diff options
Diffstat (limited to '75837-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 75837-h/75837-h.htm | 2810 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75837-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 525009 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75837-h/images/i_title.jpg | bin | 0 -> 80160 bytes |
3 files changed, 2810 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/75837-h/75837-h.htm b/75837-h/75837-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..56f0671 --- /dev/null +++ b/75837-h/75837-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2810 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>House Property and Its Management | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; } + h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; } + h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: large; } + .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } + p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } + sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + .large { font-size: large; } + .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } + .small { font-size: small; } + .lg-container-b { text-align: center; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-b { clear: both; } + .lg-container-r { text-align: right; } + .x-ebookmaker .lg-container-r { clear: both; } + .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: justify; } + .x-ebookmaker .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; } + .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } + .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } + div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } + .linegroup .in12 { padding-left: 9.0em; } + .linegroup .in4 { padding-left: 5.0em; } + .linegroup .in8 { padding-left: 7.0em; } + .ul_1 li {padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; } + ul.ul_1 {padding-left: 0; margin-left: 2.78%; margin-top: .5em; + margin-bottom: .5em; list-style-type: disc; } + div.footnote > :first-child { margin-top: 1em; } + div.footnote p { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } + hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } + .x-ebookmaker hr.pb { display: none; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } + .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } + .id001 { width:10%; } + .x-ebookmaker .id001 { margin-left:45%; width:10%; } + .ig001 { width:100%; } + .table0 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; } + .nf-center { text-align: center; } + .nf-center-c0 { text-align: justify; margin: 0.5em 0; } + p.drop-capa0_0_6 { text-indent: -0em; } + p.drop-capa0_0_6:first-letter { float: left; margin: 0.100em 0.100em 0em 0em; + font-size: 250%; line-height: 0.6em; text-indent: 0; } + .x-ebookmaker p.drop-capa0_0_6 { text-indent: 0; } + .x-ebookmaker p.drop-capa0_0_6:first-letter { float: none; margin: 0; + font-size: 100%; } + .c000 { margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + .c001 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } + .c002 { margin-top: 1em; } + .c003 { margin-top: 4em; } + .c004 { margin-top: 2em; } + .c005 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } + .c006 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c007 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c008 { text-decoration: none; } + .c009 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } + .c010 { vertical-align: top; text-align: justify; text-indent: -1em; + padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; } + .c011 { vertical-align: bottom; text-align: right; } + .c012 { text-align: center; } + .c013 { font-size: 50%; } + .c014 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; } + .c015 { margin-top: 1em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c016 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + .c017 { margin-top: 2em; font-size: .9em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; + } + .c018 { margin-left: 2.78%; text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; + border:thin solid silver; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; font-family: Georgia, serif; + clear: both; } + .covernote { visibility: hidden; display: none; } + div.tnotes p { text-align: justify; } + .x-ebookmaker .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block; } + .figcenter {font-size: .9em; page-break-inside: avoid; max-width: 100%; + max-height: 100%; } + h1 {line-height: 150%; } + .footnote {font-size: .9em; } + div.footnote p {text-indent: 2em; margin-bottom: .5em; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + body {font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; } + table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; + clear: both; } + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; + margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75837 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001'>HOUSE PROPERTY<br> <span class='xlarge'>& ITS MANAGEMENT</span><br> <span class='large'>SOME PAPERS ON THE METHODS OF MANAGEMENT INTRODUCED BY MISS OCTAVIA HILL AND ADAPTED TO MODERN CONDITIONS</span></h1> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='[Logo]' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div>LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.</div> + <div>RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div><span class='small'><em>First published in 1921</em></span></div> + <div class='c004'><span class='small'>(<em>All rights reserved</em>)</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span> + <h2 class='c005'>INTRODUCTION</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div>By <span class='sc'>I. G. Gibbon</span>, D.Sc., C.B.E., Ministry of Health.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>Of standards we have heard much in +connection with new housing, and, +quite naturally, nearly always of material +standards—of the number of houses to the +acre, the size and the number of rooms, the +provision of baths and the like; but of +personal standards little, although persons of +experience know full well that, where there +are difficulties, half the trouble, at a moderate +estimate, could be removed by personal +action. The experiment of the ownership +and management of large numbers of houses +by Local Authorities is not free from the +hazards of democratic control; some in full +sympathy with the experiment view it not +without some misgivings, and the misgivings +will not be without place if adequate measures +are not taken for proper management.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is timely, therefore, that we should be +reminded of the most instructive experiment +made during the last century in the management +<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>of house property, the work of Octavia +Hill. Her experiment in house management +would probably have by now won her many +more practical followers had she been less +of a social worker; but had she been less +of a social worker she would never have +made the experiment. There may still be +a few of the comparatively small number of +persons who know of her work who look +upon it as an attempt to insinuate a District +Visitor under the disguise of a rent collector. +District Visitors doubtless have their place +and season; but the aim of those who would +follow in the footsteps of Octavia Hill, the +Women Property Managers, is to manage +property on a firm business basis, to make +it pay (and they have shown that they can +make it pay, more so in difficult circumstances +than business management of a dull +routine kind), and to carry out the work +with knowledge and experience, with sympathy +and tact, and with as reasonable a +regard to the genuine interests of the tenants +as of the owner. This is their aim, and, +where person and place fit, their achievement.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Octavia Hill’s influence was great in this +country; but it passed beyond its borders. +One of the most interesting reports issued in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>recent years on the management of house +property has been that of the Octavia Hill +Association, at Philadelphia, who report the +uniform success of management on the lines +laid down by Octavia Hill.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c008'><sup>[1]</sup></a> In Holland, +also, her influence has been great; and at +Amsterdam, for instance, all municipal house +property, which is extensive, is managed by +women who have been trained in her methods.</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c007'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. See <em>Good Housing that Pays</em>, by Fullerton L. Waldo. +Philadelphia: The Harper Press, 1012-20 Chancellor Street. +1917.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c007'>The ideal in these matters, I think, is +self-management, where the tenants in a +group of houses manage their own affairs +with a social regard to their own real +interests, an almost impossible result at the +present time unless the tenants have a +substantial financial stake in the property. +We are very far indeed from this solution +as yet, though every effort is needed towards +achieving it; and one disappointing result +of the State-assisted scheme of houses is the +very poor showing made by Public Utility +Societies. But a large measure of self-management +is not precluded from the +scheme of management on Octavia Hill’s lines, +as, indeed, has been demonstrated in practice.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>There should be no spirit of patronage in +management; if, as happens, the tenant +comes to look upon the property manager +as a counsellor and friend, this should grow +out of the business management and as an +incident to it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Octavia Hill and her successors did not +work simply by the light of nature, or believe +that women, as such, had a God-given +aptitude for this business, though, house +management being primarily a matter for +the wife and mother, it naturally opens a +field for which women should be well fitted. +But the same need of instruction arises +whether the management be by men or by +women. The pupil has to be put through +a severe course of training; she has to be +versed in the most important facts of the +law as to rents, landlord and tenant, and +sanitation; she has to be acquainted with +the defects which occur in houses, and +how most economically to remedy them. +Above all, she has to acquire that measure +of firmness, tact and sympathy without +which success is not likely to be attained. +A pupil who is likely to be fully successful +must have a goodly measure of that personal +aptitude which, though difficult to test by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>any system of examination, is as vitally +necessary as are the essential technical +qualifications.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If the manager of house property is +to give of her best, she must be trusted +with ample responsibility and authority. If +hampered by restrictions, if limited in +authority, if not granted powers for selecting +and dealing with tenants and the control +of repairs, if she has to refer to superior +authority, whether an employer or an official +or a Committee, before action can be taken, +there is not much hope, even under favourable +conditions, of more than a bare success. +Here lies one principal danger, equally of +autocracy or democracy. It is not good +business or sound sense to pay a person for +duties and to relieve her of the real responsibility +attached to them, including the risk of +dismissal for failure.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In dealing with slum property the lessons +of Octavia Hill’s work are exceedingly encouraging. +Weary years must pass before +there can be extensive demolition and rebuilding +of slum areas. Are we therefore +to lie resigned and allow these grievous +sores to fester in our cities and towns?</p> + +<p class='c007'>In properly qualified management we have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>one at least of the keys to a temporary, if +not a permanent, solution of the problem; +and in this way we may effectively deal +with the real evil. The ordinary method of +clearance and rebuilding has often resulted +too much in the shifting of the evil to +another quarter, though it may be, happily, +in a less concentrated form.</p> + +<p class='c007'>One incidental gleam from the reading of +the papers in this volume is of the great +advances which have really been made in +housing conditions. We are apt at times, +not without reason, to gird at the slowness +with which the manifest evils around us are +being removed, but it is well occasionally, for +a proper sense of proportion and for reform +itself, to be reminded of the great improvements +which have been achieved.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is important to bear in mind that the +principles of trained management apply as +much to privately owned as to public property. +If the owners of properties in areas +which are now classed as slums would but +join together and employ for the common +management of their property persons trained +and with aptitude for the work, it is no +exaggeration to say that within a few years +a great transformation would be effected in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>the slum problem of London and of other +towns, a transformation which would not +only ease the manifold burdens of public +authorities, but would be less irksome to +the owners of the property and of untold +benefit to its occupiers.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Equally important is it to remember that +the methods of management associated with +Octavia Hill are as pertinent for new property +as for old—indeed, in some ways more so, +for prevention is better than cure. She +learnt her secrets in dealing with bad property, +just as the scientist wrests his secrets +from the pathological. Management of +house property on the general lines laid +down by her, adapted and developed, and, +as I believe, with increasing emphasis on +co-operative self-management, will help +materially not only in the minor achievement +of preventing property from degenerating +into slums—and this, as experience +shows, may well happen even with good +and well-planned property—but in the greater +achievement of attaining that higher standard +of contentment and of pride of home and +locality which should be the aim of all +those who have the interests of the country +at heart.