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Article THE GEORGE STREET "MODEL." * ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The George Street "Model." *
As is the hotel or inn to the higher classes , so these model lodging houses may be considered as the hotel of the humbler classes , ivith the difference that the single ancl the married in the one case are not accommodated as is clone in the other—the married poor not being yet favoured with an opportunity of getting into a readyfurnished room or rooms , as the single poor of the male sex can do , and secure a clean bed , and , in a few cases , the single poor woman can likewise do .
However , it is quite time to get indoors and learn all about the place itself , for really its outside look is not very suggestive of enjoyment with its wide , tall , plain , dull frontage ; and all so sternlike as well , and quiet too ; and so in this last particular—so be"lieing or disappointing the first notion likely to be formed—that of its being some kind of factory ; but then the huge factory pile commonly sends forth the din of some sort of wheel or other , and here there is nothing of this heard , but an unwonted quietness even
considered as a private dwelling . AU is solid here;—the single stone step which lifts you from the street into its open doorway , bringing you to a stone-paved hall or lobby : then comes an inner cloor , with stone still beneath your feet ; ancl on your left an upsliding side window affords a furtive peep into a small cabouse-like spot , as a sailor might call it , where the big account-book of the superintendent has its constant resting on a table placed before the front window . He is theretoo
, , himself , the very chief of the establishment—a small , elderly , sober-looking man . This , our superintendent of the George-street Model , has a pretty long berth of it now ; for , as it is said , upwards of twelve years , comfortable security for himself and wife ; and fortunate it is for themselves that they have been drifted into such a smoothly-surfaced haven—a haven comprising as their " own" a ' common day-room
, a bed-room , ancl a scullery ; the little office already mentioned ( and which can be agreeably warmed in winter with its snug stove ) not being strictly private , for there it is the library of the house is shelved , ancl to this any of the inmates can have ingress when wanting to choose a book .
Prom books to the reading-room , sitting-room , or coffee-room , as it is or may be diversely called , —the general rendezvous for all home-stoppers and home-comers—the transition is natural ; and here we find a goodly oblong space well lighted from the front with four deep windows , and which space is judiciously set off with four ranges of brown-faced and stout-framed tables , two on each ofthe longitudinal sides of the apartment ; while across , at the bottom of the roomare two other tableshaving their positions
, , in the recesses which the out-jutting of the chimney formation caused ; and all which tables are backed by an immovable range of seating ; the front-thrown tables having , in addition , forms to run along them ; and thus so many more as these forms can afford seats for may be so accommodated . An apartment like this is such as is but rarely placed at the service of the mechaniclabourerill-paid clerkor
shop-assistant—, , , , here to shelter and chat in leisure moments ; here to lounge or read;—but of this reading more hereafter . So , reader , we shall now pass to another subject , if you please ; ancl go directly upstairs , and bedward ; though not with the intent of slipping actually between the sheets .
Having ascended the first flight of stoppings , here , once more , we find a stone lobby ; and to the right and left coridors ; ancl moving into either of which corridors , we get from stone to a , boarded floor . Avenues to the bed-closets are these corridors ; the closets being ranged on each side of each corridor ; those placed towards the front of the house obtaining their light from a half of each of the front windows , and the back closets only jbeing befriended with such glimmerings of the clay which may creep over
from the high tops of those windows , and descend the four steepsided wooden surroundings allotted to each closet , and in this way just enable the bed-goer to detect the dim presence of his heel . The bed is of flock ; the covering , two sheets , two blankets , ancl a rug , while in winter a third blanket is allowed ; the furniture of the place , a chair , and a small box ; the dimensions from side to side , about four feet and a half , and double that in depth . Each closet , besides , has its own separate cloor , its inmate holding the key of that door ; ancl thus no one getting admission there but himself , with the exception of the bed-maker , ancl he has the use of a master-key , which acts alike on all the doors .
