Tenement Life
The Jewish immigrants that flocked to New York
City’s Lower East Side in the early twentieth
century were greeted with appalling living
conditions. The mass influx of primarily European
immigrants spawned the construction of cheaply
made, densely packed housing structures called
tenements. They were built on lots that
measured 25 feet by 100 feet. Noted New York
architect Ernest Flagg (1857-1947) believed that,
“The greatest evil which ever befell New York City
was the division of the blocks into lots of 25 x 100
feet . . . for from this division has arisen the New
York system of tenement-houses, the worst curse
which ever afflicted any great community.”
Four to six stories in height, tenements contained
four separate apartments on each floor,
measuring 300 to 400 square feet. Apartments
contained just three rooms; a windowless
bedroom, a kitchen and a front room with
windows. A contemporary magazine described tenements as, “great prison-like structures of
brick, with narrow doors and windows, cramped passages and steep rickety stairs. . . . In case of
fire they would be prefect death-traps, for it would be impossible for the occupants of the
crowded rooms to escape by the narrow stairways.” Tenement buildings had adjoining walls so
interior rooms could not receive natural light or ventilation. Expensive modern conveniences
like indoor plumbing and elevators were not included in the cheaply built tenements. Hallway
lighting was rare, forcing tenants to climb up flights of stairs in the dark, or climb down in the
dark to reach the outdoor toilets located in the back of the lot.
The deteriorating conditions of the apartments were described in 1902 by newly arrived
immigrant Emma Beckerman: “The furnishings were worn and shabby. Four rickety chairs, a
scarred wooden table, a leaky icebox, and a rusty coal stove greeted us. The bedroom
contained a sagging double bed and a broken-down bureau.” The space was so small that
people slept on whatever they could find – rugs and even orange crates doubled as beds.
During the hot summer months, the fire escapes that clung to the fronts of the buildings were
used a place to sleep. Additionally, the Tenement House Department reported in 1903 that,
Tenement (mural study, Depart. Of Justice Building,
Washington, D.C.) 1935, George Biddle, tempera on
fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum
