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 i^o 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOI ISING SCHEME I 
 
 WELL HALL-f ELTHAM * TENTH 
 
 W ELL HALL is only one of the British 
 Government’s housing operations. It is 
 situated about a mile from Woolwich and 
 is a complete new development. It consists en- 
 tirely of permanent dwellings for workmen. 
 There are four types of houses of from two to 
 four rooms with bath, the rentals ranging from 
 seven shillings to fifteen shillings and sixpence a 
 week. There have been built some sixteen hun- 
 dred houses, all of the best materials available, 
 and the design has preserved the traditions of 
 English rural life. Mr. Ewart G. Culpin, Secre- 
 tary of the International Garden Cities and 
 
 Town Planning Association, whose article in 
 the April Journal dealt with the application 
 of town-planning principles to the new housing 
 developments of England, writes that he 
 believes Well Hall to be “easily the first thing 
 in cottage plans and elevations for the whole 
 world.” This statement is perhaps capable of a 
 wrong interpretation, for it is evident that the 
 plans would not suit living conditions in the 
 United States; but, from the point of view of a 
 great housing undertaking deliberately under- 
 taken by a Government and guided by experts 
 to yield the maximum advantages consistent 
 
 i 
 
THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOUSING 
 
 with a given mode of life, Well Hall is un- 
 doubtedly entitled to rank where Mr. Culpin 
 places it. 
 
 Of primary importance in the consideration 
 of the underlying reasons which led to the build- 
 ing of Well Hall is the fact that in spite of 
 urgent necessity it was decided to make it a 
 permanent enterprise rather than a merely 
 temporary one. This has been the consistent 
 policy of the British Government, except where 
 
 urgence made it impossible to wait upon 
 permanent construction, for the difference in 
 cost between permanent and temporary work is 
 measured by a small margin, and it was decided 
 that it would be folly to throw away money 
 upon makeshift expedients. Possibly this decis- 
 ion was also influenced by the knowledge that 
 nothing is harder to be rid of than a temporary 
 building. We believe that the shacks built at 
 the time of the flood emergency in Galveston 
 
WELL HALL 
 
 H AVI L K FNT^ 
 
 li Viv 1 r IN. LI N r WE 
 
 m office 
 
 of WORKS 
 WESTMINSTER 
 
 are still doing duty as slums, and such is the 
 usual experience with temporary buildings. In 
 cases where the British Government could not 
 spare the time necessary to build permanently, 
 huts of a temporary or semi-temporary charac- 
 ter were constructed, either of concrete slabs or 
 wooden framing. These were three in type and, 
 as built at East Riggs, another important housing 
 development, will be illustrated and described 
 
 in the October Journal, which will also contain a 
 list of references on Industrial Housing. 
 
 In addition to these purely housing opera- 
 tions, the Government has erected stores, halls, 
 and other public buildings necessary for a good- 
 sized town; in one case there were provided 
 bakeries, a central kitchen, laundry, schools, 
 churches, and all the usual accessories of com- 
 munity life. 
 
 
 3 
 

 
 J u-nc) <yf/oarr'$7¥ci. 
 
 Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Group facing WELL HALL and CONGREVE ROADS, jst and 2nd Class. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works , 
 W cstminster, 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 4 
 
£o*'(ol MaXi Homwx* A*S 
 
 
 IA 
 
 <U 
 
 -G 
 
 E 
 
 n/ 
 
 £ 
 
 Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 VVeli. Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Entrance Group in WELL HALL ROAD, East Side. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works, 
 Westminster , 
 
 London, S. IE. 
 
 u 
 
 5 
 

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 9| -'y, 
 
 Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 View in WELL HALL ROAD Looking South. 
 
 If. M. Office oj Works , 
 W estminster, 
 
 London , S. W. 
 
 6 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 A Group in WELL HALL ROAD Looking South. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works, 
 Westminster, 
 
 London, S. H' . 
 
 7 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 View in WELL HALL HOAD Looking North. 
 
 II. M. Office of Works, 
 Westminster, 
 
 London , S. IF. 
 
 8 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Crescent near Station in WELL HALL ROAD. 
 
 H. M. Office of IV orks. 
 JV estminster, 
 
 London, S. IV. 
 
 9 
 

 
 
 
 Government Housing Scheme, 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 View in ROSS WAY Looking East. 
 
 H. M. Office of fV orks 
 IV estminster, 
 
 London , S. JV. 
 
 IO 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 View in ROSS WAY Looking West. 
 
 H. M. Office oj Works, 
 Westminster, 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 I I 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Weli. Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 WHINYATES ROAD from ROSS WAY Looking South. 
 
 //. M. Office of Works , 
 IV estminster , 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 12 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 A Group in WHINYATES ROAD Looking North, 
 
 //. M. Office oj IV orks, 
 IV t estminster, 
 
 London , S. JV. 
 
