HEALTH DEPARTMENT, 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
NO. 301 MOTT STREET. 
TENEMENT-HOUSE ACTS 
Chapter 908, Laws of 1 867. 
(As amended by Chapter 504, Laws of 1879, and 
Chapter 899, Section 1, Laws of 1880.) 
AN ACT for the regulation of Tenement and Lodg- 
ing Houses in the cities of New York and 
Brooklyn. 
Passed May 14, 1867. 
The People of the State of New YorTc, represented 
in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: 
Section 1. From and after the first (Jay -of July, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, building, 
or portion thereof, in the cities qf York or Brook- 
lyn, shall be used, occupied, ijjlysed or rented for a 
tenement or lodging house unjess\the same conforms 
in its construction and appurteoandfep- ta. the reqpire- 
ments of this act. 
Sec. 2. Every house, building or portion thereof in 
the cities of New York and Brooklyn, designed to be 
When this 
act takes 
effect. 
Ventilation 
and win- 
dows. 2 
used, occupied, leased or rented, or which is used, oc- 
cupied, leased or rented, for a tenement or lodging 
house, shall have in every room which is occupied as 
a sleeping room, and which does not communicate 
directly with the external air, a ventilating or transom 
window, having an opening or area of three square 
feet, over the door leading into and connected with 
the adjoining room, if such adjoining room com- 
municates with the external air ; and also a ventilating 
or transom window of the same opening or area, com- 
municating with the entry or hall of the house, or, 
where this is, from the relative situation of the rooms, 
impracticable, such last-mentioned ventilating or 
transom window shall communicate with an adjoin- 
> ing room that itself communicates with the entry or 
hall. Every such house or building shall have in the 
roof, at the top of the hall, an adequate and proper 
ventilator, of a form approved in New York by the 
inspector of public buildings, and in Brooklyn by the 
assistant sanitary superintendent of the Metropolitan 
Board of. Health. 
Sec. 3. Every such house shall be provided with a 
proper fire escape, or means of escape in case of fire, 
to be approved in New York by the inspector of pub- 
lic buildings, and in Brooklyn by the assistant sani- 
tary superintendent of the Metropolitan Board of 
Health. 
/ Sec. 4. The roof of every such house shall be kept 
in good repair, and so as not to leak, and all rain- 
water shall be so drained or conveyed therefrom as to 
prevent its dripping on to the ground, or causing 
dampness in the walls, yard or area. All stairs shall 
Roof, at top 
of hall, to 
have ven- 
tilator. 
Fire-escape. 
Roof, pro- / 
visions con 
ceming. 
Stairs. be provided with proper banisters or railings, and 
shall be kept in good repair. 
Sec. 5. Every such building shall be provided with 
good and sufficient water-closets or privies, of a con- 
struction approved by the Metropolitan Board of 
Health, and shall have proper doors, traps, soil-pans, 
and other suitable works and arrangements, so far as 
may be necessary to insure the efficient operation 
thereof. Such water-closets or privies shall not be 
less in number than one to every twenty occupants of 
said house; but water-closets or privies may be used 
in common by the occupants of any two or more 
houses, provided the access is convenient and direct, 
and provided the number of occupants in the houses 
for which they are provided shall not exceed the pro- 
portion above required for every privy or water-closet. 
Every such house situated upon a lot on a street in 
which there is a sewer, shall have the water-closets or 
privies furnished with a proper connection with the 
sewer, which connection shall be in all its parts ade- 
quate for the purpose, so as to permit entirely and 
freely to pass whatever enters the same. Such con- 
nection with the sewer shall be of a form approved in 
New York by the Croton Aqueduct Board, and in 
Brooklyn by the Board of Water Commissioners. All 
such water-closets and vaults shall be provided with 
the proper traps, and connected with the house sewer 
by a proper tight pipe, and shall be provided with 
sufficient water and other proper means of flushing 
the same ; and every owner, lessee, and occupant shall , 
take adequate measures to prevent improper substan- ' 
ces from entering such water-closets or privies or their 
connections, and to secure the prompt removal of any 
Water- 
closets or 
privies. 