</p> + +<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span></div> +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'> +The following are some papers written +by Miss Octavia Hill in connection +with her housing work.</p> + +<p class='c007'>They are republished in the hope that +her methods may be widely adopted in the +efforts that are now being made to improve +the very defective housing conditions in +our cities.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>M. M. JEFFERY.</div> + <div class='line'>EDITH NEVILLE.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <th class='c009'></th> + <th class='c010'> </th> + <th class='c011'>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'> </td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Introduction.</span> By I. G. Gibbon, D.Sc., C.B.E., Ministry of Health</td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_5'>5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'> </td> + <td class='c010'> </td> + <td class='c011'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c012' colspan='3'>SELECTIONS FROM OCTAVIA HILL’S WRITINGS</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>I.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Management of Houses for the Poor</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_15'>15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>II.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Cottage Property in London</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>III.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Blank Court</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>IV.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>The Influence of Model Dwellings upon Character</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>V.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Small Houses in London</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>VI.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Letters to Fellow-Workers</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_52'>52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'> </td> + <td class='c010'> </td> + <td class='c011'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c012' colspan='3'>OTHER PAPERS</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>VII.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Women Managers—A Crown Estate</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>VIII.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Management of Municipal Houses in Amsterdam</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c009'>IX.</td> + <td class='c010'><span class='sc'>Report on House Property Management by a Sub-Committee of the Women’s Section of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association</span></td> + <td class='c011'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span></div> +<div class='chapter ph1'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>House Property and its Management</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div> + <h2 class='c005'>I<br> MANAGEMENT OF HOUSES FOR THE POOR<br> <span class='c013'>(1899)</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>Thirty-four years ago, when I first +began to manage houses inhabited +by working people, London was in a very +different state from what it is now, +and it is useful and interesting to review +the changes, their effects, and their bearing +on the special work we are considering +to-day.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(1) The standard of comfort was far lower +then than now. In Marylebone, where I +began work, nearly every family rented but +one room; now there are hundreds of two- +and three-roomed tenements. There were +no cooking-ranges in the rooms; water was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>hardly ever carried up higher than the +parlours. There were hardly any amusements +open to the people; there was no +underground railway, no trams, few cheap +omnibuses; there were no free libraries, no +Education Act, no Board schools. Wages +were very decidedly lower, hours of work +were longer. The bright oil-lamps did not +exist. Food was not so cheap or so various. +Flowers were never sold in the streets to the +poor. The people stood in those days far +more in need of cheer and of help.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(2) The knowledge of sanitary matters had +penetrated hardly at all; gross ignorance +prevailed. There were, moreover, few, if +any, Convalescent Homes, no country holiday +arrangements. The Building Acts took cognizance +of very few of the requirements for +health, and hardly any sanitary measures +were enforcible—fewer were enforced. Few +hospitals for infectious diseases existed. +Many excellent appliances for drainage +were not invented.</p> + +<p class='c007'>(3) There was not one-tenth part of the +sympathy and interest in the welfare of the +people which permeates all classes now.</p> + +<p class='c007'>From these and many other causes a +London court in 1864 was a far more degraded +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>and desolate place than it can be now, even +in the remotest and forlornest region, and +in taking charge of it one had to do a variety +of things oneself, where now one finds the +intelligent and willing co-operation of many +other agencies.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Again, there were next to no “model” +dwellings and little power of cheap locomotion, +so that a court in those days was +subject to little change of population; the +same families clung to it, lived, married and +died in it. Cheap locomotion and facilities +in reading have brought the different parts of +London into much closer communication.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Many of these facts made the necessity +for preserving and regulating the old courts +and houses far more important than is the +case now. The old courts are rapidly disappearing, +and numerous blocks of buildings +with modern appliances are now scattered +over most neighbourhoods. But in 1864 +tenants were neither routed out of foul and +close courts nor would they have been +received into the rare and select model +dwellings. Moreover, in the rough courts +they were little meddled with, and could +pursue in ignorance their insanitary habits +further than would be possible now.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>It was very natural, therefore, that my +first efforts should have been directed to +rough courts and the inhabitants as I found +them there. Steady and gradual improvement +of the people of the houses, without +selection of the former or sudden reconstruction +of the latter, was our first duty, +and my little book on <em>Homes of the London +Poor</em> tells the history of that early work. +But if there is one duty more incumbent on +us than another in such efforts, it is to be +quick to see where advance is possible, how +higher standards can be realized, and how +much old forms may be rightly superseded. +With certain exceptions in regard to small +old houses, our work of late years has been +increasingly in new houses and with chosen +tenants.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The principles, however, are the same, +and there is one great fact which the changing +form has only brought out more and more +clearly, and that is that the conduct of +houses or blocks, old or new, so as to secure +health and comfort and homelike feeling, +depends on management. One can see any +day excellent buildings execrably managed, +and one may see tumble-down old places of +wretched construction both healthier and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>far more homelike because well managed. +And I may confidently say that the distinctive +feature of our work has been that +of devoting our full strength to management. +It will be realized at once how much more +this implies than “rent collecting.” An +ordinary clerk will go from door to door for +rents; that is a very different matter from +managing houses. We have tried, so far as +possible, to enlist ladies, who would have an +idea of how—by diligent attention to all +business which devolves on a landlord, by +wise rule with regard to all duties which a +tenant should fulfil, by sympathetic and +just decisions with a view to the common +good—a high standard of management could +be attained: repairs promptly and efficiently +attended to, references carefully taken up, +cleaning sedulously supervised, overcrowding +put an end to, the blessing of ready-money +payments enforced, accounts strictly kept, +and, above all, tenants so sorted as to be +helpful to one another.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span> + <h2 class='c005'>II<br> COTTAGE PROPERTY IN LONDON<br> <span class='c013'>(1866)</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>Two years ago I first had an opportunity +of carrying out the plan I +had long contemplated, that of obtaining +possession of houses to be let in weekly +tenements to the poor. That the spiritual +elevation of a large class depended to a +considerable extent on sanitary reform was, +I considered, proved, but I was equally +certain that sanitary improvement itself +depended upon educational work among +grown-up people; that they must be urged +to rouse themselves from the lethargy and +indolent habits into which they have fallen, +and freed from all that hinders them from +doing so. I further believed that any lady +who would help them to obtain things, the +need of which they felt themselves, and +would sympathize with them in their desire +for such, would soon find them eager to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>learn her view of what was best for them; +that whether this was so or not, her duty +was to keep alive their own best hopes and +intentions, which come at rare intervals, +but fade too often for want of encouragement.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I laid the plan before Mr. Ruskin, who +entered into it most warmly. He at once +came forward with all the money necessary, +and took the whole risk of the undertaking +upon himself. He showed me, however, +that it would be far more useful if it could +be made to pay; that a working man ought +to be able to pay for his own house; that +the outlay upon it ought, therefore, to +yield a fair percentage upon the capital +invested. Thus empowered and directed, +I purchased three houses in my own immediate +neighbourhood. They were leasehold, +subject to a small ground-rent. The +unexpired term of the lease was for fifty-six +years; this we purchased for £750. We +spent £78 additional in making a large +room at the back of my own house, where +I could meet the tenants from time to time. +The plan has now been in operation about +a year and a half; the financial result is +that the scheme has paid 5 per cent. interest +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>on all the capital (it should be remembered +that 5 per cent. interest in England on +house property is equivalent to at least +8 per cent. in the United States), has +repaid £48 of the capital; sets of two +rooms have been let for little more than +the rent of one, the houses have been kept +in repair, all expenses have been met for +taxes, ground-rent and insurance. In this +case there is no expense for collecting rents, +as I do it myself, finding it most important +work; but in all the estimates I put aside +the usual percentage for it, in case hereafter +I may require help, and also to prove +practically that it can be afforded in other +cases. It should be observed that well-built +houses were chosen, but they were in +a dreadful state of dirt and neglect. The +repairs required were mainly of a superficial +and slight character; slight in regard to +expense—vital as to health and comfort. +The place swarmed with vermin; the papers, +black with dirt, hung in long strips from the +walls; the drains were stopped, the water +supply out of order. All these things were +put in order, but no new appliances of any +kind were added, as we had determined +that our tenants should wait for these until +<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>they had proved themselves capable of +taking care of them. A regular sum is set +aside for repairs, and this is equally divided +between the three houses; if any of it +remains, after breakage and damage have +been repaired, at the end of the quarter, +each tenant decides in turn in what way +the surplus shall be spent, so as to add to +the comfort of the house. This plan has +worked admirably; the loss from carelessness +has decreased to an amazing extent, +and the lodgers prize the little comforts +which they have waited for, and seem in a +measure to have earned by their care, much +more than those bought with more lavish +expenditure. The bad debts during the +whole time the plan has been in operation +have only amounted to £2 11s. 3d. Extreme +punctuality and diligence in collecting rents, +and a strict determination that they shall be +paid regularly, have accomplished this; as +a proof of which it is curious to observe +that £1 3s. 3d. of the bad debts accumulated +during two months that I was away in the +country. I have tried to remember, when +it seemed hardest, that the fulfilment of +their duties was the best education for the +tenants in every way. It has given them +<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>a dignity and glad feeling of honourable +behaviour which has much more than +compensated for the apparent harshness of +the rule.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Nothing has impressed me more than the +people’s perception of an underlying current +of sympathy through all dealings that have +seemed harsh. Somehow, love and care +have made themselves felt. It is also wonderful +that they should prize as they do the +evenness of the law that is over them. They +are accustomed to alternate violence of +passion and toleration of vice. They expected +a greater toleration, ignorant indulgence and +frequent almsgiving; but in spite of this +have recognized as a blessing a rule which +is very strict, but the demands of which +they know, and a government which is true +in word and deed. The plan of substituting +a lady for a resident landlady of the same +class as her tenants is not wholly gain. The +lady will probably have subtler sympathy +and clearer comprehension of their needs, +but she cannot give the same minute supervision +that a resident landlady can. Unhappily, +the advantage of such a change +is, however, at present unquestionable. The +influence of the majority of the lower class +<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>of people who sublet to the poor is almost +wholly injurious. That tenants should be +given up to the dominion of those whose +word is given and broken almost as a matter +of course, whose habits and standards are +very low, whose passions are violent, who +have neither large hope nor clear sight, +nor even sympathy, is very sad. It seems +to me that a greater power is in the hands +of landlords and landladies than of schoolteachers—power +either of life or death, +physical or spiritual. It is not an unimportant +question who shall wield it. There +are dreadful instances in which sin is really +tolerated and shared; where the lodger who +will drink most with his landlord is most +favoured, and many a debt overlooked, to +compensate for which the price of rooms is +raised; and thus the steady and sober pay +more rent to make up for losses caused by +the unprincipled.