Dumbbell Tenement

The term dumbbell tenement denotes the predominant type of multiple dwelling constructed during the last two decades of the 19th century to house New York City's burgeoning immigrant, working class, and poor populations. The building type, though reviled from its inception and invariably referred to as either infamous or notorious, was actually designed to provide a solution to the increasingly worrisome problem posed by overcrowded, unsanitary, and menacing slums—often windowless, dank cellar dwellings—which had emerged by the 1840s.

In 1878, Henry C. Meyer's trade journal, the Plumber and Sanitary Engineer, announced a prize competition for a tenement on a 25- × 100-foot lot that would maximize both safety and comfort for the tenants and profitability for the builders. This size lot, which had become New York's standard decades earlier when single-family dwellings were being constructed, was altogether and clearly unsuited for the construction of tenements designed to house some two dozen families. Indeed, the committee of five judges stated physical and moral health requirements could simply not be satisfied by a tenement restricted to a 25- × 100-foot lot. The judges nevertheless awarded prizes, including first prize to architect James E. Ware's “dumbbell” design.

The dumbbell tenement derived its name from its shape. It was basically two tenements—front and rear—connected by a narrow hallway which contained water closets and the stairway. There were fourteen rooms to a floor, seven on each side running straight back. One family occupied the front four rooms; another family the back three on each side. The four families on each floor shared the two water closets. The front (and largest) rooms measured some 10½ × 11¼ feet, while the tiny bedrooms averaged 7 × 8½ feet. The typical dumbbell tenement was five or six stories in height with 20 to 24 apartments. Into each apartment were frequently crowded 20 or more assorted family members and boarders, with adults often sleeping in shifts and children squeezed four or five to a bed or mattress. From the beginning, observers recognized that the design of the dumbbell tenement served the interests of the landlords, builders, and realtors (who often took advantage of the discretionary features of the law by covering 80 to 90 percent of the lot rather than just the legally mandated maximum of 65 percent) more than it did those of the tenants.

The windows of 10 of the 14 rooms on each floor opened onto the air shaft in the center of the tenement. Formed by the indentation of the connecting hallway and running from the ground to the top of the building, the shaft was some 2½ feet in width (or 5 feet when two dumbbell tenements abutted one another), and some 50 to 60 feet in length. Enclosed on all sides, this air shaft could provide neither fresh air nor adequate light, and it frequently became a reeking, vermininfested garbage dump, a place to cram excess furniture, a deathtrap to children playing on the roof, and a fire hazard. Residents often kept windows opening onto the shaft closed to keep out the noxious odors and to lessen the noise—some even nailed them shut.

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