New Law Tenement Floor Plan

Despite its shortcomings the dumbbell was the most accepted plan for tenements for over twenty years until the new tenement law was passed in 1901.

New law tenement floor plan.

The final iteration was the dumb bell building which had larger shafts along the sides in the middle which gave the floor plan the look of that piece of weightlifting equipment. The tenements built according to this law followed that rule but they did so by creating extremely narrow air shafts. Every room in the new law tenements is light and well ventilated. A rare example of a tenement which could fulfill the requirements of the new law on a 25 foot wide lot.

Old law tenements are tenements built in new york city after the tenement house act of 1879 and before the new york state tenement house act new law of 1901. Plan of first floor. Plan of upper floors new york public library digital collections. The typical floor plan shown for this particular building featured two apartments instead of four in this upscale building built more for the middle to upper class renters.

In the early 21st century a typical lower east side or east village street will still be. If you looked at the building from above it would be shaped like a series of dumbbells pushed together with the air shafts being the small space between them you can see a sample floor plan here. Accessed september 9 2020. 208 thompson street built 1903.

Irma and paul milstein division of united states history local history and genealogy the new york public library. Despite the new law the tenement department in its first heavily documented and illustrated report for 1902 and 1903 noted that some of the conditions found in these buildings surpasses the imagination. Required under the new law to include a large courtyard which consumed more space than the 1879 old law s air shafts new law tenements tend to be built on multiple land lots or on corner lots to conserve space for dwelling units the renting of which is the money making purpose of the structure. Note that the new style tenement s footprint if you will was wider with 6 bays across instead of the formerly standard 4 bays.