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With the great want of rooms there is in +this neighbourhood it did not seem right to +expel families, however large, inhabiting one +room. Whenever from any cause a room +was vacant and a large family occupied an +adjoining one, I have endeavoured to induce +them to rent the two. To incoming tenants +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>I do not let what seems decidedly insufficient +accommodation. We have been able to let +two rooms for four shillings and sixpence, +whereas the tenants were in many cases +paying four shillings for one. At first they +considered it quite an unnecessary expenditure +to pay more rent for a second room, +however small the additional sum might be. +They have gradually learnt to feel the +comfort of having two rooms, and pay +willingly for them. (It is not possible to +form any comparison between the rent of +rooms in London and New York, the circumstances +of the two cities being so different; +but the point to be observed is that, +by a very small increase of rent, the amount +of accommodation may be doubled.)</p> + +<p class='c007'>The pecuniary success of the plan has been +due to two causes. First, to the absence +of middlemen; and, secondly, to great +strictness about punctual payment of rent. +At this moment not one tenant in any of +the houses owes any rent, and during the +whole time, as I have said, the bad debts +have been exceedingly small. The law +respecting such tenancies seems very simple, +and when once the method of proceeding is +understood, the whole business is easily +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>managed; and I must say most seriously +that I believe it to be better to pay legal +expenses for getting rid of tenants than to +lose by arrears of rent—better for the whole +tone of the households, kinder to the tenants. +The rule should be clearly understood and +the people will respect themselves for having +obeyed it. The commencement of proceedings +which are known to be genuine and not +a mere threat is usually sufficient to obtain +payment of arrears; in one case only has +an ejectment for rent been necessary. The +great want of rooms gives the possessors of +such property immense power over their +lodgers. Let them see to it that they use +it righteously. The fluctuations of work +cause to respectable tenants the main difficulties +in paying their rent. I have tried to +help them in two ways. First, by inducing +them to save; this they have done steadily, +and each autumn has found them with a +small fund accumulated, which has enabled +them to meet the difficulties of the time +when families are out of town. In the +second place, I have done what I could to +employ my tenants in slack seasons. I +carefully set aside any work they can do for +times of scarcity, and I try so to equalize +<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>in this small circle the irregularity of work, +which must be more or less pernicious, and +which the childishness of the poor makes +doubly so. They have strangely little power +of looking forward; a result is to them as +nothing if it will not be perceptible till +next quarter! This is very curious to me, +especially as seen in connection with that +large hope to which I have alluded, and +which often makes me think that if I could +I would carve over the houses the motto, +“Spem, etiam illi habent, quibus nihil aliud +restat.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>Another beautiful trait in their character +is their trust; it has been quite marvellous +to find how great and how ready this is. +In no single case have I met with suspicion +or with anything but entire confidence.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is needless to say that there have been +many minor difficulties and disappointments. +Each separate person who has failed to rise +and meet the help that would have been +so gladly given has been a distinct loss to +me; for somehow the sense of relation to +them has been a very real one, and a feeling +of interest and responsibility has been very +strong, even where there was least that was +lovely or lovable in the particular character. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>When they have not had sufficient energy +or self-control to choose the sometimes hard +path that has seemed the only right one, +it would have been hard to part from them, +except for a hope that others would be able +to lead them where I have failed.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Two distinct kinds of work depend entirely +on one another if they are to bear their +full fruit. There is, firstly, the simple fulfilment +of a landlady’s bounden duties, and +uniform demand of the fulfilment of those +of the tenants. We have felt ourselves +bound by laws which must be obeyed, +however hard obedience might often be. +Then, secondly, there is the individual friendship +which has grown up from intimate +knowledge and from a sense of dependence +and protection. Knowledge gives power to +see the real position of families; to suggest +in time the inevitable result of certain +habits; to urge such measures as shall +secure the education of the children and +their establishment in life; to keep alive +the germs of energy; to waken the gentler +thought; to refuse resolutely to give any +help but such as rouses self-help; to cherish +the smallest lingering gleam of self-respect; +and, finally, to be near with strong help +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>should the hour of trial fall suddenly and +heavily, and to give it with the hand and +heart of a real old friend, who has filled +many relations besides that of almsgiver, +who has long ago given far more than +material help, and has thus earned the right +to give this lesser to the most independent +spirits.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span> + <h2 class='c005'>III<br> BLANK COURT<br> <span class='c013'>(1871)</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>How this relation between landlord and +tenant might be established in some +of the lowest districts of London, and with +what results, I am about to describe by +relating what has been done in the last +two years in Blank Court.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In many of the houses the dustbins were +utterly unapproachable, and cabbage-leaves, +stale fish and every sort of dirt were lying +in the passages and on the stairs; in some +the back kitchen had been used as a dustbin, +but had not been emptied for years, and the +dust filtered through into the front kitchens, +which were the sole living and sleeping +rooms of some families; in some, the kitchen +stairs were many inches thick with dirt, +which was so hardened that a shovel had to +be used to get it off; in some there was +hardly any water to be had; the wood was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>eaten away, and broken away; windows +were smashed, and the rain was coming +through the roofs. At night it was still +worse; and during the first winter I had +to collect the rents chiefly then, as the +inhabitants, being principally costermongers, +were out nearly all day, and they were afraid +to entrust their rent to their neighbours. +It was then that I saw the houses in their +most dreadful aspect. I well remember wet, +foggy Monday nights, when I turned down +the dingy court, past the brilliantly lighted +public-house at the corner, past the old +furniture outside the shops, and dived into +the dark, yawning passage-ways. The front +doors stood open day and night, and as I +felt my way down the kitchen stairs, broken, +and rounded by the hardened mud upon +them, the foul smells which the heavy, +foggy air would not allow to rise met me as +I descended, and the plaster rattled down +as I groped along. It was truly appalling to +think that there were human beings who +lived habitually in such an atmosphere, +with such surroundings. Sometimes I had +to open the kitchen door myself, after +knocking several times in vain, when a +woman, quite drunk, would be lying on the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>floor on some black mass which served as a +bed; sometimes, in answer to my knocks, +a half-drunken man would swear, and thrust +the rent-money out to me through a chink +of the door, placing his foot against it so +as to prevent it opening wide enough to +admit me. Always it would be shut again +without a light being offered to guide me up +the pitch-dark stairs. Such was Blank Court +in the winter of 1869. Truly, a wild, lawless, +desolate little kingdom to come to rule over.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On what principles was I to rule these +people? On the same as I had already +tried, and tried with success, in other places, +and which I may sum up as the two following: +firstly, to demand a strict fulfilment of their +duties to me—one of the chief of which +would be the punctual payment of rent; +and secondly, to endeavour to be so unfailingly +just and patient that they should +learn to trust the rule that was over them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With regard to details, I would make a +few improvements at once, such, for example, +as the laying on of water and repairing of +dustbins; but, for the most part, improvements +should be made only by degrees, as +the people became more capable of valuing +them and not abusing them. I would have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>the rooms distempered and thoroughly +cleansed as they became vacant, and then +they should be offered to the more cleanly +of the tenants. I would have such repairs +as were not immediately needed used as a +means of giving work to the men in times +of distress. I would draft the occupants of +the underground kitchens into the upstairs +rooms, and would ultimately convert the +kitchens into bathrooms and washhouses. +I would have the landlady’s portion of the +house—i.e. the stairs and passages—at once +repaired and distempered, and they should +be regularly scrubbed, and, as far as possible, +made models of cleanliness, for I knew, from +former experience, that the example of this +would, in time, silently spread itself to the +rooms themselves, and that payment for this +work would give me some hold over the +older girls. I would collect savings personally, +not trust to their being taken to distant +banks or savings clubs. And, finally, I +knew that I should learn to feel these people +as my friends, and so should instinctively +feel the same respect for their privacy and +their independence, and should treat them +with the same courtesy that I should show +towards any other personal friends. There +<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>would be no interference, no entering their +rooms uninvited, no offer of money or the +necessaries of life. But when occasion presented +itself I should give them any help I +could, such as I might offer without insult +to other friends—sympathy in their distresses; +advice, help and counsel in their +difficulties; introductions that might be of +use to them; means of education; visits to +the country; a lent book when not able +to work; a bunch of flowers brought on +purpose; an invitation to any entertainment, +in a room built at the back of my +own house, which would be likely to give +them pleasure. I am convinced that one of +the evils of much that is done for the poor +springs from the want of delicacy felt, and +courtesy shown, towards them, and that we +cannot beneficially help them in any spirit +different to that in which we help those +who are better off. The help may differ in +amount, because their needs are greater. +It should not differ in kind.</p> + +<p class='c007'>I have learned to know that people are +ashamed to abuse a place they find cared for. +They will add dirt to dirt till a place is +pestilential, but the more they find done for +it, the more they will respect it, till at last +<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>order and cleanliness prevail. It is this +feeling of theirs, coupled with the fact that +they do not like those whom they have +learned to love, and whose standard is higher +than their own, to see things which would +grieve them, which has enabled us to accomplish +nearly every reform of outward things +that we have achieved; so that the surest +way to have any place kept clean is to go +through it often yourself.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Amongst the many benefits which the +possession of the houses enables us to confer +on the people, perhaps one of the most +important is our power of saving them from +neighbours who would render their lives +miserable. It is a most merciful thing to +protect the poor from the pain of living in +the next room to drunken, disorderly people. +“I am dying,” said an old woman to me the +other day; “I wish you would put me where +I can’t hear S—— beating his wife. Her +screams are awful. And B—— too, he do +come in so drunk. Let me go over the way +to No. 30.” Our success depends on duly +arranging the inmates; not too many +children in any one house, so as to overcrowd +it; not too few, so as to overcrowd +another; not two bad people side by side, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>or they drink together; not a terribly bad +person beside a very respectable one.