Id.; number 
Id.; when 
to be con- 
nected with 
sewer. 
Id.; to have 
traps and 
water. 
Obstruc- 
tions of wa- 
ter-closets, 
exhalations, 
etc., to be 
prevented 
by owner, 
etc. 4 
improper substances that may enter them, so that no 
accumulation shall take place, ancl so as to prevent any 
exhalations therefrom, offensive, dangerous, or pre- 
judicial to life or health, and so as to prevent the same 
from being or becoming obstructed. No cesspool 
shall be allowed in or under or connected with any 
such house, except when it is unavoidable, and in such 
case it shall be constructed in such situation and in such 
manner as the Metropolitan Board of Health may 
direct. It shall in all cases be water-tight, and arched 
or securely covered over, and no offensive smell or 
gases shall be allowed to escape therefrom, or from 
any privy or privy-vault. In all cases where a sewer 
exists in the street upon which the house or building 
stands, the yard or area shall be so connected with the 
same, that all water, from the roof or otherwise, and 
all liquid filth shall pass freely into it. Where no 
sewer exists in the street, the yard or area shall be so 
graded that all water, from the roof or otherwise, and 
all filth shall flow freely from it and all parts of it 
into the street gutter, by a passage beneath the side- 
walk, which shall be covered by a permanent cover, 
but so arranged as to permit access to remove obstruc- 
tions or impurities. 
Sec. 6. From and after the first day of July, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-seven, it shall not be lawful, with- 
out a permit from the Metropolitan Board of Health, 
to let or occupy, or suffer to be occupied separately as 
a dwelling, any vault, cellar, or underground room 
built or rebuilt after said date, or which shall not have 
been so let or occupied before said date. And from 
and after July first, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
seven, it shall not be lawful without such permit to 
Cesspools, 
when 
allowed. 
Id.; how 
constructed 
Yard or 
area, when 
to be con- 
nected with 
sewer, and 
how. 
Or with 
street 
gutter. 
Cellars not 
occupied as 
dwellings 
before July 
1, 1867, 
require 
permits. 
Cellar, not 
to be used 
as dwelling 
unless it 5 
let or continue to be let, or to occupy or suffer to be 
occupied separately as a dwelling, any vault, cellar, 
or underground room whatsoever, unless the same be 
in every part thereof at least seven feet in height, 
measured from the floor to the ceiling thereof, nor 
unless the same be for at least one foot of its height 
above the surface of the street or ground adjoining or 
nearest to the same, norunless there be outside of and 
adjoining the said vault, cellar, or room, and extend- 
ing along the entire frontage thereof, and upwards, 
from six inches below the level of the floor thereof, 
up to the surface of the said street or ground, an open 
space of at least two feet and six inches wide in every 
part, nor unless the same be well and effectually drain- 
ed by means of a drain, the uppermost part of which 
is one foot at least below the level of the floor of such 
vault, cellar, or room, nor unless there is a clear space 
of not less than one foot below the level of the floor, 
except where the same is cemented, nor unless there be 
appurtenant to such vault, cellar, or room, the use of 
a water-closet or privy kept and provided as in this 
act required, nor unless the same have an external 
window-opening of at least nine superficial feet, clear 
of the sash-frame, in which window-opening there 
shall be fitted a frame filled in with glazed sashes, at 
least four and a half superficial feet of which shall be 
made so as to open for the purpose of ventilation. 
Provided, however, that in the case of an inner or 
back vault, cellar, or room let or occupied along with 
a front vault, cellar, or room, as part of the same 
letting or occupation, it shall be a sufficient compliance 
with the provisions of this act if the front room is 
provided with a window as hereinbefore provided, 
and if the said back vault, cellar or room is connected 
conforms to 
certain re- 
quirements. 