_ As to the distribution of these closets ; tbe corridor , then , on the right possesses fourteen in all ; being four more than is given to tlm left-hand corridor ; this difference in the numbers in a house which is equally divided by its stairway being occasioned through the necessit y of having a hand and face washing convenience on each floor ; the twenty-six closet occupiers of each entire floor being thus accommodated with their own spot for personal ablution ; and which abstraction of space being effected on the left side of each stair-head , the corridors and sleeping closets on such side had to be
proportionally diminished . Twelve closets , then , being on the left side , and fourteen on the right—as has just been stated—the joint number amounts to twenty-six ; and as the house is a four-storied one , ancl every story and corridor having the like formation , 104 beds are available in all . The like equality , too , is carried out in respect to each of the four places for personal ablution : each . little space has its own four
roller towls , just as each has its four plugged basins , with plenty of water in command , as led upwards by pipes , and to be stop-cocked off when not in use . Here , also , in each of these toilet-rooms , is a fixed looking-glass , to shave by , ancl otherwise to prove of service when one would know that one ' s toilet is perfect ; and even in this particular , strange-sounding to some as it may seem , there are very poor men who are often loth to get away from their self-adjustings before the tell-tale looking-glass .
Thus much , then , about the upstairs features of this " model ;" and yet there is a little more to say before a finish can be inaclo '; for here at the angle parts of the fourth stair-head , and the same at the third ancl the second , there are square bits of retiring places equally as necessary as those for face-washing , and even more praiseable , comparing the accommodation so afforded with the deficiences of the like character commonly experienced in houses let
off to the poor . One of these valuable snuggeries is at the turn on each flight of stairs , with the exception of the first flight . Another of these accommodations is at the lower part of the house , and where two ivould be little enough , could they be somewhat better placed than the one now provided ; for , as it is , its situation is much too near the kitchen to be commended as a proof of pure taste ; being , besides , extremely faulty from the paucity of daylight which gets there ; while at night the gas from the jets in the kitchen , as reflected through one of the area windows , yields the only helxi in this way .
AA e make towards a curious looking apartment , to be just glimpsed at from under the opening part of a window which has its light fronl the yard we have left ; ancl still a curious aspect indeed this new place has , even now that we are fairly in it , and all is exposed quite plain for inspection . And that all is cupboardall cupboard ; to the right and left , ancl at bottom ; all but where the window already mentioned has its position . There is nothing else hut cupboard , cast the eye where you may ,
from the stone flooring to the ceiling , the whole making a uniform series of closely united safes , to the number of 105 . Then each safe has its own distinct lock and key , while each lodger is the possessor of one such key , every fresh inmate as he comes having the option of a safe and its key , as also of two other keys—one for his bedroom , and the other for the small clothes box in his bedroom ; but for each of which keys he will have to deposit a sixpence with the superintendent ; ancl ivhich moneys , in
case of any or all of these keys being lost , aro to become forfeit towards the purchase of others , not any two keys being alike for safe , or bedroom , or clothes box;—a very useful precaution , and one which must have exercised a good deal of ingenuity on the part of the locksmith . The fronts or doors of these safes are formed of closely-crossing wire work , with the view of admitting such fresh air as can find its way through the petty openings in this way left ; but which air , as may be imagined , has but little pure freshness
about it , situate as is the place so much below the level of the street , ancl with its only adjacent sky-ward opening in the rubbish and urinal yard , from ivhich the safe-room borrows all the little daylight it can obtain ; and that , as it must be allowed , is but little indeed . Then the lower tiers of these safes are placed quite close to it , so that the dust , which the shuffle of feet from all parties having business there must put in movement , cannot but obtain a ready passage through the open wirework and frontage of each .
The coal-cellar likewise , as in this case may he expected , has its station in the basement part of the house , its cloor being on the right of the passage , ancl directly opposite that of the safe-room . Still the contents of this cellar are never kept under lock and key , as is generally to be found where there are many lodgers , for here the coal is a sort of common property , to which any of the inmates may have recourse , with scuttle in hand , should the kitchen fire be thought to stand in need of a fresh clash of one or two of the
black-diamond order of revivers , or the water in kettles is not seeming to get quite enough into the boiling state , the broth-pot be too tartly in its babblings , or the closely packed saucepan of potatoes too long in softening at the core . No , there is no liinderance here in regard to a plentiful supply of fire ; ancl though at the season of the year when this paper is written there is no feet or finger-felt urgency for anything of the kind , still a good deal of cooking must be gone through ; and therefore a decent share of coal heat is quite indispensable ; while in the colder days it is still more so ; and hence the certainty of having free ingress to a quarter of so much warmth must be felt as being one of the most
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The George Street "Model." *
As is the hotel or inn to the higher classes , so these model lodging houses may be considered as the hotel of the humbler classes , ivith the difference that the single ancl the married in the one case are not accommodated as is clone in the other—the married poor not being yet favoured with an opportunity of getting into a readyfurnished room or rooms , as the single poor of the male sex can do , and secure a clean bed , and , in a few cases , the single poor woman can likewise do .
