The original
development of the Lower East Side tenement district
was a product of the city's population and industrial
growth in the early and mid nineteenth century.
The 1811 land-use plan
had subdivided Manhattan (most of its area yet to be
developed) into a rectilinear grid of twelve avenues
running the length of the island (north-south) and
dozens of narrow streets spanning its width (east-west).
Property lines were drawn within these blocks to
create 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep parcels.
Manhattan developed northward as commerce and
industry expanded. Population increased due to
immigration from Europe, pushing the city's middle
and upper classes northward. As they departed,
speculators and developers turned their former
neighborhoods into an enormous working-class
manufacturing and residential district.
The tenement prevailed
as the dominant housing type in the immigrant ghetto.
Tenements best utilized the 25 X 100 feet lot size
and could house the most residents. Tenements
underwent a series of changes "improvements"
in the nineteenth century. Yet despite changes
tenements remained cheaply built and ill-suited for
occupancy by the growing number of immigrants.
The operation of the
tenement was based upon economic exploitation at
several levels. In addition to the landowner, others
included the purchasing landlord, one or two
sublandlords, tenant subleasees and borders. The
majority of Lower East Side landlords were absentee
owners. Most residents had contact with the
sublandlord(s), known locally as "cockroach
landlords," who made profits from raising rents
and by overcrowding buildings. Unable to afford rents,
tenant families often rented small spaces in their
apartments to borders.
Above:
The tenement today.
Links
(click
to follow)
Read The Tenement as History
and Housing,
by Ruth Limmer and Andrew S. Dolkart.
What is an old-law tenement?
Tenant.net - The online resource for
residential tenants.
Here is a bibliographic index of urban
planning, 1794-1918.
Here is information about the Lower East
Side tenement museum.
Images
(click to enlarge)
 Manhattan map-1811
|
 Double-Decker Tenements
|
 The Bowery, 1895.
|
 Winning tenement model,
1878.
|
Tenement
model.
|
 |
____________________________________
The book upon which this
web site is based,
Selling
the Lower East Side,
is available
directly through 
or order through 
Site design © 2000:
Kurt
Reymers and Dan
Webb.
(University at Buffalo, Department of
Sociology)
|
