05 Housing and the Metropolis Technology and Infrastructure in the 19th Century During the 1850s-1890s, the art of architecture expanded to be taller. William Le Baron Jenny designed the first skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. This became a very big change in the living aspect. As Chicago started to create more skyscrapers to conduct more business and living spaces for others, New York took that advantage as well. As skyscrapers became more convenient, there were some obstacles that occurred. Having skyscrapers all over the city, it started to become overpopulated and the conditions living in these “apartments” became unsatisfactory.
Although, there were different materials that were introduced for these skyscrapers. The purpose to show different qualities was to visualize different working classes. There were developments made to the sewer systems and water systems to counteract the unsanitary conditions and to continue with this architectural movement. While trying to make the city cleaner and richer, the working class was made an afterthought, with the architecture reflecting social hierarchy and the importance of space. By pushing these people aside, room for the wealthy grew. These infrastructure issues were pushed onto the working class as a social hindrance. Mass housing, an idea that cropped up around factory workers, held the same primitive living ideas as these cramped skyscrapers. With the rise of social ranking and the expectations that came with being wealthy, it became increasingly harder to avoid such harsh living conditions.
New York City tenements - Alex Rithiphong
New York, Mills House, a bachelor hotel, Ernest Flagg, 1898.
42
Housing conditions in New York tenements were some of the worst units to occupy and live in. The rooms within these tenements were small but needed to shelter a number of people, which led to overcrowding of the room. The tenements posed unsafe living conditions to the people who lived there. Residents of these tenements were usually the working class. Flagg had designed the Mills House specifically to house the poor and working class. New York tenements
Housing and the Metropolis
