For white tenants, rents are very much lower than in Washington, as has been pointed out. Also, the supply of small dwellings is large and constantly increasing. But the six-room dwellings, now the popular type, seem to be occupied by the skilled laborer class. The four room, minor street house is available for unskilled laborers; but this type is no longer built because the six-room house can be constructed for a trifling increase of cost, and the rentals can be disproportionately increased.

For the present, people of small resources are able to secure comfortable and sanitary homes very much more reasonably in Baltimore than in Washington, and superficially it would appear that if construction could be carried out as cheaply here, the erection of the Baltimore type of dwelling should be in every way encouraged. But it is much to be feared that Baltimore will find future embarrassment from the early decay of these houses, or that the large expense to keep them in proper repair will soon teach builders that they are a poor investment, and the laborers who buy them will find that they have bought very dearly after all.

"Philadelphia has been called 'the city of homes,' and it is that," said an official in the Building Inspector's office. As in Baltimore, the northeastern section of Philadelphia, in the textile district where are large manufactories of woolens, silks, hosiery, and carpets, is the seat of constant and extensive building operations.

The best type of cheap dwelling is the two-story, porch-front house. This is the dwelling which at present is most popular and most frequently seen. The cost of erecting this type of dwelling varies in different portions of the city. In West Philadelphia very large numbers of such houses have been erected at such cost as will permit of rentals of from $18.00 to $25.00 per month. These dwellings shelter skilled mechanics, clerks, tradesmen, and the like, and so do not concern this inquiry.

In the "textile district," above alluded to, the two-story, porchfront house shelters mill operatives, and skilled laborers of that type. In this locality, the cost of construction is such that the maximum rental found was $16.00; several houses in one such block were vacant, and a resident stated that the rental formerly asked was $18.00, that it was found necessary to make a reduction to $16.00 to keep tenants, and that a further reduction to $15.00 would probably have to be made to attract new tenants. These houses are most attractive in appearance, convenient and sanitary in design and apparently substantial in construction. It may be well to mention here a feature of

construction almost universal in its application to small dwellings; namely, a frame overhang from the second story, and a frame shed in the rear of the ground floor. The frame overhang in six-room houses, constitutes one-half of a bedroom; in four-room houses, later to be described, it constitutes the bathroom-entirely similar to the "swing bath" of the Baltimore houses. The frame shed is used as a summer kitchen, or in many instances stationary laundry tubs are placed therein. Figure 26 illustrates this construction. The brick partywall is extended in the rear so as to afford fire protection between adjacent frame overhangs or sheds.

The houses above alluded to as renting for $16.00 have six rooms and small reception hall; the bathroom contains water closet of good design, enameled tub and wash basin ; the kitchen is furnished with range, sink and commodious dresser; the shed in the rear has two stationary slate laundry tubs; there is a capacious cellar under the whole house, cemented and containing a substantial looking hot-air furnace; the walls are all nicely papered; the parlor, reception hall, and dining room have pleasing mantels; the gas fixtures are good, and include a drop light in the dining room; and the front bedroom, in addition to a closet, is provided with a wardrobe built in the wall, with hardwood doors, fitted with mirrors, and two drawers underneath. Figure 27

gives the floor plan and Figure 28 the elevation of this type of dwelling. Such houses may be bought for $2,600; $200 cash, balance in monthly installments, amount not ascertained, probably mutually agreeable to purchaser and vendor.

Fig.28.

Another type not so frequently seen was found on a neighboring street; the floor plan of these was not essentially different, but there was no reception hall. The internal improvements were less expensive, and some space was lost by reason of the encroachment of the porch upon the first floor as shown in Figure 26. These dwellings rented for $15.00 and could be bought for from $1,900 to $2,100, easy terms. The heat for these also was furnished by a hot-air furnace, or in Philadelphia parlance, "a heater."

The cheapest type of dwelling recently erected is a four-room, bath and shed house, as shown in Figure 29, copied from a set of plans obtained from the Building Inspector's office. Such houses rent for from $10.00 to $13.00, and are papered, have gas supply, range and hot and cold water supply, cellar and cemented yard.

Since the house illustrated in Figure 29 can be converted into a five or six room dwelling, by constructing the shed of brick, and continuing these walls to the roof, at the additional expense of only $150.00 or $200.00, and as the resulting dwelling commands $15.00, instead of $10.00 or $12.00, the construction of the smaller type has almost ceased. Indeed the majority of houses in the textile district is of this type, despite the numbers of the porch-front dwellings already described. There is necessarily a difference in the cost of construction of the two types, and consequently the flat front house is built in preference to the porch front, without any sacrifice of space or of internal comfort,