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It appears to me, then, to be proved by +practical experience that when we can induce +the rich to undertake the duties of landlords +in poor neighbourhoods, and ensure a sufficient +amount of the wise, personal supervision +of educated and sympathetic people acting +as their representatives, we achieve results +which are not attainable in any other way. +I would call upon those who may possess +cottage property in large towns to consider +the immense power they thus hold in their +hands and the large influence for good they +may exercise by the wise use of that power. +When they have to delegate it to others, +let them take care to whom they commit +it; and let them beware lest, through the +widely prevailing system of subletting, this +power ultimately abide with those who have +neither the will nor the knowledge which +would enable them to use it beneficially.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is on these things and their faithful +execution that the life of the whole matter +depends, and by which steady progress is +ensured. It is the smaller things of the +world that colour the lives of those around +us, and it is on persistent efforts to reform +<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>these that progress depends; and we may +rest assured that they who see with greater +eyes than ours have a due estimate of the +service, and that if we did but perceive +the mighty principles underlying these tiny +things we should rather feel awed that we +are entrusted with them at all, than scornful +and impatient that they are no larger. +What are we that we should ask for more +than that God should let us work for Him +among the tangible things which He created +to be fair and the human which He redeemed +to be pure? From time to time He lifts +a veil and shows us, even while we struggle +with imperfections here below, that towards +which we are working—shows us how, by +governing and ordering the tangible things +one by one, we may make of this earth a fair +dwelling-place. And, far better still, how, +by cherishing human beings, He will let us +help Him in His work of building up temples +meet for Him to dwell in—faint images of +that best Temple of all which He promised +that He would raise up on the third day, +though men might destroy it.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span> + <h2 class='c005'>IV<br> THE INFLUENCE OF MODEL DWELLINGS UPON CHARACTER<br> <span class='c013'>(1892)</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>As it now seems fairly clear that the +working population of London is +likely to be more and more housed in +“blocks,” it is not very profitable to spend +time in considering whether this is a fact to +rejoice in or to deplore, except so far as the +consideration may enable us to see how far +the advantages of the change may be increased +or the drawbacks diminished. The +advantages of the change are very apparent +and are apt to appear overwhelming, and +the disadvantages are apt to be dismissed as +somewhat sentimental or inevitable. I have, +however, little to say upon advantages. +They may, I think, be briefly summed up +under two heads. It is supposed that better +sanitary arrangements are secured in blocks. +It is also certain that all inspection and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>regulation are easier in blocks; and on inspection +and regulation much of our modern +legislation, much of our popular hope is +based.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With regard to the sanitary arrangements, +I think all who are at all conversant with +the subject are beginning to be aware that +these at least may be as faulty in blocks as +in smaller buildings; but it is undoubtedly +true that even where this is so, the publicity +of the block enables inspection to be carried +out much more easily, and so, theoretically +at least, a certain standard can be enforced. +And though this is not quite so true in +actual practice as those who put their faith +in enforcement of sanitary law are apt to +imagine, still it is true, and it is a very +distinct advantage to be noted.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Your readers may be astonished that I do +not put down the greater economy of the +block system as a distinct gain, but I am +not so wholly sure as may seem that it +exists. For, first, room by room the block +dwellings are not at all invariably cheaper +than those in small houses. Moreover, I +think we can hardly permit, and assuredly +cannot permanently congratulate and pride +ourselves upon, a form of construction which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>admits so very little sunlight into lower +floors. So that to the present cost of block +buildings must, I should think, be fairly +added in the future such diminution of +height or such increase of yard space as +would allow of the freer entrance of air +and light. This would increase the ground-rent +payable on each room. I think also +that the cheapness of erecting many-storied +buildings is exaggerated. I have built very +few blocks, but I have been consulted about +some, and I have more than once proved in +£ s. d. that cutting off a story from the +block as shown in the plans was a very +small net loss, when cost of building, saving +on rates, repairs, etc., and possibly even +diminution in wall thickness, justified by the +lower elevation, were taken into account. +We must also remember the increase of rent +gladly paid by the sober and home-loving +man for ground-floor rooms lighter and +pleasanter than if overshadowed by high +blocks. I do not wish to generalize—the +matter is one of £ s. d.—but I say that the +figures are well worth careful study on each +building scheme, and that, as far as the +model dwellings are concerned, I think their +undue height in proportion to width of yard +<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>has sometimes been due to the mistaken +zeal for accommodating numbers of families. +I say mistaken, for with our increased means +of cheap transit we should try to scatter +rather than to concentrate our population, +especially if the concentration has to be +secured by dark lower rooms.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With regard to the disadvantages of blocks, +I think they may be divided into those which +may be looked upon, by such of us as are +hopeful, as probably transitory, and those +which seem, so far as we can see, quite +essential to the block system. The transitory +ones are by far the most serious. They are +those which depend on the enormously +increasing evil which grows up in a huge +community of those who are undisciplined +and untrained. They disappear with civilization; +they are, so far as I know, entirely +absent in large groups of blocks where the +tenants are the quiet, respectable working-class +families who, to use a phrase common +in London, “keep themselves to themselves,” +and whose well-ordered, quiet little homes, +behind their neat little doors with bright +knockers, nicely supplied with well-chosen +appliances, now begin to form groups +where responsible, respectable citizens live +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>in cleanliness and order. Under rules they +grow to think natural and reasonable, inspected +and disciplined, every inhabitant +registered and known, School Board laws and +laws of the landlord or company regularly +enforced, every infectious case of illness +instantly removed, all disinfecting done at +public cost, is developed a life of law, regular, +a little monotonous, and not encouraging +any great individuality, but consistent with +happy home life, and it promises to be the +life of the respectable London working man.</p> + +<p class='c007'>On the other hand, what life in blocks is +to the less self-controlled hardly any words +of mine are strong enough to describe, and +it is abhorred accordingly by the tidy and +striving, wherever any—even a small number—of +the undisciplined are admitted to +blocks, or where, being admitted, there is +no real living rule exercised. Regulations +are of small avail; no public inspection can +possibly, for more than an hour or two, +secure order; no resident superintendent has +at once conscience, nerve and devotion +single-handed to stem the violence, the dirt, +the noise, the quarrels; no body of public +opinion on the part of the tenants themselves +asserts itself: one by one the tidier +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>ones depart disheartened, the rampant remain +and prevail, and often, though with a +very fair show to the outsider, the block +becomes a sort of pandemonium. No one +who is not in and out day by day, or, better +still, night after night; no one who does not +watch the swift degradation of children +belonging to tidy families; no one who does +not know the terrorism exercised by the +rough over the timid and industrious poor; +no one who does not know the abuse of +every appliance provided by the benevolent +or speculative but non-resident landlord, +can tell what life in blocks is where the +population is low class. Sinks and drains +are stopped; yards provided for exercise +must be closed because of misbehaviour; +boys bathe in the drinking-water cisterns; +washhouses on staircases—or staircases +themselves—become the nightly haunt of +the vicious, the Sunday gambling places of +boys; the yell of the drunkard echoes +through the hollow passages; the stairs +are blocked by dirty children, and the life +of any decent hard-working family becomes +intolerable.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The very same evils are nothing like +as injurious where the families are more +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>separate, so that, while in smaller houses one +can often try difficult tenants with real hope +of their doing better, it is wholly impossible +usually to try (or to train) them in blocks. +The temptations are greater, the evils of +relapse are far greater. It is like taking a +bad girl into a school. Hence the enormous +importance of keeping a large number of +small houses wherever possible for the better +training of the rowdy and the protection of +the quiet and gentle; and I would implore +well-meaning landlords to pause before they +clear away small houses and erect blocks, +with any idea of benefiting the poorer class +of people. The change may be inevitable, +it may have to come, but as they value the +life of our poorer fellow-citizens, let them +pause before they throw them into a corporate +life for which they are not ready, and which +will, so far as I can see, not train them to +be ready for it. Let them either ask tidy +working people they know, or learn for +themselves, whether I am not right in +saying that in the shabbiest little two-, +four-, six- or eight-roomed house, with all +the water to carry upstairs, with one little +w.c. in a tiny backyard, with perhaps one +dustbin at the end of the court, and even, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>perhaps, with a dark little twisted staircase, +there are not far happier, better, yes, and +healthier homes than in the blocks where +lower-class people share and do not keep in +order far better appliances.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And let them look the deeper into this +in so far as our reformers who trust to +inspection for all education, our would-be +philanthropists or newspaper correspondents +who visit a court or block once and think +they have seen it, even our painstaking +statisticians who catalogue what can be +catalogued, are unable to deal with these +facts. Those who know the life of the poor +know—those who watch the effect of letting +to a given family a set of rooms in a block +in a rough neighbourhood, or rooms in a +small house in the same district, know—those +who remember how numerous are the +kinds of people to whom they must refuse +rooms in a block for their own sake, or that +of others, know. To the noisy drunkard one +must say, “For the quiet people’s sake, +No”; to the weak drunkard one must say, +“You would get led away, No”; to the +young widow with children one must say, +“Would not you be better in a small house +where the resident landlady would see a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>little to the children?” thinking in one’s +heart also, “and to you.” For the orphaned +factory girl who would “like to keep mother’s +home together” one feels a less public life +safer; for the quiet family who care to +bring up their children well one fears the +bad language and gambling on the stairs. +For the strong and self-contained and self-reliant +it may be all right, but the instinct +of the others who cling on to the smaller +houses is right for them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>For, after all, the “home”—the “life”—does +not depend on the number of appliances, +or even in any deep sense on the sanitary +arrangements. I heard a workman once +say, with some coarseness but with much +truth, “Gentlemen think if they put a +water-closet to every room they have made +a home of it,” and the remark often recurs +to me for the element of truth there is in it, +and there is more decency in many a tiny +little cottage in Southwark, shabby as it +may be—more family life in many a one +room let to a family—than in many a +populous block. And this is due partly +to the comparative peace of the more +separate home: for it seems as if a certain +amount of quiet and even of isolation +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>made family life and neighbourly kindness +more possible. People become brutal in +large numbers who are gentle when they are +in smaller groups and know one another, +and the life in a block only becomes possible +when there is a deliberate isolation of the +family and a sense of duty with respect to +all that is in common. The low-class people +herd on the staircases and corrupt one +another, where those a little higher would +withdraw into their little sanctum. But in +their own little house, or as lodgers in a +small house, the lower-class people get the +individual feeling and notice which often +trains them in humanity.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Whatever may be the way out of the +difficulty, let us hope that it may come +before great evil is done by the massing +together of herds of untrained people, and +by the ghastly abuse of staircases, open all +night but not under public inspection, not +easily inspected even if nominally so placed. +The problem is one we ought all, so far as +in us lies, to lay to heart and do what we +can to solve. I have not dwelt here on what +may be called the “sentimental” objections +to blocks. The first is the small scope they +give for individual freedom. The second is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>their painful ugliness and uninterestingness in +external look, which is nearly always connected +with the first. For difference is at +least interesting and amusing, monotony +never. Let us hope that when we have +secured our drainage, our cubic space of air, +our water on every floor, we may have time +to live in our homes, to think how to make +them pretty, each in our own way, and to +let the individual characteristics they take +from our life in them be all good, as well as +healthy and beautiful, because all human +life and work were surely meant to be like +all Divine creations, lovely as well as good.