Tenement life in The lower east side By: Emely Curvelo

The Lower east side The Lower East Side was Jewish world. Everything was Jewish-owned or Jewish-run. A difficult place to live: Most crowded neighborhood – By the 1900 it had more than 700 people per acre, making it the most crowded neighborhood on the planet. Hester Street, Lower East Side 1902.

THE RISE OF TENEMENT HOUSING Tenements in the Lower East Side were being built specifically for immigrants. By 1900, more than 80,000 tenements had been built in New York City. They housed a population of 2.3 million people, a full two-thirds of the city's total population of around 3.4 million. http://www.history.com/topics/tenements

What is a tenement? A tenement is any rented or leased dwelling that housed more than three independent families. Typical tenement building: Five to six stories high. 4 apartments in each floor. Occupy 90 percent of their lot. Served as factories: A place for women and children to raise enough money to live How The Other Half Lives By Jacob A. Riis.

other facts… New York City tenements were generally of two types: 1. Small houses – 3 or 4 floors that may have originally been one family and were converted into three or four family dwellings. 2. Larger buildings – constructed as tenements that were typically 5 to 6 floors with four families to a floor. What made a tenement a "tenement" was the location and how recently the immigrants had arrived. Similar size apartments in better neighborhoods were called "flats“.

Life in the Tenements  Most tenements contained the dirty horrible living conditions with high death rates Early tenements had very dark hallways as lighting was only from a sky light and/or glass transoms in apartment doors Life in the tenements was hard: 1. Heating and cooking were done by wood or coal burning stoves. 2. Water was obtained outside –frozen in the winter. (heated on stove for bathing and washing dishes). 3. Privy was in the back yard.

The Tenements - Interiors Crowded condition are acerbated by the need to hang laundry up to dry indoors. Lack of space – Not enough furniture. No windows – Lack of fresh air and light. Multiple generations lived together.

Tenements - Exteriors Plan of the Chrystie Street School and neighborhood shows the form of the tenement buildings. Lots were 100ft deep by 25ft wide. Drank grey area: Buildings Light area: Yards People sleeping in roof tops during the summer.

HARD TIMES - RENT DAY Rent: 2 Rooms (In attic): $3-5 per month. 3 Rooms (Kitchen and 2 bedrooms): $6-12 per month. 4 Rooms: $12-16 per month People worked in sweatshops or cigar making factories in order to pay the rent. Legal working hours: 10 There was no workman's compensation. If the breadwinner was hurt, he (or she) would be out of work. They would be kicked out of their homes if they did not pay the rent.

Tenements Improvements Housing laws improved. By 1890’s new tenement buildings were being constructed. Rent was still $6 to $13 per month.