Cellar, etc., 
must be 
drained. 
Id.; must 
have water- 
closets, 
windows, 
etc. 
Back cellar, 
etc., when 
may be oc- 
cupied with 
front cellar, 
etc. 6 
with the front vault, cellar, or room by a door and 
also by a proper ventilating or transom window, and 
where practicable, also connected by a proper ventilat- 
ing or transom window, or by some hall or passage 
communicating with tlip external .air. Provided 
always that in any area adjoining a vault, cellar, or 
underground room there may be steps necessary for 
access to such vault, cellar, or room, if the same be so 
placed as not to be over, across, or opposite to the 
said external window, and so as to allott between 
every part of such steps and the external wall of such 
vault, cellar, or room, a clear space of six inches at 
least, and if the rise of said steps is open ; and pro- 
vided further that over or across any such area there 
may be steps necessary for access to any building 
above the vault, cellar, or room to which such area 
adjoins if the same be so placed as not to be over, 
across, or opposite to any such external window. 
Sec. 7. From and after the first day of July, 
eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, no vault, cellar, or 
underground room shall be occupied as a place of 
lodging or sleeping, except the same shall be approved, 
in writing, and a permit given therefor, by the Metro- 
politan Board of Health. 
Sec. 8. Every tenement or lodging-house shall have 
the proper and suitable conveniences or receptacles for 
receiving garbage and other refuse matters. No tene- 
ment or lodging-house, nor any portion thereof, shall 
be used as a place of storage for any combustible 
article, or any article dangerous to life or detrimental 
to health; nor shall any horse, cow, calf, swine, pig, 
sheep, or goat, be kept in said house. 
Cellar, etc., 
to have 
steps to 
area. 
Id.; also 
over area. 
Cellar, etc., 
occupied 
after July 1, 
1868, re- 
quires per- 
mit. 
Garbage 
boxes. 
Combusti- 
bles or un- 
healthy 
articles not 
to be stored 
or animals 
kept in ten- 
ement or 
lodging- 
house. Sec. 9. Every tenement or lodging-house, and every 
part thereof, shall be kept clean and free from any 
accumulation of dirt, filth, garbage, or other matter in 
or on the same, or in the yard, court, passage, area, 
or alley connected with or belonging to the same. 
The owner or keeper of any lodging-house, and the 
owner or lessee of any tenement-house, or part thereof, 
shall thoroughly cleanse all the rooms, passages, stairs, 
floors, windows, doors, walls, ceilings, privies, cess- 
pools, and drains thereof of the house or part of the 
house of which he is the owner or lessee, to the satis- 
faction of the Metropolitan Board of Health, so often 
as shall be required by or in accordance with any 
regulation or ordinance of said Board, and shall, well 
and sufficiently, to the satisfaction of said Board, 
whitewash the walls and ceilings thereof twice at least 
in every year, and in the months of April and October, 
unless the said Board shall otherwise direct. Every 
tenement or lodging-house shall have legibly posted 
or painted on the wall or door in the entry, or some 
public accessible place, the name and address of the 
owner or owners, and of the agent or agents, of any 
one having charge of the renting and collecting of 
the rents for the same; and service of any papers 
required by this act, or by any proceedings to enforce 
any of its provisions, or of the acts relating to the 
Metropolitan Board of Health, or the Department for 
the Survey and Inspection of Buildings, shall be suf- 
ficient if made upon the person or persons so desig- 
nated as owner or owners, agent or agents. 
Sec. 10. The keeper of any lodging-house, and the 
owner, agent of the owner, lessee, and occupant of any 
tenement-house, and every other person having the 
Tenement 
and lodg- 
ing-houses 
to De kept 
clean. 
Owner, etc., 
to cleanse to 
satisfaction 
of Board of 
Health. 
Id.; to 
whitewash 
twice a year. 
Owner’s 
and agent’s 
names to be 
posted. 