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span> + <h2 class='c005'>V<br> SMALL HOUSES IN LONDON<br> <span class='c013'>(1886)</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>“Land is too valuable in London for +us to build cottages, we must have +blocks.” Let that be granted for the +moment; but that does not preclude those +who own such cottages from keeping them +where they are built. And I wish that any +words of mine might avail with even one +such owner, to induce him to pause and +consider, very seriously, whether, at any +rate for a time, he might not manage to +drain and improve water supply and roofs, +and thoroughly clean such old buildings, +instead of sweeping them away. As to cost, +the cottages are far more valuable than the +cleared space; as to health, they may be +made, at a small cost, far more healthy than +any but the very best constructed and best +managed blocks. As to the life possible in +them—of which the charitable and reforming +and legislating bodies know so little—it is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>incomparably happier and better. Let us +keep them while we can.</p> + +<p class='c007'>And suppose we grant that London is +coming to block buildings, and must come to +them; the preservation of the cottages gives +time for the question of management to be +studied and perfected. The improvement +may come from the training and subsequent +employment of ladies like my own fellow-workers, +under the directors of large companies +and in conjunction with good resident +superintendents. Or it may come from the +co-operation of a consultative body of good +tenants, to assist the managers. Or it may +come by the steady improvement of the main +body of the roughest tenants, making them +gradually fitted to use things in common. +But, seeing in all classes how difficult it is +to get anything cared for which is used in +common, unless there be some machinery for +its management, I think this latter remedy +should rather be counted on as making the +work easier than as sufficient in itself. +While I am on this subject, may I remark +that it would be well if those who build +blocks would consider, in settling their plans, +what machinery they are mainly trusting to +for securing good order?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span> + <h2 class='c005'>VI<br> LETTERS TO FELLOW-WORKERS</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>In 1872 Miss Octavia Hill began the practice +of writing at the end of each year a +letter which was sent to all who were associated +with her in her work. The following +are some selections:</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>Work under the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1902.</span>—During the past year +the Ecclesiastical Commissioners asked us to +take charge of some of their property, of +which the leases fell in, in Southwark and +Lambeth.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In Southwark the area had been leased +long ago on the old-fashioned tenure of +“lives.” That is, it was held not for a +specified term of years, but subject to +the life of certain persons. The lease fell +in, therefore, quite suddenly, and fifty of +the houses, which were occupied by working +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>people, were placed under my care. I had +only four days’ notice before I had to begin +collecting. It was well for us that my fellow-workers +rose to the occasion and at once +undertook the added duties; well, too, that +we were then pretty strong in workers. It +was a curious Monday’s work. The houses +having been let and sublet, I could be +furnished with few particulars. I had a +map and the numbers of the houses, which +were scattered in various streets over the +five acres which had reverted to the Commissioners, +but I had no tenant’s name nor +the rental of any tenement, nor did the +tenants know or recognize the written +authority, having long paid to other landlords. +I subdivided the area geographically +between my two principal South London +workers, and I went to every house, accompanied +by one or other of them. I learnt +the name of the tenant, explained the circumstances, +saw their books and learnt +their rental, and finally succeeded in obtaining +every rent. Many of the houses required +much attention, and since then we have been +busily employed in supervising necessary +repairs. The late lessees were liable for +dilapidations, and I felt once more how +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>valuable to us it was to represent owners +like the Commissioners, for all this legal and +surveying work was done ably by responsible +and qualified men of business, while we were +free to go in and out among the tenants, +watch details, report grievous defects, decide +what repairs essential to health should be +done instantly. We have not half done all +this, but we are steadily progressing.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The very same day the Commissioners +sent to me about this sudden accession of +work in Southwark, they asked me whether +I could also take over one hundred and +sixty houses in Lambeth. I had known +that this lease was falling in to them, +and I knew that they proposed rebuilding +for working people on some seven acres +there, and would consult me about this. +But I had no idea that they meant to ask +me to take charge of the old cottages pending +the rebuilding. However, we were able to +undertake this, and it will be a very great +advantage to us to get to know the tenants, +the locality, the workers in the neighbourhood, +before the great decisions about rebuilding +are made. In this case I had the +advantage of going round with the late +lessee, who gave me names, rentals and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>particulars, and whose relations with his +late tenants struck me as very satisfactory +and human. On this area our main duties +have been to induce tenants to pay who +knew that their houses were coming down +(in this we have succeeded), to decide those +difficult questions of what to repair in +houses soon to be destroyed, to empty one +portion of the area where cottages are +first to be built, providing accommodation +elsewhere so far as is possible, and to arrange +the somewhat complicated minute details as +to rates and taxes payable for cottages +partly empty, temporarily empty, on assessments +which had all to be ascertained, and +where certain rates in certain houses for +certain times only were payable by the +owners whom we represent.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1903.</span>—The past year has +brought one very large expansion of our work, +larger than that of any previous year; and +it is started on independent lines, in a way +which gives hope for future growth. The +Ecclesiastical Commissioners wrote to tell me +in the autumn that an area in South London +containing twenty-two acres, and with between +five hundred and six hundred houses +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>on it, was falling in to them at the expiration +of a long lease, and they asked me to +undertake the management of the property. +Bearing in mind what they themselves had +said as to providing for the continuity of +such work, and with a deep desire not to +lose near touch with my own old tenants, +workers and places, if I spread my time +over still larger areas, I set myself to think +whether this new work might not be started +from a new centre, and have been fortunate +enough to be able to recommend a lady of +great power and experience, who consents to +undertake this new property, with direct +responsibility to the Commissioners.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It was a huge undertaking, and needed +much care and labour to start it well, and +naturally we were all keen to help. It was +a great day when we took over the place. +Our seconds-in-command took command +manfully for a fortnight of all our old courts, +and fourteen of us met on Monday, October +5th, to take over the estate and collect from +five hundred to six hundred tenants wholly +unknown to us. We organized it all thoughtfully; +we had fifteen collecting books and all +the tenants’ books prepared, opened a bank +account, found a room as an office, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>divided the area among the workers. Our +first duty was to get the tenants to recognize +our authority and pay us. I think we were +very successful; we got every tenant on the +estate to pay us without any legal process, +except one who was a regular scamp. We +collected some £250, most of it in silver, +and got it safely to the bank. Then came +the question of repairs; there were written +in the first few weeks one thousand orders for +these, although, as the whole area is to be +rebuilt, we were only doing actually urgent +and no substantial ones. All these had to +be overlooked and reported on and paid for. +Next came pouring in the claims for borough +and water rates. We had to ascertain the +assessments of every house, the facts as to +whether landlord or tenant was responsible, +whether the rates were compounded for or +not, what allowance was to be claimed for +empty houses or rooms. There were two +Water Companies supplying the area, and we +had to learn which supplied each house.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The whole place was to be rebuilt, and even +the streets rearranged and widened, and I +had promised the Commissioners I would +advise them as to the future plans. These +had to be prepared at the earliest date +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>possible, the more so as the sanitary authorities +were pressing, and sent in one hundred +orders in the first few days we were there. +It is needless to say with what speed, capacity +and zeal the representatives of the Commissioners +carried on their part of these +preparations, and they rapidly decided on +which streets should be first rebuilt. But +this only implied more to be done, for we +had to empty the streets swiftly, and that +meant patching up all possible empty houses +in other streets and moving the tenants +into them. Fortunately, there were several +houses empty, the falling in of the leases +having scared some people away. The Commissioners +had decided to close all the +public-houses on the estate, and we let one +to a girls’ club, and had to put repairs in +hand to fit it for its changed destination.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The matter now stands thus: we have got +through the first quarter; have collected +£2,672, mostly in silver; the quarter’s +accounts are nearly ready to send in; we +have completed the most pressing repairs; +have emptied two streets, and plans for +rebuilding them are decided on; tenders +have been accepted for these, and they +have been begun. Plans have been prepared +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>for rebuilding and rearrangement of +the whole estate, and these are now before +the Commissioners for their consideration. +They provide a site for rebuilding the parish +school, an area of about an acre as a public +recreation ground, the substitution of four +wide for three narrow streets, and afford +accommodation for 790 families in four-roomed +and six-roomed cottages, cottage +flats, and flats of three- and two-roomed +tenements in houses in no case higher than +three stories.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But there remains one most important +point still under the consideration of the +Commissioners. It is whether this domain +is to be leased to builders and managed by +them and their successors for some eighty +years or whether it is to remain under the +direct control of the Commissioners. All of +you who know anything of how much +depends on management will realize how +earnestly I trust that they may decide to +retain the area, and may feel confident of +finding representatives in the future to +manage it for them on sound financial +principles and in the best interests of tenants +and landlords. Those who know what a +country landlord can do in a village will +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>realize the influence of wise government in +such an area. This land is Church land, it +adjoins the parish church, it is quite near +the Talbot Settlement, established by, and +named after, the Bishop of the diocese; +surely it should not pass from the control of +the owners. If clauses in leases were as +wisely planned and as strongly enforced as +possible, they could still not be like the +living government of wise owners, and since +needs and standards are for ever altering, +many decisions involving change during the +next eighty years may be desirable.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>Payment of Rates by Tenants.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1894.</span>—In all these new cottages +I am introducing the plan of arranging that +the tenants should pay their own rates, the +rent being fixed much lower to enable them +to do this.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The plan of making weekly tenants responsible +for rates is very difficult to work; not +being general, the machinery and arrangements +do not help us. But I have felt it +to be very important, as well as to be worth +a great effort. It may be that some of +those in authority will realize its value and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>that we may get some help in time. What +would conduce most to make the plan succeed +would be that some allowance should +be made for tenants paying their rates in +advance, analogous to, though not naturally +so great as, that made to landlords who +compound: also that by some means the +various payments might be spread over the +year, falling due at different quarters. This +would go far to mitigate the difficulty for +working people of paying a lump sum down +twice a year, as is demanded in some London +parishes. Weekly or fortnightly collection, +which I hear is arranged for in Edinburgh, +would manifestly be more costly, but our +tenants would manage a quarterly payment +pretty easily. However, at present there is +no hope of any modification of existing +arrangements, and we must do our best to +fit in with the present regulations in the +several parishes. I hope that, if we lead +the van, others will follow, and co-operation +may come in time from officials. All newly +elected vestrymen might, meantime, do well +to try to secure that fuller facts should be +inserted on claims and receipts. The words +“made,” “due” and “payable” are used +in a way not always clear to the ratepayer, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>while the option of paying in separate +instalments is often not shown clearly on +the claims.