However , it is quite time to get indoors and learn all about the place itself , for really its outside look is not very suggestive of enjoyment with its wide , tall , plain , dull frontage ; and all so sternlike as well , and quiet too ; and so in this last particular—so be"lieing or disappointing the first notion likely to be formed—that of its being some kind of factory ; but then the huge factory pile commonly sends forth the din of some sort of wheel or other , and here there is nothing of this heard , but an unwonted quietness even
considered as a private dwelling . AU is solid here;—the single stone step which lifts you from the street into its open doorway , bringing you to a stone-paved hall or lobby : then comes an inner cloor , with stone still beneath your feet ; ancl on your left an upsliding side window affords a furtive peep into a small cabouse-like spot , as a sailor might call it , where the big account-book of the superintendent has its constant resting on a table placed before the front window . He is theretoo
, , himself , the very chief of the establishment—a small , elderly , sober-looking man . This , our superintendent of the George-street Model , has a pretty long berth of it now ; for , as it is said , upwards of twelve years , comfortable security for himself and wife ; and fortunate it is for themselves that they have been drifted into such a smoothly-surfaced haven—a haven comprising as their " own" a ' common day-room
, a bed-room , ancl a scullery ; the little office already mentioned ( and which can be agreeably warmed in winter with its snug stove ) not being strictly private , for there it is the library of the house is shelved , ancl to this any of the inmates can have ingress when wanting to choose a book .
Prom books to the reading-room , sitting-room , or coffee-room , as it is or may be diversely called , —the general rendezvous for all home-stoppers and home-comers—the transition is natural ; and here we find a goodly oblong space well lighted from the front with four deep windows , and which space is judiciously set off with four ranges of brown-faced and stout-framed tables , two on each ofthe longitudinal sides of the apartment ; while across , at the bottom of the roomare two other tableshaving their positions
, , in the recesses which the out-jutting of the chimney formation caused ; and all which tables are backed by an immovable range of seating ; the front-thrown tables having , in addition , forms to run along them ; and thus so many more as these forms can afford seats for may be so accommodated . An apartment like this is such as is but rarely placed at the service of the mechaniclabourerill-paid clerkor
shop-assistant—, , , , here to shelter and chat in leisure moments ; here to lounge or read;—but of this reading more hereafter . So , reader , we shall now pass to another subject , if you please ; ancl go directly upstairs , and bedward ; though not with the intent of slipping actually between the sheets .
Having ascended the first flight of stoppings , here , once more , we find a stone lobby ; and to the right and left coridors ; ancl moving into either of which corridors , we get from stone to a , boarded floor . Avenues to the bed-closets are these corridors ; the closets being ranged on each side of each corridor ; those placed towards the front of the house obtaining their light from a half of each of the front windows , and the back closets only jbeing befriended with such glimmerings of the clay which may creep over
from the high tops of those windows , and descend the four steepsided wooden surroundings allotted to each closet , and in this way just enable the bed-goer to detect the dim presence of his heel . The bed is of flock ; the covering , two sheets , two blankets , ancl a rug , while in winter a third blanket is allowed ; the furniture of the place , a chair , and a small box ; the dimensions from side to side , about four feet and a half , and double that in depth . Each closet , besides , has its own separate cloor , its inmate holding the key of that door ; ancl thus no one getting admission there but himself , with the exception of the bed-maker , ancl he has the use of a master-key , which acts alike on all the doors .