Service of 
papers, on 
whom 
made. 
Officers of 
the Board of 
Health to 
have access 8 
to tenement 
and lodg- 
ing-houses. 
care or management thereof, shall, at all times, when 
required by any officer of the Metropolitan Board of 
Health or by any officer upon whom any duty or 
authority is conferred by this act, give him free access 
to such house and to every part thereof. The owner 
or keeper of any lodging-house, and the owner, agent 
of the owner, and the lessee of any tenement-house, or 
part thereof, shall, whenever any person in such house 
is sick of fever, or of any infectious, pestilential, or 
contagious disease, and such sickness is known to 
such owner, keeper, agent, or lessee, give immediate 
notice thereof to the Metropolitan Board of Health, or 
to some officer of the same, and thereupon said Board 
shall cause the same to be inspected, and may, if found 
necessary, cause the same to be immediately cleansed 
or disinfected at the expense of the owner, in such 
manner as they may deem necessary and effectual; 
and they may also cause the blankets, bedding, and 
bedclothes used by any such sick person, to be 
thoroughly cleansed, scoured, and fumigated, or, in 
extreme cases, to be destroyed. 
Sec. 11. Whenever it shall be certified to the Metro- 
politan Board of Health by the Sanitary Superintend- 
ent that any building or part thereof is unfit for 
human habitation, by reason of its being so infected 
with disease as to be likely to cause sickness among 
the occupants, or by reason of its want of repair has 
become dangerous to life, said Board may issue an 
order and cause the same to be affixed conspicuously 
on the building or part thereof and to be personally 
served upon the owner, agent, or lessee, if the same 
can be found in this State, requiring all persons there- 
in to vacate such building for the reasons to be stated 
Sick per- 
sons to be 
reported. 
When 
house, 
clothing, 
furniture, 
etc., may he 
disinfected 
or de- 
stroyed. 
Buildings 
infected 
or out of 
repair may 
be ordered 
vacated. 9 
therein as aforesaid. Such building or part thereof 
shall, within ten days thereafter, be vacated; or with- 
in such shorter time, not less than twenty-four hours, 
as in said notice may be specified; but said Board, if 
it shall become satisfied that the danger from said 
house or part thereof has ceased to exist, may revoke 
said order, and it shall thenceforward become inoper- 
ative. 
Sec. 12. No house hereafter erected shall be used as 
a tenement-house or lodging-house, and no house 
heretofore erected and not now used for such purpose, 
shall be converted into, used, or leased for a tenement 
or lodging-house, unless, in addition to the require- 
ments hereinbefore contained, it conforms to the 
requirements contained in the following sections. 
Sec. 13. (As amended by Chap. 504, Laws of 1879, 
and Chap. 399, Sec. 1, Laws of 1880). It shall not be 
lawful hereafter to erect for, or convert to, the pur- 
poses of a tenement or lodging-house, a building on 
any lot where there is another building on the same 
lot, unless there is a clear open space, exclusively 
belonging thereto, and extending upward from the 
ground, of at least ten feet between said buildings, if 
they are one story high above the level of the ground; 
if they are two stories high, the distance between them 
shall not be less than fifteen feet; if they are three 
stories high, the distance between them shall not be 
less than twenty feet; and if they are more than three 
stories high, the distance between them shall not be 
less than twenty-five feet. At the rear of every build- 
ing hereafter erected for or converted to the purposes 
of a tenement or lodging-house on any lot, there shall 
Time within 
which order 
must be 
obeyed. 
Houses 
hereafter 
erected or 
converted 
to comply 
with addi- 
tional re- 
quirements . 
Distances 
between 
buildings 
on front and 
rear of tot. 
Space in 
rear of tene- 
ment or 
lodging- 
house. 10 
be a clear open space of not less than ten feet between 
it ancl the rear line of the lot. But when thorough 
ventilation of such open spaces can be otherwise se- 
cured, sucli distances may be lessened or modified in 
special cases, or the open spaces may be dispensed with 
on corner lots, by a permit from the Board of Health. 