</p> + +<p class='c007'>This subject, however, is somewhat technical, +and I only refer to it here because it +is interesting me deeply. I think it would +tend towards municipal economy, likely to +tell to the advantage of the time to come.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>Gardens in London.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1875.</span>—When I look at the +unused bits of ground around a farm or +cottage, I sometimes think what they +would be worth at the back of a London +house.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But even in the front of their houses in a +London court, are the poor much better off? +I go sometimes on a hot summer evening +into a narrow court, with houses on each +side. The sun has heated them all day, +until it has driven nearly every inmate out +of doors. Those who are not at the public-house +are standing or sitting on their doorsteps, +quarrelsome, hot, dirty; the children +are crawling or sitting on the hard, hot +stones, till every corner of the place looks +alive. Everyone looks in everyone else’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>way; the place echoes with words not of the +gentlest. Sometimes on such a hot summer’s +evening, in such a court, when I am trying +to calm excited women shouting their execrable +language at one another, I have +looked up suddenly and seen one of those +bright gleams of light the summer sun sends +out just before he sets, catching the top +of a red chimney-pot, and beautiful there, +though too directly above their heads for +the crowd below to notice it much. But to +me it brings sad thought of the fair and +quiet places far away, where it is falling +softly on tree and hill and cloud, and I +feel that that quiet, that beauty, that space +would be more powerful to calm the wild +excess about me than all my frantic striving +with it.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Leicester Square shows us another thing: +such places must be made bright, pretty +and neat—a small place which is not so +becomes painfully dreary; it is quite curious +to notice how little one feels shut in when +the barriers are lovely, or contain beautiful +things which the eye can rest on. The +small enclosed leads which too often bound +the view of a back dining-room in London +oppress one like the walls of a prison; but +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>a tiny cloistered court of the same size +will give a sense of repose; and colour +introduced into such spaces will give them +such beauty as will prevent one from +fretting against the boundaries. Strange +and beautiful instance this of how—if +we recognize the limitations appointed for +us, accept them, and deal well with what is +given—the passionate longing for more is +taken away and a great peace hallows all.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>The Workers.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1900.</span>—I have been thinking +a great deal about how responsible bodies +can, in the future, secure such management +by trained ladies as has been found helpful +in the past. This has turned my attention +much more than heretofore to the thought +of how to provide more responsible professional +workers, for I feel that, however +much volunteers may help, it is only to +professional workers that responsible and +continuous duties can, as a rule, be entrusted, +especially by large owners or corporations.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Up to now my professional workers have +been among my most zealous and selfless +colleagues, always ready to take onerous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>duties, to fill vacant places, to slip out of +the way and go to new fields when it seemed +best, always ready to help to train others +for management in houses, whether in London, +the provincial towns, Scotland, Ireland, +America, Holland, or any other place from +which work came, taking their holidays, +when best they could be spared, and in +every way proving themselves true helpers +by their hearty recognition that what we +had to do was to teach, initiate and supplement +as many earnest workers as we could. +What I owe to them in the past for the +devoted help they have thus rendered for +now many years, no one will ever know.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But hitherto I or some tried and experienced +volunteer have been the responsible +person to whom private owners, or men of +business or corporations have entrusted +their houses; and it is we who have reported +upon all business. As a matter of fact, as +you all know, we have put all management on +a business footing, and with few exceptions +have charged the owners the ordinary 5 per +cent. on rental usually paid to collectors.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Thinking over all this with regard to the +further future and to the larger areas that +we can cover, it seemed to me that the present +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>plan had its limitations. Even if many more +such leaders were found, how would they +be known? Could responsible bodies make +plans dependent on them? Then I realized +that my best plan for the future would be +not only to train such volunteers as offered +and the professional workers whom we +required, but to train more professional +workers than we ourselves can use, and, as +occasion offers, to introduce them to owners +wishing to retain small tenements in their +own hands and to be represented in them +by a kind of manager not hitherto existing. +The ordinary collector is not a man of +education, with time to spare, nor does he +estimate that his duties comprise much +beyond a call at the doors for rent brought +down to him and a certain supervision of +repairs that are asked for. If there existed +a body of ladies trained to more thorough +work, qualified to supervise more minutely, +likely to enter into such details as bear on +the comfort of home life, they might be +entrusted by owners with house property. +We all can remember how the training of +nurses and of teachers has raised the standard +of work required in both professions. The +same change might be hoped for in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>character of the management of dwellings +let to the poor. Whether or no volunteers +co-operated with them would settle itself. +At any rate, owners could have, as I have +told them they should have, besides their +lawyer to advise them as to law, their +architect as to large questions of buildings, +their auditor to supervise their accounts, +also a representative to see to their people +and to those details of repair and management +on which the conduct of courts or +blocks inhabited by working people depends. +Where people live close together, share +yards, washhouses and staircases, too often +there is no one whose business it is to +supervise and govern the use of what is +used in common or to see how one tenant’s +conduct affects others.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>The Work.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1879.</span>—I should like, in my +letter this year, to note down what it appears +to me you are all feeling as to the difference +between the charge of a court where the +people are your tenants and much other +visiting among the poor. The care of tenants +calls out a sense of duty founded on relationship; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>the work is permanent, and the +definite character of much of it makes its +progress marked. Have you ever asked +yourselves why you have chosen the charge +of courts, with all its difficulties and ties? +The burthen of the problems before you has +been heavy, and the regularity of the occupation +has often demanded of you great +sacrifices. Why have you not chosen transitory +connection with hundreds of receivers +of soup, or pleasant intercourse with little +Sunday scholars, or visiting among the aged +and bedridden, who were sure to greet you +with a smile when you went to them and +had no right to say a word of reproach to +you about your long absences in the country? +Why did you not take up district-visiting, +where, if any family did not welcome you, +you could just stay away? Because you +preferred a work where duty was continuous +and distinct and where it was mutual. +Because, also, the petty annoyances brought +before you at such awkward moments, with +so little discretion or good-temper—the +smoky chimneys, broken water-pipes, tiresome +neighbours, drunken husbands—as +well as the great sorrows caused by death, +disease, poverty, sin, have called not only +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>for your sympathy but for your action. +From the greatest to the least, the problems +have implied some duty on your part. +You have each had to ask yourself, “What +ought I, in my relation to the tenants, to +do for them in this difficulty?” From the +merest trifle of a cupboard key broken in +the lock to the future of some family +desolated by death, or sunk in misery through +drink, <em>all</em> has asked your sympathy, much +has demanded your action. I have said the +charge of tenants has been valued by you +also because the duty is mutual: it implies +your determination, not simply to do kindnesses +with liberal hand, popular as that +would be, but to meet the poor on grounds +where they too have duties to you.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>Spirit of the Work.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'><span class='sc'>Letter of 1890.</span>—I will not in this, which +is my one letter of the year to you, my +friends and fellow-workers, enter on the +great public questions which are attracting +an ever-increasing degree of interest.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Whatever be done about free meals, free +education (why do we call them free, instead +of paid for by charity, by rates, or by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>tax, do you think?)—whatever may happen +about strikes or immigration from the +country—for you and me there remain much +the same great eternal duties, love, thought, +justice, liberality, simplicity, hope, industry, +for ever; still human heart depends on +human heart for sympathy, and still the +old duties of neighbourliness continue. Let +us see that we fulfil them, each in our own +circle, large or small; perhaps we may +find the fulfilment of them answer more +social problems than we quite expected. +Perhaps we may find changes of system +effect little reform unless courageous and +honest men carry them out with single-mindedness +and thought for others.</p> + +<p class='c007'>If the free meal, free education, subsidized +house accommodation attract you, will you +pause and remember, first, that they are +by no means free, but cost someone, somehow, +just as much, probably a great deal +more, than if provided otherhow? The +question, if you get rid of the word “free,” +which is deceptive, clears up a little, and +becomes, “Is this the best way of, first, +providing, and second, paying for these +necessities?”</p> + +<p class='c007'>And then, having answered this for yourself, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>see to it that you are wholly single-minded +if you advocate this sort of subsidy +for the poor. Be sure you do so neither +from cowardice nor from ambition. If, indeed, +it be pity, genuine kindness and a +sense of justice that moves you, then the +feeling is so good that in some way I believe +it will lead you right; besides, you will +keep your power to watch and see and alter +as you come face to face with facts, and may +modify all systems, and keep the desire to +do justice and help in whatever way is seen +finally to be really helpful.</p> + +<p class='c007'>But if you let one touch of terror dim +your sight and flinch before the most terrible +upheaval of rampant force or threat; +if, for popular favour, or seat at board, or +success on platform, you hesitate to speak +what you know to be true, then shall your +cowardice and your ambition be indeed +answerable for consequences which you little +dream of. They may come now, or they +may come later, but come they will; for +only Truth abides and will stand the test +of time. Let us see that we hold her very +fast; only those who are loyal to her can.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span> + <h2 class='c005'>VII<br> WOMEN MANAGERS—A CROWN ESTATE<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c008'><sup>[2]</sup></a></h2> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c016'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. Reprinted from <em>Housing</em>, the official journal of the +Ministry of Health, September 27, 1919, by kind permission +of the Controller, H.M. Stationery Office.</p> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>A scheme of reconstruction which +should be of interest to local authorities +about to exercise the new powers +conferred upon them by the Housing Act +has been undertaken by the Office of Woods +on a London estate near Regent’s Park, +belonging to the Crown.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The area in question lies to the east of +Albany Street. It forms part of an estate, +known as the “Marylebone Farm,” which +about a hundred years ago was leased by +the Office of Woods principally for residential +purposes, ample provision being made +in the type of building for all classes. The +estate includes the Cumberland Basin, connected +with the Regent’s Canal; Cumberland +Market, an ancient market for the sale of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>hay and straw; and two other open spaces. +The Market is now seldom used, but it is +still paved with setts and furnished with a +weighing-house. The other two spaces are +squares, laid out with trees and shrubs, and +are managed by the London County Council.</p> + +<p class='c007'>During the last year or two many of the +leases of property of the tenement class +have fallen in, and others, which are not yet +quite due, have been surrendered by the +owners in preference to putting the houses +into repair.