct into living rooms or small lobbies which cut into
the living rooms. There are instances where the staircases are dark, steep and
winding, leading out of living rooms or scullery, or running through the centre
of the house. There are houses where the ground floor is below the street level,
and others so placed in cramped positions that the rooms are awkwardly shaped,
making cleaning difficult, and where space has been so utilised as to prevent, any
yard space being available, resulting in overcrowding of buildings on the site.
The houses, as one would expect from the age, were built without damp-proof
courses, although some have been inserted, as is the case throughout the Borougii
where walls have been rebuilt, generally under a "dangerous structure" notice
enforced by the L.C.C.
The difference in the levels of the streets and many of the small and restricted
backyards make back air-space deficient; and the formation of culs-de-sac in Warburton
Square and Warburton Road adversely affect front ventilation also;
this is further aggravated by the narrow streets—approximating to only
20 feet—which have no proper proportion to the heights of some of the buildings
having frontage thereon, and this also obstructs proper lighting of the smaller
and lower-built properties.
The low levels of yards and closeness of buildings and walls in the rear
of the houses in many instances render the lowest back rooms dark and unwholesome,
especially so where these rooms are basements averaging 5 to 7 feet below
the adjoining street level. In many oases where the back yards are low and yard
space greatly restricted, the proximity of the W.C. and the dustbin frequently causes
foul smells in the houses, especially on days when the atmosphere is warm and
moist.