No one continuous building shall be built or convert- 
ed to the purposes of a tenement or lodging-house in 
the city of New York upon an ordinary city lot, to 
occupy more than sixty-five per centum of the said 
lot, and in the same proportion if the lot be greater 
or less in size than twenty-five feet by one hundred 
feet; but this provision shall not apply to corner lots, 
and may be modified in other special cases by a per- 
mit from the Board of Health. 
Sec. 14. (As amended by Chap. 504, Laws of 1879.) 
In every such house hereafter erected or converted, 
every habitable room, except rooms in the attic, shall 
be in every part not less than eight feet in height from 
the floor to the ceiling ; and every habitable room in 
the attic of any such building shall be at least eight 
feet in height from the floor to the ceiling, throughout 
not less than one-half of the area of sucli room. Every 
such room shall have at least one window connecting 
with the external air, or over the door or ventilator of 
perfect construction, connecting it with a room or 
which has a connection with the external air, and so 
arranged as to produce a cross-current of air. The total 
area of window or windows in every room com- 
municating with the external air, shall be at least one- 
tenth of the superficial area of every such room ; and 
the top of one, at least, of such windows shall not be 
less than seven feet and six inches above the floor, and 
Distances 
may he 
modified by 
Board of 
Health. 
Building 
not to occu- 
py more 
than 65 per 
cent, of lot, 
etc. 
Foregoing 
provision 
not applica- 
ble to cor- 
ner lots, and 
may be 
modified by 
Board of 
Health. 
Height of 
rooms. 
Windows. 
Size thereof 11 
the upper half, at least, shall be made so as to open 
the full width. Every habitable room of a less area 
than one hundred superficial feet, if it does not com- 
municate directly with the external air, and is without 
an open fire-place, shall be provided with special means 
of ventilation by a separate air-shaft extending to the 
roof, or otherwise, as the Board of Health may pre- 
scribe. But in all houses hereafter erected or converted 
in the city of New York, which shall be used, occupied 
leased or rented for a tenement or lodging-house, every 
room used, let or occupied by any person or persons 
for sleeping shall have at least one window, with a 
movable sash, having an opening of not less than 
twelve square feet, admitting light and air directly 
from the public street or the yard of the said house, 
unless sufficient light and ventilation shall be other- 
wise provided, in a manner and upon a plan approved 
by the Board of Health. 
Sec. 15. Every such house hereafter erected or con- 
verted shall have adequate chimneys running through 
every floor, with an open fire-place or grate, or place 
for a stove, properly connected with one of said chim- 
neys, for every family and set of apartments. It shall 
have proper conveniences and receptacles for ashes and 
rubbish. It shall have croton, ridgewood, or other 
water furnished at one or more places in such house, 
or in the yard thereof, so that the same may be ade- 
quate and reasonably convenient for the use of the 
■'occupants thereof. It shall have the floor of the cellar 
properly cemented, so as to be water-tight. The halls 
on each floor shall open directly to the external air, 
with suitable windows, and shall have no room or other 
obstruction at the end, unless sufficient light or ven- 
Small rooms 
to have 
special ven- 
tilation. 
Bedroom to 
have win- 
dow admit- 
ting light 
and air di- 
rectly from 
street or 
yard. 
Size thereof 
But Board 
may allow 
other ven- 
tilation if 
sufticient. 
Chimneys. 
Ashes and 
rubbish. 
Water 
supply. 
Cellar floor. 
Halls to 
open to ex- 
ternal air at 
ends. 12 
tilation is otherwise provided for said halls, in a man- 
ner approved by the Metropolitan Board of Health. 