</p> + +<p class='c007'>With the gradual falling in of the leases +the Office of Woods were faced with the +question whether the site was again to be +let on lease or whether it was to be held and +managed on behalf of the Crown. The latter +course was happily decided upon, and it +was resolved to place the property immediately +under the care of Miss Jeffery, an +experienced house-property manager, trained +under Miss Octavia Hill’s system, who has +under her a staff of trained women.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The plan of reconstruction, which includes +rebuilding most of the houses and altering +the course of some of the streets, is being +prepared by the Office of Woods. It is +intended to convert Cumberland Market +<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>into a public garden and to form one or +more children’s playgrounds in addition.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Rebuilding is hardly to be thought of for +the moment. The immediate need is to +make the existing houses reasonably fit for +habitation. Most of them are dilapidated +and some of them are filthy. Backyards +have been built over, and in some instances +another cottage has been put up, the only +entrance to which is through the house which +faces the street. The property has been for +the most part badly neglected during the +later years of the leases, while in the earlier +years little care was exercised to see that the +conditions of the lease were not departed +from.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Miss Jeffery has opened a small office on +the estate, as a centre from which the rents +of the houses are collected week by week. +On their visits the women managers find +out what repairs are needed to make the +houses habitable and clean, and supervise the +repairs already in hand. Miss Jeffery and +her assistants are thus in constant touch +with the tenants, helping them in many +ways and inducing them to do their part +in improving their surroundings. While +insisting that necessary alterations and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>cleansing must be carried out forthwith, the +managers do their best to study the comfort +and convenience of the tenants as far as +possible. If the tenants must be removed for +a time, temporary accommodation is found +for them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is intended that the number of licensed +houses on the estate shall be reduced as the +leases fall in, and the managers are taking +steps to ensure improved management, on +Public House Trust lines, of those that will +remain.</p> + +<p class='c007'>About 170 families (representing a population +of nearly 1,000) are already paying their +rent to the women managers, and fresh +houses come in every few weeks. The managers, +with the Office of Woods behind them, +believe that the work of reconstructing the +estate can be successfully accomplished only +if they can ensure the good will and co-operation +of the present tenants. With this +end in view, they called a meeting of the +tenants already on their rent-roll in March +last, and suggested the formation of a +Tenants’ Association. The intentions of the +Office of Woods with regard to the estate +were explained to the meeting, as well as +the reasons for desiring the tenants themselves +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>to combine and co-operate in carrying +out the scheme. The Association has been +formed, a Chairman elected, and several +other meetings have since been held. The +scope of the scheme has been further explained, +and points arising in the management—such +as whether rates should be paid +direct to the local authority or with the +rent—have been discussed. That the powers +and responsibilities of a Tenants’ Association +are beginning to be realized is shown by the +fact that within the last few days a petition +has been put forward by the Association, +asking that one of the first buildings to be +put up on the estate may be a building +containing rooms in which working men’s +clubs may be held; at present these clubs, +several of which have a large number of +members, are held in the public-houses +because there is no other place for them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The scheme bids fair to be a success. The +necessary changes will be carried through +with the least possible disturbance and +friction among the tenants, because the +women managers have already won the +confidence of a large number of them. Many +tenants do not want to part with their old +cottages, dirty and dilapidated as they are, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>and others are afraid that, when the new +houses are built, they will not be the persons +to get them. The women managers, being on +the spot, will get to know the individual +needs of each household, and they will use +every effort to meet the needs of these +households when the houses are rebuilt. In +the meantime, they are in a position to +persuade the tenants gradually to adopt +higher standards of cleanliness and comfort, +and so enable them to take care of the new +houses when they get them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Local authorities who are about to take +over slum areas and reconstruct them may +find it of advantage to follow the example +of the Office of Woods and place an area, +as soon as it comes into their hands, under +the management of women educated and +trained for this work.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>E. A. C.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span> + <h2 class='c005'>VIII<br> MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL HOUSES IN AMSTERDAM<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c008'><sup>[3]</sup></a></h2> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c016'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. Reprinted from <em>Housing</em>, the official journal of the +Ministry of Health, July 19, 1920, by kind permission of +the Controller, H.M. Stationery Office.</p> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>The Municipality of Amsterdam has +provided, either directly or through +Public Utility Societies, a large number of +dwellings for its working-class inhabitants. +Up to the present time 4,000 families have +been housed in these municipal dwellings, +6,000 more dwellings are in course of erection, +and plans are laid for bringing the +total number up to 20,000 at no very +distant date.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The housing policy of Amsterdam is comprehensive. +The town has assumed the duty +not only of supplying houses to meet the +general shortage, but of providing houses for +those for whom no one else is able or willing +to find accommodation, and especially for +large families. It does not, like most English +<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>local authorities, select its tenants, but +accepts all, even the worst class, if they are +houseless citizens of Amsterdam.</p> + +<p class='c007'>In these circumstances the question of +managing the municipal houses becomes a +very important one. Mr. Keppler, who has +presided over the Housing Department of +Amsterdam for five years, came over to +England to see for himself the methods +of managing working-class property introduced +by Miss Octavia Hill, and it was +decided, as a result of his experience, to +appoint women managers to take charge of +the municipal houses and their tenants on +the same lines. The first two women +appointed had been trained years earlier +under Miss Hill in London. There is now a +staff of thirteen managers working under +the Chief Woman Manager.</p> + +<p class='c007'>It is the duty of the Chief Manager to +receive applications from and to interview +would-be tenants, to inquire into their circumstances, +and to allot new or empty +houses to those families whose need she +considers most acute. Great care is taken +in assigning the new dwellings. Some groups +of houses are designed expressly for families +with five or more children and are reserved +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>for them, while families with a member +suffering from tuberculosis are placed in +dwellings which have a sunny balcony or +garden.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The managers collect the rents from the +tenants in their homes; they take a note of +any repairs needed and inform the Repairs +Department. They instruct the women in +the use of fittings and apparatus (all the +municipal houses are fitted with gas cookers +and electric light) and insist upon the tenancy +regulations being observed. They co-operate +with a number of voluntary societies which +help the tenants in various ways.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The majority of tenants are of an average +working-class type, and each manager looks +after some two hundred to three hundred +families. But since no tenants are rejected +for reasons of character, it follows that there +are among them families which are below +the average and a few which can be described +only as bad; they do not pay their rent +promptly, they are destructive, or they are +noisy, drunken and quarrelsome. When +families are considered by the managers to +belong to this group they are removed into +one of the special areas set apart for them. +They are placed in temporary wooden one-story +<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>buildings, built in pairs with a fair +amount of space between. These special +areas are in open situations on the outskirts +of the town. Here the families are under +strict supervision—a supervision, however, +which has always in view the education and +improvement of the tenant. The manager +who has charge of one of these areas—on +each of which are not more than twenty-five +families—resides on the spot, in a dwelling +similar to those occupied by the tenants; +she reports weekly to the Chief Manager on +the circumstances and conduct of each +family and does all in her power to help +and improve them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The salary of the Chief Woman Manager +rises from £350 to £550 a year. Her assistants +are placed in three groups, according to +experience and to the responsible nature of +their duties. The salary of an apprentice +during her year’s training is £83; at the +end of the year, if found satisfactory, she +receives £125, rising to £183; after this she +may rise gradually to £291. During the +first twelve months an apprentice must +attend an evening course of training at the +University School of Social Work in Amsterdam, +where she receives instruction in various +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>branches of social work, such as the relief +of distress, social hygiene, club management, +housing and town planning.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Director of Housing regards the work +of the women managers as extremely valuable +from a social point of view, and he hopes to +be able to find competent women to take +charge of all the houses which the municipality +are putting up. The salaries of the +women managers are a fairly heavy charge +upon the revenue, but the municipality +considers the money well spent. They find +that the tenants gradually improve, that +rents are paid promptly and that the property +is kept in good order, while good tenants +appreciate the consideration shown to them +and the interest taken in their welfare.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>E. A. C.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span> + <h2 class='c005'>IX<br> REPORT ON HOUSE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>In October 1920 the Women’s Section of +the Garden Cities and Town Planning +Association appointed a Sub-Committee to +report on the methods and practice of House +Property Management, especially with regard +to what is generally called working-class +property and management by women.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Having collected evidence from the personal +observations of their own members +and the written statements of other investigators, +and having taken evidence also from +a leading Woman Sanitary Inspector and +from the first Municipal Woman Housing +Officer, the Sub-Committee adopted the +following principle for general recommendation +and as a basis of their Report:</p> + +<p class='c017'>That the management of working-class property +should be in the hands of persons who have had definite +training in estate management and in Social Science.</p> + +<p class='c016'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>The points considered and reported on are +divided under four heads:</p> + +<p class='c018'>(1) The Classes of Property to be +managed.</p> + +<p class='c018'>(2) The Qualifications of Manager and +Assistants.</p> + +<p class='c018'>(3) The Training necessary.</p> + +<p class='c018'>(4) Payment.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>I. Introductory Classification of Management.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'>The Sub-Committee desire to point out +that until the advent of the Woman House +Property Manager there is no evidence that +any special form of Management was considered +necessary for the poorer classes of +house property.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A very general impression has been prevalent +that the Management suitable for +better class property (that is, roughly, property +let under Agreement in Quarterly and +Yearly tenancies) was also suited to tenement +and small house property let out in weekly +tenancies. In fact, no other system of +management existed until Miss Octavia Hill +took up the management of weekly tenancies +and inaugurated a system of her own.</p> + +<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>When well-built properties are in occupation +of selected tenants whose financial and +social circumstances ensure that the property +will be maintained, with few exceptions, in +good condition, the work of management is +reduced to a minimum and is chiefly occupied +with rent collecting and simple and regular +requirements in the way of upkeep and +repairs. The assumption in the past that +nothing more ought to be needed for property +of lower grades has too often led to concentration +on the more difficult collection of +rents, with a minimum attention to repairs. +No attention has been paid to economic and +social conditions, and the net result has been +the production of the slum.