Document b5n82VK8LRqV629g4rpqDdaOy

N E W YORK HOUSIN G vV` IJ A R LI'M \*];r mo mi:S a n d Wil l ia ms b u r g h ou s e ; H V T A L B O T F AULKXEIl H AM L I K Al in uur midst, "housing" exists. Only a little, only a beginning, only a drop in the buckcL, to be sure; but at lease there the build ings stand, and people run in and out of them, and cat and sleep in them. In New York some 2,300 families of former slum dwellers-- nearly 10,000 people--have for the first time places to live in that are worthy to become, and to be called, homes. To us who have watched and coddled and fed the housing movement, who have talked housing and lis tened to each other talk housing almost con tinually since the war, that seems an alniosL unbelievable fact. We have begun to build; tile words arc being incarnated in brick and steel and concrete and glass. As the first fruits in New York of the new Federal housing movement, Harlem River Homes and :thc huge Williamsburg Develop ment have a great importance. In them is being tested not only the whole validity :of tk: housing movement in New York, but also 11 achievements of our design skill and the util ity of our building materials and techniques. Thtfte two groups arc beginnings only; but we should learn from these beginnings -as-mncL as possible, so that what is to follow-may be. as good as we can make it. One may approach Harlem River Homes from the west. On the heights above, the Vic torian houses and the thirty-year-old apirtments of Convent and Edgccomb Avenues arc rapidly filling with the more prosperous negroes; the magnificent view from the ter race at Edgccomb Avenue and Colonial Rar(k is already entirely theirs, and they can look * sspsaawmsm ; n.IIJWM - 1 N39071  *3$ n cause i ** a *-* *n ; m* i ;t* c* f\Z\ < of the cnnip!^ -.5 k iher* t scarcely impoiT.-tr .v.;. And no law i;"w>*u! ?he o ;* ch*K es < * the materia h. 1 Sit* 'i.nr biSk . t f.H`d icrraz/.o slabs. I 1*. y are a cid :;ira\ . i lie S ui; crete exposed varies 1mm quilt* \ f|ii\Vls)l !c gray and gnvn ami Mack wlu*r It h.i* Nl.nn**d: even where its surface is unconiamin.iU'J tin* 'oks* goes but ill with the si.isr-tmver slabs. The brick is a grayish warm pink, without definitcnJss, am! is rapidly dirty ins; to a mot tled gray, Each of these colors has a rather melancholy tone, and each seems to be having its rather undistinguished anjdil mournfiul ca;tv in a totally different and diiscorrdant key. One 7 1 welcomes the sharp yellow and bright blue oi 7 7' the entrance doors, if only because of their ' clarity, though they add to ihe confusion. . Yet the largeness of the whole, the wide views in the chief courts, the general sense of airiness remain as dominant impressions. There is a quality in these buildings, criticize them as one will, which is fresh and inventive and alive. Walking through them one comes with all the more shock upon the school in the cen ter--a school, as far as date goes, as modern as they arc, yet in everything else outmoded. Of white brick, it shouts its discordant note in sistently; its inept proportions and its extraor All entrance at the new Williamsburg Homes Lva dinary, crude, "modernistic" detail are alike a pets above them, and their suave curved ends, disgrace. If that is a standard design for New bring into the whole a much needed variety. York City schools--well, it is just too bad for The way the treatment of the corner* stair- New-York's art consciousness. Why the rigid tower fronts is carried around the corner is standardization of the New York Board of interesting, though the levels of the stair win Education should have unnecessarily foisted dows and those next them seem to lack co uPn Williamsburg despite ordination unnecessarily. fprotest is a question, I sup^[pqs^.