Sec. 16. Every owner or other person, violating any 
provision of this act, after the same shall take effect, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine 
of not less than ten dollars, nor more than one hundred 
dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than ten days 
for each and every day that such violation shall con- 
tinue, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the 
discretion of the court. He shall also be liable to pay a 
penalty of ten dollars for each and every day that such 
offense shall continue. Such penalty may be sued for 
and recovered by the Metropolitan Board of Health, 
and when recovered shall be paid over to the Treasurer 
of said Board. In every proceeding for a violation of 
this act, and in every such action for a penalty, it shall 
be the duty of the owner of the house to prove the date 
of its erection or conversion to its existing use, if that 
fact shall become material, and the owner shall be prima 
facie the person liable to pay such penalty, and after 
him the person who is the lessee of the wdiole house, 
in preference to the tenant or lessee of a part thereof. 
In any such action the owner, lessee, and occupant, or 
any two of them, may be made defendants, and judg- 
ment may be given against the one or more shown to 
be liable as if he or they were sole defendant or 
defendants. 
Sec. 17. A tenement-house, within the meaning of 
this act, shall be taken to mean and include every 
house, building, or portion thereof which is rented, 
leased, let, or hired out to be occupied, or is occupied 
as the home or residence of more than three families 
Punishment 
for viola- 
tion. 
Penalty. 
How recov- 
ered. 
Who may 
be made 
defendants. 
“Tenement- 
house,” de- 
finition of. living independently of another, and doing their 
cooking upon the premises, or by more than two fam- 
ilies upon a floor, so living and cooking, but having a 
common right in the halls, stairways, yards, water- 
closets, or privies, or some of them. A lodging-house 
shall be taken to mean and include any house or build- 
ing, or portion thereof, in which persons are harbored 
or received, or lodged for hire for a single night, or 
for less than a week at one time, or any part of which 
is let for any person to sleep in for any term less than 
a week. A cellar shall be taken to mean and include 
every basement or lower story of any building or 
house of which one-half or more of the height from 
the floor to the ceiling is below the level of the street 
adjoining. 
Sec. 18. The Metropolitan Board of Health shall 
have authority to make other regulations as to cellars 
and as to ventilation, consistent with the foregoing, 
where it shall be satisfied that such regulations will 
secure equally well the health of the occupants. 
Sec. 19. This act, except when it is otherwise ex- 
pressly provided, shall take effect in May first, eigh- 
teen hundred and sixty-seven. 
“ Lodging- 
house,” de- 
finition of. 
“ Cellar,” 
definition 
of. 
Regulations 
not incon- 
sistent with 
this act may 
be made by 
Board of 
Health. 
When act 
takes effect. 14 
Chapter 504, Laws of 1 879.* 
(As amended by Chapter 399, Laws of 1880.) 
An Act to amend Chapter 908, of the Laws of 1867, 
entitled “ An Act for the regulation of Tenement 
and Lodging-Houses in the cities of New York and 
Brooklyn.” 
Passed June 16, 1879. 
The People of the State of New Yo?‘Jc, represented in 
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: 
Section 1 Section thirteen of chapter nine hun- 
dred and eight of the Laws of eighteen hundred and 
sixty-seven, entitled “ An Act for the regulation of 
Tenement and Lodging-Houses in the cities of New 
York and Brooklyn,” is hereby amended so as to read 
as follows : 
Sec. 13 (as amended by chapter 399, Sec. 1, Laws 
of 1880). It shall not be lawful hereafter to erect 
for, or convert to, the purposes of a tenement or 
lodging-house, a building on any lot where there is 
another building on the same lot, unless there is a 
clear open space exclusively belonging thereto, and 
extending upward from the ground of at least ten 
feet between said buildings, if they are one story 
high above the level of the ground; if they are two 
stories high, the distance between them shall not be 
less than fifteen feet; if they are three stories high, 
the distance between them shall not be less than 
twenty feet; and if they are more than three stories 
Laws 1867, 
chap. 908, 
§ 13, amend- 
ed. 
Distances 
between 
buildings 
on front and 
rear of lot. 