_ As to the distribution of these closets ; tbe corridor , then , on the right possesses fourteen in all ; being four more than is given to tlm left-hand corridor ; this difference in the numbers in a house which is equally divided by its stairway being occasioned through the necessit y of having a hand and face washing convenience on each floor ; the twenty-six closet occupiers of each entire floor being thus accommodated with their own spot for personal ablution ; and which abstraction of space being effected on the left side of each stair-head , the corridors and sleeping closets on such side had to be
proportionally diminished . Twelve closets , then , being on the left side , and fourteen on the right—as has just been stated—the joint number amounts to twenty-six ; and as the house is a four-storied one , ancl every story and corridor having the like formation , 104 beds are available in all . The like equality , too , is carried out in respect to each of the four places for personal ablution : each . little space has its own four
roller towls , just as each has its four plugged basins , with plenty of water in command , as led upwards by pipes , and to be stop-cocked off when not in use . Here , also , in each of these toilet-rooms , is a fixed looking-glass , to shave by , ancl otherwise to prove of service when one would know that one ' s toilet is perfect ; and even in this particular , strange-sounding to some as it may seem , there are very poor men who are often loth to get away from their self-adjustings before the tell-tale looking-glass .
Thus much , then , about the upstairs features of this " model ;" and yet there is a little more to say before a finish can be inaclo '; for here at the angle parts of the fourth stair-head , and the same at the third ancl the second , there are square bits of retiring places equally as necessary as those for face-washing , and even more praiseable , comparing the accommodation so afforded with the deficiences of the like character commonly experienced in houses let
off to the poor . One of these valuable snuggeries is at the turn on each flight of stairs , with the exception of the first flight . Another of these accommodations is at the lower part of the house , and where two ivould be little enough , could they be somewhat better placed than the one now provided ; for , as it is , its situation is much too near the kitchen to be commended as a proof of pure taste ; being , besides , extremely faulty from the paucity of daylight which gets there ; while at night the gas from the jets in the kitchen , as reflected through one of the area windows , yields the only helxi in this way .
AA e make towards a curious looking apartment , to be just glimpsed at from under the opening part of a window which has its light fronl the yard we have left ; ancl still a curious aspect indeed this new place has , even now that we are fairly in it , and all is exposed quite plain for inspection . And that all is cupboardall cupboard ; to the right and left , ancl at bottom ; all but where the window already mentioned has its position . There is nothing else hut cupboard , cast the eye where you may ,
from the stone flooring to the ceiling , the whole making a uniform series of closely united safes , to the number of 105 . Then each safe has its own distinct lock and key , while each lodger is the possessor of one such key , every fresh inmate as he comes having the option of a safe and its key , as also of two other keys—one for his bedroom , and the other for the small clothes box in his bedroom ; but for each of which keys he will have to deposit a sixpence with the superintendent ; ancl ivhich moneys , in
case of any or all of these keys being lost , aro to become forfeit towards the purchase of others , not any two keys being alike for safe , or bedroom , or clothes box;—a very useful precaution , and one which must have exercised a good deal of ingenuity on the part of the locksmith . The fronts or doors of these safes are formed of closely-crossing wire work , with the view of admitting such fresh air as can find its way through the petty openings in this way left ; but which air , as may be imagined , has but little pure freshness
about it , situate as is the place so much below the level of the street , ancl with its only adjacent sky-ward opening in the rubbish and urinal yard , from ivhich the safe-room borrows all the little daylight it can obtain ; and that , as it must be allowed , is but little indeed . Then the lower tiers of these safes are placed quite close to it , so that the dust , which the shuffle of feet from all parties having business there must put in movement , cannot but obtain a ready passage through the open wirework and frontage of each .
The coal-cellar likewise , as in this case may he expected , has its station in the basement part of the house , its cloor being on the right of the passage , ancl directly opposite that of the safe-room . Still the contents of this cellar are never kept under lock and key , as is generally to be found where there are many lodgers , for here the coal is a sort of common property , to which any of the inmates may have recourse , with scuttle in hand , should the kitchen fire be thought to stand in need of a fresh clash of one or two of the
black-diamond order of revivers , or the water in kettles is not seeming to get quite enough into the boiling state , the broth-pot be too tartly in its babblings , or the closely packed saucepan of potatoes too long in softening at the core . No , there is no liinderance here in regard to a plentiful supply of fire ; ancl though at the season of the year when this paper is written there is no feet or finger-felt urgency for anything of the kind , still a good deal of cooking must be gone through ; and therefore a decent share of coal heat is quite indispensable ; while in the colder days it is still more so ; and hence the certainty of having free ingress to a quarter of so much warmth must be felt as being one of the most