 1 3 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Block 0/ Houses in PHINEAS PETT ROAD. 
 
 H. M Office of Works, 
 IV estminster, 
 
 London , S. IV. 
 
 •4 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 Wei.i. Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 SANDBY GREEN Looking North. 
 
 H. M. Office 0/ Works , 
 W estminster, 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 1 5 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 LOVELACE GREEN Looking North. 
 
 II. M. Office of Works , 
 Westminster , 
 
 London , S. W. 
 
 l6 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Pair of Cottages in LOVELACE GREEN. 
 
 //. M. Office of Works , 
 W estminster , 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 17 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 YVei.l Hale, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 View in ARSENAL ROAD Looking South. 
 
 H. M. Office of JVorks, 
 IV estminster, 
 
 London , S. IV. 
 
 18 
 
Government 
 Well Hall, 
 CONGREVK 
 
 Housing Scheme, 
 
 Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 ROAD ( Roughton Road Crossing) Looking South. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works, 
 W 1 estminster, 
 
 London , S. IV. 
 
 19 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Junction oj CONGRF.VF, ROAD and MAUDSLAY ROAD I.ooking North. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works , 
 Westminster , 
 
 London , S. U'. 
 
 20 
 
> 
 
 Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 View in CONGREVE ROAD Looking North. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works , 
 Westminster , 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 Group 0} Houses in DOWNMAN ROAD. 
 
 //. M. Office of Works , 
 Westminster, 
 
 London, S. W. 
 
 22 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 View of GILBORNE WAY Looking West. 
 
 H. M. Office of Works , 
 W estminster, 
 
 London , S. W. 
 
 23 
 
Government Housing Scheme, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich. 1915. 
 
 View in DICKSON ROAD Looking East. 
 
 //. M. Office of JVorks , 
 IV estminster, 
 
 London, S. IV. 
 
 ■4 
 
Arv</ t L /( / tt /V*w /. 
 
 GoV ERNMENT HOUSING SCHEME, 
 
 Well Hall, Woolwich 1915. 
 
 Block of Flats, GRANBY ROAD, Class IV. 
 
 u* 
 
 11 . M. Office of IVorks, 
 IVestminster, 
 
 London, S. IV. 
 
 25 
 
Multi-Family versus Individual Houses 
 
 By HENRY ATTERBURY SMITH 
 
 N EARLY all our cities are built upon un- 
 scientific exploiting systems, a good deal 
 as we encourage the sale of liquor to 
 gather a tax, and then have all sorts of reforma- 
 tories and asylums to care for the victims. 
 
 Most buildings that house the masses are 
 built to sell, and so they are built shoddily and 
 only as good as they must be in direct propor- 
 tion to the building laws and municipal super- 
 vision. The idea of building real well never 
 enters the head of the building promoter, who 
 may not be a builder at all. In fact, usually 
 he is a storekeeper or trader who sees far more 
 profit in selling a building than he does in selling 
 clothes or suspenders, because the amount 
 involved is larger and the purchaser is more 
 ignorant. He is usually in league with a loan 
 man or institution, which latter, I am sorry to 
 say, is frequently a savings bank. But usually 
 the loan is sold as soon as the building, and 
 so the two original partners step out immedi- 
 ately and turn the project over to two other 
 innocent people, who try from then on to squeeze 
 an income out of a rotten machine which gets 
 worse and worse rapidly until a few years after, 
 health boards orcier the premises vacated. 
 
 New York, proud New York, the self- 
 appointed example to the rest of the states, not 
 only allows but recommends this miserable type 
 illustrated below. 
 
 What are we architects to say about such 
 a thing; calmly let it pass, or protest? If we 
 cannot suggest something better, we are grossly 
 incompetent or indifferent. 
 
 Now, again, how about all this stuff about the 
 individual house for the employee in the indus- 
 trial town? Have you ever seen the result, 
 reader; have you ever pushed down to the funda- 
 mentals of this talk; have you ever studied the 
 balance-sheet to see if the truth is being stated? 
 Are you sure the lowest paid in the factory are 
 being housed at all or are they boarding, room- 
 ing, or crowding? If not, they soon will be. 
 How can the lowest incomes afford to sustain 
 those individual public utilities which our knowl- 
 edge of health demands? In cold climates how 
 can each family shovel coal, or in warm, have 
 
 enough energy left after a day’s work to look 
 after plumbing, shutters, gutters, and leaders? 
 Why should we foist all this work and repairs 
 upon the individual occupant — the stitch in 
 time to save nine — when he or she or both have 
 had a hard day’s work in the mill or factory or 
 mine, and who are supposed to have a family 
 of children besides?. The answer is to be found 
 in the word exploitation at times, for it has been 
 soberly brought to the writer’s attention that a 
 long-time obligation, like a fifteen-year mort- 
 gage upon the workman’s cottage, has a ten- 
 dency to keep the operative in the factory organi- 
 zation. He is less likely to strike or leave if he 
 has paid something on his house. When it is not 
 wilful exploiting then it is gross ignorance and 
 lack of imagination or sympathy, for how can the 
 general run of house occupants know how to take 
 care of their real estate in such a manner as will 
 cause it to last and not become a source of ex- 
 pense? Even the most intelligent of us seem not 
 to understand how to make a house hold out 
 year after year. No, the answer is a multi- 
 family house, with expert repair men constantly 
 on the job, men who like such work, just as 
 