* Sections 1 and 2 amend Chapter 908, Laws of 1867, and are in- 
corporated in said act as printed herewith. 15 
high, the distance between them shall not be less than 
twenty-five feet. At the rear of every building here- 
after erected for or converted to the purposes of a 
tenement or lodging-house on any lot, there shall be a 
clear open space of not less than ten feet between it 
and the rear line of the lot; but, when thorough ven- 
tilation of such open spaces can be otherwise secured, 
such distances may be lessened or modified, in special 
cases, or the open spaces may be dispensed with on 
corner lots, by a permit from the Board of Health. 
No one continuous building shall be built or converted 
to the purposes of a tenement or lodging-house in the 
city of New York, upon an ordinary city lot, to occupy 
more than sixty-five per centum of the said lot, and 
in the same proportion if the lot be greater or less in 
size than twenty-five feet by one hundred feet, but 
this provision shall not apply to corner lots, and may 
be modified in other special cases by a permit from 
the Board of Health. 
Sec. 2. The fourteenth section of the said act is 
hereby amended so as to read as follows: 
Sec. 14. In every such house hereafter erected or 
converted, every habitable room, except rooms in the 
attic, shall be in every part not less than eight feet in 
height from the floor to the ceiling ; and every habit- 
able room in the attic of any such building shall be 
at least eight feet in height from the floor to the ceil- 
ing throughout not less than one-half of the area of 
such room. Every such room shall have, at least, one 
window connecting with the external air, or over the 
door a ventilator of perfect construction connecting it 
with a room or hall which has a connection with the 
Space be- 
tween rear 
of tenement 
or lodging- 
house and 
back line of 
lot. 
When dis- 
tances may 
be modified 
by Board of 
Health. 
Building 
not to oc- 
cupy more 
than 65 per 
cent, of or- 
dinary lot, 
etc. 
Foregoing 
provision 
not applica- 
ble to cor- 
ner lots, and 
may be 
modified by 
Board of 
Health 
L. 1867, ch. 
908, § 14, 
amended. 
Height of 
rooms. 
Windows. external air, and so arranged as to produce a cross- 
current of air. The total area of window or windows 
in every room communicating with the external air 
shall be at least one-tenth of the superficial area of 
every sucli room, and the top of one, at least, of such 
windows shall not be less than seven feet and six 
inches above the floor, and the upper half, at least, 
shall be made so as to open the full width. Every 
habitable room of a less area than one hundred super- 
ficial feet, if it does not communicate directly with the 
external air and is without an open fire-place, shall be 
provided with special means of ventilation by a sepa- 
rate air-shaft extending to the roof, or otherwise, as 
the Board of Health may prescribe. But in all houses 
hereafter erected or converted in the city of New York, 
which shall be used, occupied, leased, or rented for a 
tenement or lodging-house, every room used, let, or 
occupied by any person or persons for sleeping shall 
have at least one window, with a movable sash, having 
an opening of not less than twelve square feet, admitting 
light and air directly from the public street or the yard 
of the said bouse, unless sufficient light and ventilation 
shall be otherwise provided, in a manner and upon a 
plan approved by the Board of Health. 
Sec. 3. Whenever it shall be certified to the Board 
of Health of the city of New York, by the Sanitary 
Superintendent that any tenement-house or room 
therein is so overcrowded that there shall be afforded 
less than six hundred cubic feet of air to each occupant 
of such building or room, the said Board may, if it 
deem the same to be wise or necessary, issue an order 
requiring the number of occupants of such building 
or room to be reduced, so that the inmates thereof 
Size there- 
of. 
Small rooms 
to have 
special 
ventilation. 
Bed-room 
to have win- 
dow open- 
ing directly 
to external 
air. 
Size of bed- 
room win- 
dow. 
Board may 
permit dif- 
ferent ven- 
tilation. if 
sufficient. 