^Ktical rather than aesthetic. What/.l^yer^Jhe caiise, there it stands, a prize example Especially interesting arc the entrances themselves. The porch and hood roofs are curved at the corners and swept back grace .jMit of oldc moderne." Snyder's Tudor schools fully into the wall, and the edges are covered `i^^f thirty* years ago, and even die thin coloniai- with stainless metal that is gleaming and at ' >:e9qu^ischooIs of ten years back, were really tractive, detailed with grace and finesse. The more straightforwaid and expressive than this addresses of each entry arc dearly marked stiff whiteness... upon it in interesting yet legible lettering, C4:* V . Itiis pleasant to return from this school to placed just at the eye level where they cannot m Williamsburg Houses, and especially to that be missed. And at the doors themselves the . . * element in them which to me is most interest- curving of the jambs and the bright clear col ^ ving-r-thc imaginative and creative character ors of the door finish give the right touch of ;;;'>oT-most of flic details. In them there is con- invitation. This is all just that kind of imag ^vAtinual pleasure to be found in the choice and >S-ajse pf materials, in the freshness and original- inative and carefully studied detailing which is so unfortunately absent in the other project; .^vXity'pf the forms. The front of the nursery alongside of these bright and imaginative en *'V^sc^(wl in one of the project buildings, for in- trances the stained and characterless concrete stance, -with its pleasant alternations of glass slabs at Harlem would seem drab indeed. brick and windows and its play terrace, is de- Of the landscaping at Williamsburg, it is lightful, despite the lack of relation between difficult to say more than the rather dubious, `^T^thcvplay terrace and the surrounding spaces. "adequate." All the imagination found in the '^ iThe'shops, with their dark, clear blue para- building details is absent; the layout of paths, ^'288: 0007 NHA 175622 PENCIL POINTS 0007-NHA-000175622 i\ V p;.:) m ivlh i Oil veil! ** path*, nmi tt '*" ' *v* here and ihc:* ; :: borders ol u* imagination vb* i. *:- more limited r! * * : H*Mites, and mad* '* then: i> in William rr\> r.t and gras*. and pa-. .!! I i i. t * *' I: tv .! t! itnd the project; that all. h tv in `miuiy lev* good than the planting at tin* 1 *:*.! Project fn the lron\ done ii;i-v \\.u*. :U' { y \irs. Outlet*. ! It-* apartments them.sciws u* h;tn these New York projects are almost identical, for hoih are based on tin* Unit Plans prepared by the JJousing Division of the Department of the Interior* They are clever, efficient, and economical.-The use of the kitchen to give ad ditional entrance to the bedroom area works well* Yet as living places, they arc not inspir ing; there is in them a definite feeling of cramped minima. Even the large bedroom, when furnished with a double bed, a chest: of drawers, and a chair and tabic, gives the im pression of being crammed full, with no space to walk. To put two children into the small bedroom calls for a shoe horn. It is possible that similar areas in slightly narrower and longer proportions, though allowing less flex ibility in arrangement, would have given a more open and airy feeling; any nearly square bedroom is difficult unless its minor dimension is at least twelve feet. In rooms as tight as these, the careful cor relation of mechanical equipment and of structure with the room becomes of prime im portance.* .Here the type of construction chosen has beena major handicap in Williams burg. The. - thickness of the concrete span *c drel-beams-has forced all the heating risers well.out ;from-the wall; in some places they arc at^least iO'' away from the wall, and, un- procected,'.jdhcy form a definite hazard to the inhabitahtsfand prevent adequate use of the wall surfaces.*for furnishing. In most cases, loo, the horizontal runs from risers to radia tors arc long and run above the floor, so that an additional furnishing difficulty is produced. Moreover, the structural columns form breaks in the walls of almost all the bedrooms, in the most inconvenient places. These arc draw backs which might well be controlling fac tors in the choice of structural and mechan ical systems in all future housing work. In Harlem River Homes, where the structure is more conventional and less spectacular, these problems db:not arise. 1 .* *1 i. iiicve pi%)cC'. !*ru;g 1.: i.uii question: Why aiv not !i\ mg i:.donv* more i**-cd in Amevknn Ivuivingr t Un nng -women, and .lutumm make them : the pleasant mu look v possible in 1 arg* -n c .ik dr ' iMpmeiu would make them definite atom ic . In ihe Cedar Central Project in Clexcur.o th-.