 A Bad Type That Gives a Bad Name to the Multi-Family 
 House, Built by the Mile This Year in Greater New York 
 
MULTI-FAMILY VERSUS INDIVIDUAL HOUSES 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 Sawtooth Economic Open Stair Type, Three Families to a 
 Floor, Three Stories High, Nine Families to a House or Stair- 
 case. 252 Families in All, in 50 Acres 
 
 Linear Streetless Type, Exact Duplicate of Philadelphia Terrace, 
 4 Rooms and Bath, House 27 ' by 15' Broad. 252 Families in 
 All, in 50 Acres 
 
 Each of These Houses Has the Same Number of Families, Each Family Having Four Rooms and a Bath; Conducive 
 to Economical Steam Heating and Application of Other Public Utilities 
 
 other men, like myself, hate it — one man a 
 tinsmith and plumber, another a painter, another 
 man to take away the garbage, say twice 
 a day, and burn it in an incinerator to produce 
 hot water. We shall also want women to collect 
 the rent and cooperate with the families in 
 regard to their varying necessities. 
 
 Then we get as true efficiency in the life of 
 the factory families outside the factory as we 
 do inside, and the occupants can buy the stock 
 of the housing company and be represented 
 upon the board of directors or they can in time 
 be the sole managers. 
 
 The multi-family house is thought to bring 
 about congestion, but it is a very idle, immature 
 thought that jumps to such a conclusion. 
 Property restrictions are usually in vogue in 
 some form or other, even with an individual 
 house scheme. It is quite feasible, without a 
 strain on one’s mentality, to imagine that a 
 similar restriction could be made regarding a 
 multi-family house scheme. 
 
 Let us limit the number of families per acre, 
 and let us induce some kinds of families on some 
 acres and other kinds on others, according to 
 the type and finish of the buildings, or the 
 
 £ 
 
 Perspective and Details of Sawtooth Economic Open Stair T ype 
 
 27 
 
Non-Communicating Economic Open Stairs, Weather Pro- Detaii. Plans and Section Linear 
 
 tected. Intercommunication, Infection and Contagion Streetless Type 
 
 Reduced to a Minimum 
 
 character of the probable occupant. What shall 
 that limit be? It will vary, no doubt, according 
 to conditions, but let us assume that it is to be 
 five families to the acre, a very roomy layout 
 (8,712 square feet to a family, ioo x 87), pro- 
 vided we don’t waste a lot of the ground in 
 streets and pavements (for the convenience 
 of the tradesman), the maintenance of which 
 becomes a heavy tax upon our resources, and 
 the danger of which to our children is prover- 
 bial. Let’s away with the street entirely; it may 
 be of great interest to the engineer — curbs, 
 sidewalks, grades, fills and cuts, sewer and 
 water out under the roadway in an inconve- 
 nient place to connect and repair — but to an 
 architect the roadway is a means to an end, and 
 one of very doubtful value. 
 
 Let us study a layout of a square plot of, say 
 50 acres, and I will leave the solution of that 
 plot to anybody else who wants to submit in a 
 following article how he would improve matters 
 by covering the property with an identical 
 number of individual homes, or semi-detached, 
 or triple or quadruple, or any other kind of a 
 make-shift, including the world-renowned terrace 
 
 type that makes Philadelphia and Baltimore 
 famous. I submit two types: both multi-family, 
 cooperative types; both having their heating, 
 sewage, domestic hot water, lighting, power 
 (for sewing and other light machines) provided 
 from central plants; both having repairs done 
 by experts who do nothing else; both assuring 
 rent is paid just as taxes; and both giving the 
 occupant every opportunity to become an 
 owner of the stock with a voice in the manage- 
 ment. 
 
 The two types I suggest are the “sawtooth 
 economic open stair” type and the linear type 
 suggested by Mr. Stephen Lengyel and Mr. 
 Edgar Chambless, respectively. In certain 
 cases, one type will be preferable to the other, 
 depending on the contour and shape of the 
 property and other conditions such as proximity 
 to the central plant. In the sawtooth type the 
 heating plants can economically be distributed, 
 one to each 75, 100, or 125 families, and can be 
 contained right in the basement. In the linear 
 type the heating plant and sewage system are a 
 little more difficult, but other considerations 
 keep the comparison very close. 
 
 28