Overcrowd- 
ed T. H. 
may have 
number of 
occupants 
reduced by 
order of 
Board of 
Health. 17 
shall not exceed one person to each six hundred cubic 
feet of air-space in such building or room. Such 
excess in the number of occupants shall be reduced to 
the standard hereby designated within ten days after 
the service of an order therefor upon the owner, lessee, 
occupant, or agent of such building or room. When- 
ever there shall be more than ten families living in any 
tenement-house, in which the owner thereof does not 
reside, there shall be a janitor, housekeeper, or some 
other responsible person, who shall reside in the said 
house and have charge of the same, if the Board of 
Health shall so require. 
Sec. 4. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment 
of the city of New York shall within twenty days 
after the passage of this act, transfer from any unex- 
pended balances standing to the credit of any Depart- 
ment of said city, or shall otherwise provide, and shall 
annually hereafter appropriate to the credit of the 
Health Department the sum of ten thousand dollars, 
to be known as the tenement-house fund, to be 
expended by the Board of Health. 
Sec. 5 (as amended by Chapter 399, Sec. 2, Laws of 
1880). The Board of Police of the city of New 
York, upon the requisition of the Board of Health of 
the city of New York, shall detail to the service of the 
said Board of Health, for the purpose of the enforce- 
ment of the provisions of this act and of chapter nine 
hundred and eight of the Laws of eighteen hundred 
and sixty-seven, in the said city, not exceeding thirty 
suitable officers and men of experience, of at least five 
years’ service in the police force, provided that the 
Board of Health shall pay monthly to the Board of 
Time within 
which such 
order must 
be complied 
with. 
Janitor, 
etc., for ten 
ement- 
house. when 
Board may 
require. 
Board of 
estimate, 
etc., to ap- 
propriate 
$10,000 an- 
nually as 
“teuement- 
house 
fund.” 
Sanitary 
company, 
number of, 
and how 
constituted. 
Id.; com- • 
pensation. 18 
Police a sum equal to the pay of all officers and men 
so detailed. These officers and men shall belong to the 
sanitary company of police, and shall report to the 
President of the Board of Health. The Board of Health 
may report back to the Board of Police for punishment 
any member of said company guilty of any breach of 
orders or discipline or of neglecting his duty, and 
; thereupon the Board of Police may detail another 
officer or man in his place ; and the discipline of the 
said members of the sanitary company shall be in the 
jurisdiction of the Board of Police ; but at any time 
the Board of Health may object to the efficiency of 
any member of said sanitary company, and thereupon 
another officer or man may be detailed in his place. 
The Board of Police shall have the power, and it shall 
be their duty, to fill all vacancies in the police force of 
the city caused by the detailing of said officers and 
men, upon the requisition of the Board of Health, and 
to make new appointments to said force equal in num- 
ber to the officers and men now or who may hereafter 
be detailed to the service of the Board of Health under 
and by virtue of the provisions of this act. 
Sec. 6. Every owner or other person violating any 
provision of this act shall be liable to pay a penalty 
of ten dollars for each and every day that such offense 
. shall continue. Such penalty may be sued for and 
recovered by the Board of Health, and when recovered 
shall be paid over to the City Chamberlain, and 
. become part of the tenement-house fund. In every 
proceeding for a violation of this act, and in every 
such action for a penalty, the owner shall be prima 
facie the person liable to pay such penalty, and after 
him the person who is the lessee of the whole house, 
Id.; report 
of, to whom 
made. 
Id.; disci- 
pline, regu- 
lations con- 
cerning. 
Penalty for 
violation of 
this act. 
How recov- 
ered ; to 
whom paid. 
Who liable. 19 
in preference to the tenant or lessee of a part thereof. 
In any such action the owner, lessee, and occupant, or 
any two of them, may be made defendants, and 
judgment may be given against the one or more shown 
to be liable as if he or they were the sole defendant or 
defendants. 
Sec. 7. This act shall take effect immediately. 
Who may 
be made 
defendants.