-y are prevent, and add immensely not on\ i the le.virahility oj the apartments but also i* tin* mu rest of the exterior. They arc tmir seivil in the Swedish housing, and common i n\ Italy; surely the possibility of developing them here, and so giving one more impulse towards health-giving outdoor living, might well be studied in America. *> e- Juit the major problem which these new housing projects bring up to any unbiased ob server is not one of layout, planning, or arstheiic design--it is the problem of bad, or illconsidered, construction. The appearance of both uf these jobs reveals a shameful condi tion. Staining and efflorescence destroy color and form, and evidence walls full* of water. Tin* leaks between the concrete and the brick in Williamsburg became almost a disaster. The concrete basement walls in both projects are marred and patched and discolored and ugly. The brickwork, particularly in Williams burg, is blotched and discolored by leaks and dripping; the general appearance is shocking. And this condition is not limited to these New York projects. This is a question of prime importance* in American architecture. It would almost seem as though the more science we had, the more . new building materials and building methods, the worse we built. Here are groups costing millions, designed by good architects, and well designed, built by some of the country's best known and most reputable contractors, engineered by the best engineers, with every thing checked and rc-chccked -- and in less than a year these buildings, many of them, look a disgrace. Where is the error? What is the matter? Surely, if we cannot build well in the new est and most loudly advertised ways, let us build well in the older, proven ways. If mod ern materials don't work, let us use materials that do. Let us do our experimenting on pri vate houses and private buildings generally --or, better still, let the building material people do the experimenting--and not inflict experiments on thousands of people and on * the government. For one of two things is true: either these are experiments, or else our sense of building standards is shockingly low. One definite lesson seems to be obvious. * 290 0007 NHA 175623 PENCIL P* M AY, ir 0007-NHA-000175623  ; ;i.I e.le; h*:\. I ) ; '* ;r _. n' l".s .ij tficv; mau-jr* i !u*v .uv ht*:u*r Ilian iNjH C.'-s t ajUrinX'IV^ i*t Pari* 'id t !t* ^vit? I -Avrsv :>ld tiv !*.;.- w'MiMiniv rent at VX'i 1 urti was ; :. n *. p.*t riim per immih. With the >tn>Mi\. sir- hi in::* tho tun* ran to >7.12. But tl rous-^ j . uncreie iiM.d a% ; i. r b- * i'o . . ** mp:*:: lv wit!' all these advantages can be iuiti * ;v:V* 1 : all factor v. Ibn m \ ? ? sh* .\ I u l *vs than >12.00 a ruum a month. how !Mtgy / York latitude it j u m <!* n<-: v. urh. And there will our middle claves and even ilie wealthy I B one other thing: c .h m.o i t lit* iu\ rotors am! put tip with the congestion lor which they I htiilding material people give ns, at reasonable pat $20.00 niul more? Thai is a significant L a mortar as good a. he Iy m that was used que'/tynn. 11 large-scale planning on large sites I . century ago? Or is the irouble in the use of can give the amenities we find here, will not V. *. in dumping its strength ami tpiamiry? Jai ir.:; investors sec the significance of this lar.v scale development? Already the Metro politan Insurance Company has made a be Yet. despite all these criticisms, th" general ginning, by its proposed development in the dect 4)1* a visit to the two projects is exhilarat Bronx. Others will follow. By so raising the ing and enheartening. They point the way; housing standards of the poorer classes, we but they arc also, themselves, extraordinary may be raising the standards of housing of all achievements. In every realty important gen- classes; in the end, though wc may never, un | oral matter of land-usage--in air, in light, in der present land systems, reach those of the a sense of green and growing Lhings as a con- very lowest income, wc shall have worked a " coinitant of living; in the creation of an at drastic revolution in the entire concept of mosphere of humanity and decency, a place land usage and >f the relation of land to hous where-children would be glad to grow up; in ing--a revolution which will profoundly af the development of a community that brings fect the city planning and the living habits of with it a new vision of democracy and of the future. And that, alone, would make these progress--these two developments have quali- projects worth their cost, however great. Photo by Kenneth Rsii i 292 Lookiug down into one of the entrance courts at Harlem Kiver Homes 0007 NHA 17S624 0007-NHA-000175624