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Sub-Committee believe that the introduction +of a suitable form of management, +insisted on by some recognized authority, +could have prevented the creation of slums +in the past. They further believe that it +may do so in the future, and that it can, +with special effort, eradicate much that is +evil in present bad areas. Miss Octavia +Hill’s System put into practice the theory +that slums could be eradicated and advanced +the proposition that management could be +made a means to this end. She, the first +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>Woman House Property Manager, and +workers she trained, all of them also women, +introduced Social Economics into the business +of House Property Management. The Sub-Committee +feel strongly that many social +evils might be avoided by the adoption of +Social Economics into business generally. +The distinctive mark of Miss Hill’s System +is the consideration of the personal, human +factor as an integral part of the business. +The Sub-Committee can find no justification +for condemning this principle as unbusinesslike.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Sub-Committee have considered the +work done by Miss Hill and those who have +succeeded her, by visits, and they have read +reports of the work in various cities and +towns in England and Scotland, in Holland +(see <em>Women’s Local Government News</em>, February +and March 1921) and in America (see +<em>Good Housing that Pays</em>). They find there +is evidence of many slum areas redeemed. +Improvements by rebuilding have almost +necessarily accompanied the work in nearly +every case, but there are striking instances +of the maintenance of the original old +property in excellent sanitary condition. +On the other hand, evidences of new properties +<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>falling into disrepair for lack of +management are not wanting.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>II. Managers.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'>On all working-class estates, whether of +higher or lower grade, there is much evidence +to show that managers should be in complete +control, attending to all matters connected +with the property, including the collection of +rents and repairs. There is evidence that +the separation of responsibility for rent +collecting and for ordering and superintending +repairs leads to delay in repairs, +and, in some cases, has acted adversely on +the rent collecting. Rent collectors who are +not responsible for repairs are apt to forget +to report the need of them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Whether the manager should be a man or +a woman is not, in the opinion of the Sub-Committee, +so important as that the principle +of management inaugurated by Miss Hill +should be adopted. At the same time, they +are agreed that it should not be overlooked—</p> + +<p class='c018'>(1) That the housekeeper is always a +woman;</p> + +<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>(2) That the woman usually pays the +rent;</p> + +<p class='c018'>(3) That housekeeping and repairs are +closely connected; and</p> + +<p class='c018'>(4) That, therefore, a woman will +usually be better equipped than a man +to deal with the problems arising out +of the management of working-class +property.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Whether a man or woman, the Committee +are of opinion that the Manager should be +properly trained under managers of accepted +standing, should thoroughly understand the +finance and law involved, should be of recognized +efficiency for superintending repairs +and upkeep, and should be well-versed in +the social problems of the day and the +methods of dealing with them.</p> + +<p class='c007'>A word should be added on personality. +The more social and industrial difficulties +are represented on an estate the greater +will the prominence of the personal element +be. Whatever the class of property, the +personal qualifications of the manager are +of importance: tact and consideration are +always necessary. But the successful redemption +of a slum area will demand specially +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>strong personal qualifications, with wide sympathies +and broad outlook, and, just as some +learned people never make good teachers, +so some human temperaments will never +produce good managers, however much +“trained.”</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Sub-Committee feel that, on the +whole, the splitting of the management +under separate Departments is inadvisable. +Where such division has succeeded in the +past, it has done so largely because a former +(pre-war) selection of tenants has kept the +most difficult problems of management away +from it. In bad areas it is most important +that there should be one Head in as direct +contact with the Estate as possible, responsible +for upkeep and repairs as well as rent +collecting and selection of tenants.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>III. Training.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'>Now that Housing has taken a foremost +place among the questions of national importance, +it is recognized that the standard +of good housing cannot be attained unless +accompanied by skilled management. From +1864, when Miss Hill began her work, house +property may be said to have been managed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>on the two systems already indicated. The +one—the more general—followed by men +qualified by the Examinations held for +Surveyors and Estate Agents. The other +followed by women qualified by a high +standard of education and by special training +in Social Economics. The training of the +men has been thorough on technical, financial +and legal lines, if too stereotyped and narrow +in outlook. The training of the women has +not been thorough enough on the technical +side, and has therefore, perhaps, over-emphasized +the social side. In the opinion of +the Sub-Committee an attempt should be +made to combine the two courses.</p> + +<p class='c007'>New houses, tenanted as they are mostly +by the better class of tenants, may be easily +managed; but where tenants dispossessed +from old houses are provided for in modern +dwellings, the need is evident for a highly +trained manager who will add to his or +her business and technical knowledge an +educated interest in social conditions and +problems. A point in favour of women’s +management comes in here. Many of the +incoming housekeepers have had no experience +in using new fittings. There have been +cases in which the tenants have been unable, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>through lack of knowledge, to clean their +porcelain-surfaced or painted bath or their +earthenware sink, and have been quite at a +loss in the matter of their close-ranged flues. +Where women managers have been at work +instruction has been given and quick deterioration +of appliances avoided. In many +towns the congestion and overcrowding has +been so great that it has been difficult even +for families with regular incomes and a +tradition of good housekeeping and homemaking +to maintain their standard. Where +unemployment has made the income uncertain +there has certainly been a lowering +of the standard. When such families go +into the new houses they need the help of +a skilled and tactful adviser if they are to +become once more makers of happy and +comfortable homes. It must be remembered +that the past has left to the towns of +to-day a heritage of slums which collect the +products of all our social errors and are a +breeding-ground for every known social evil. +Even as the worst forms of disease require +the skill of the cleverest physician, so such +properties call for the most highly trained +management. From the examples the Committee +have had before them they find that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>such properties have only been successfully +dealt with under the Octavia Hill System, +and so far only by women.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The London University now grants a +Degree in Estate Management, and a College +of Estate Management will shortly be opened +in London which will prepare for this Degree. +The Sub-Committee have examined the +Course laid down for the Degree and recommend +that steps be taken to obtain some +recognition of the special need for the +management of working-class property in its +provisions. The College will be open to +women as well as to men, and it would be +well if some alternative or special section of +the Course could be arranged to meet this +need. The lines along which training should +develop have already been indicated under +Managers’ qualifications. These might easily +be arranged in the future at the College and +on Estates approved by the College or other +authority, if the good will of that authority +can be obtained.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The best course of training would probably +be one which combined the kind of studies +arranged at the Household Science Department +at King’s College, the London School +of Economics and the College of Estate +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>Management. All these institutions are +linked up to the University of London, and +they would doubtless be willing to co-operate +in this matter.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>IV. Payment.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'>Estate Agents are usually paid on Commission, +but Housing Managers, Superintendents, +etc., under big Corporations are +paid salaries.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Sub-Committee do not consider the +percentage system a good one, especially for +lower grade property, which needs the more +time and skill. Also, where rent varies with +the rates, as it does on nearly all the +properties managed by women, the basis of +variation is undesirable for such payment.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Women Managers (mostly paid on percentage) +have hitherto undertaken the work +at a sacrifice. Introducing as they did a +new system of management, their work was +intensified, but their percentage remained +the same as that of the former agents.</p> + +<p class='c007'>The Sub-Committee believe that better pay +might be secured by the following methods:</p> + +<p class='c018'>(1) By a wider and more general +attempt at organization. One Manager, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>responsible for the general principle of +the Management, could control a large +property or groups of properties, with +specially appointed superintendents and +staff who have been made to understand +the spirit and aims of the work.</p> + +<p class='c018'>(2) By a careful combination of higher +grade quarterly tenancies with the lower +grade weekly, possibly aided by the +promotion of some regular weekly tenancies +to monthly payments.</p> + +<p class='c007'>There is very little doubt that management +of lower grade properties has been made +to pay by undesirable means. Key money, +percentage fees on builders’ bills and other +“payments” have crept in—in some cases +are openly acknowledged and expected. +Management should be placed beyond the +reach of such practices.</p> + +<p class='c007'>Inefficient management is very largely +responsible for the slums of to-day and has +led to the need for slum clearances and the +consequent enormous expense to the Community. +The necessary effort to redeem +slum areas now can only be successful by +management on modern lines—a strong, +efficient business equipment, based on definite +<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>ideals with definite social aims. Work on +such a foundation cannot fail to bring +results, but it should be adequately paid. +The attempt to overcome the evils of our +heritage of bad management by the introduction +of efficient management in bad areas +may seem, at first, comparatively costly. +It will never be quite so costly in the end +as inefficient management.</p> + +<h3 class='c014'><span class='sc'>General Remarks.</span></h3> + +<p class='c015'>A consideration of the whole situation has +led the Sub-Committee to the following +conclusions:</p> + +<p class='c018'>(1) While not advocating that all +properties should be handed over to +women to manage, they are convinced +that there are special requirements on +certain properties which, at the moment, +urgently call for women’s special experience.</p> + +<p class='c018'>(2) It would be advisable for all +Local Authorities to appoint women in +their Housing Departments. Birmingham +City Council has taken the first +step by appointing a “Woman Rent +Collector and Supervisor of Houses.”</p> + +<p class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>(3) That every effort should be made +to draw the attention of the Local +Authorities to the importance of the +need for an improved standard of management.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c004'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in12'><em>Members of Sub-Committee.</em></div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>M. M. Jeffery</span>, <em>Chairman</em>.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>E. A. Charlesworth.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>D. Meynell.</span></div> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>F. C. Prideaux</span> } <em>Members of the Association of</em></div> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>M. Galton</span> } <em>Women House Property Managers.</em></div> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>E. A. Browning</span>, <em>Secretary</em>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>(Signed) <span class='sc'>Gertrude Emmott</span>,</div> + <div class='line in4'><em>Chairman Women’s Section Garden Cities</em></div> + <div class='line in8'><em>and Town Planning Association</em>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='small'><em>Printed in Great Britain by</em></span></div> + <div><span class='small'>UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c002'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c003'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c004'> + <li>Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75837 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-03-21 19:46:45 GMT --> +</html> + diff --git a/75837-h/images/cover.jpg b/75837-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1550e41 --- /dev/null +++ b/75837-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75837-h/images/i_title.jpg b/75837-h/images/i_title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cabf71c --- /dev/null +++ b/75837-h/images/i_title.jpg |
