Industrial Housing/The Bayonne Housing Corporation
CHAPTER III
The Bayonne Housing Corporation
THE Bayonne Housing Corporation, as explained in the introductory chapter, was founded by a group of the leading industries at Bayonne, at the instance of the Chamber of Commerce, to stimulate the production of better housing for wage-earners. Its beginnings date from the World War, when, on October 4, 1917, the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce authorized the appointment of a special committee to examine the local housing situation and to make recommendations leading to action.
The Committee as appointed by President Van Buskirk consisted of Mr. C. J. Hicks, of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Mr. J. H. Mahnken and Mr. George E. Keenen, both of Bayonne, and Mr. W. M. Cosgrove, General Manager of the American Radiator Company. The success of the undertaking is ascribed to Mr. Hicks by his associates. It was Mr. Hicks' vision and persistence through years of discouragement which finally put the project through.
As has been stated in the introductory chapter, the occasion for taking concerted action was the unsatisfactory situation in housing in Bayonne. Wage-earners found living conditions very unsatisfactory. The houses available were generally of a poor grade—obsolete, depreciated, "cold-water" flats of frame construction. The expansion of the big industrial plants was encroaching on the housing areas, and property owners, who expected to sell at any moment, were not inclined to keep their property in good repair.
The Committee of the Chamber of Commerce carefully surveyed the situation, and covered it thoroughly in a report of November 17, 1917. Their report was accepted by the Chamber of Commerce at a meeting held in the following January, when the Committee was continued and asked to proceed with remedial action.
This first report of the Committee is a noteworthy document. Particularly significant is that part of it which, in proposing definite measures of relief, at the same time lays down the fundamental principles of industrial housing. First, the report goes to the root of the whole complicated subject by emphasizing the essentials of durable construction, and of daylight, ventilation, garden and recreation space in the architectural design. To quote the report: "We believe that the only plan by which apartments can be provided will be an apartment house or a modified form of tenement house containing not more than fifty apartments. Such a building should be of slow-burning construction with fire-proof stairways, and should provide ample light for every room, and sufficient ground should be left free to provide adequate air space and attractive surroundings. It should be provided with a central heating plant for heat and hot water. The kitchens should be heated and equipped with gas stoves and laundry tubs. The entire building should be equipped with shades, screens, ash and garbage cans. Each apartment should be provided with separate and complete bath room equipment. Playground, and if possible, a small additional park, should be provided adjacent to the building for the exclusive use of the tenants. The main purpose in the erection and operation of such a building should be to demonstrate that it is possible to provide satisfactory living accommodations for working men at a reasonable rental and as a business proposition that will net five to six per cent." It would be difficult to find, in a few words, a clearer statement of the policy of housing in its social, architectural and financial relationships.
Following this enlightened statement of principles is the Committee's recommendations for definite action. They are here given in full as a model statement of a practical housing program:
1—That an attempt be made to provide model apartments as above outlined for one hundred families of Bayonne wageearners as a practical demonstration that will lead to further provisions of a similar nature.
2.—That the Bayonne industries and business men be invited to provide $100,000 as working capital to make possible the carrying out of the provisions of this recommendation.
3.—That the corporations and individuals furnishing this capital be advised to organize a corporation to be known as the Bayonne Housing Corporation, a majority of whose directors shall be residents in Bayonne. This Company to construct two buildings to house approximately fifty families each and to operate them on the basis of attempting to pay five to six per cent dividends after the payment of all maintenance and fixed charges, and the setting aside of the proper depreciation fund.
4.—That in carrying out this purpose the Company engages the services of some architect who is expert in tenement house construction, and preferably one who is generally recognized as an architect interested in the housing of working men.
5.—That a tract of land be secured which is within walking distance of the largest number of industries and that this tract be of sufficient size to provide for modern dwellings with ample light and air space, playground, and opportunity for the erection of additional houses later.
6.—That the Company be organized on the basis of one hundred shares of stock at par value of $1000 each, and that for each share of stock paid for, the stockholder shall be entitled to have first claim on one apartment for rental to a wage-earner in his employ.
7.—That the rental of these apartments be restricted to wage-earners.
The whole subsequent seven years' history of the Bayonne movement was a struggle to attain these enlightened standards in practice. To that end, early in the year 1918, and only a few months after the special Committee of the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce had rendered its first report, the Bayonne Housing Corporation was organized, although the date of official incorporation is April 2, 1919.
The Bayonne Housing Corporation operates under the usual New Jersey charter for business corporations. In this case, in order not to handicap the work of pioneering, the charter was purposely drawn to give it the broadest possible powers, particularly with reference to real estate operations and building construction. However, the social and public-spirited side of the undertaking is clearly expressed in Article III of the By-Laws, which limits the dividends on the common stock to six per cent.
Originally the capital was $250,000, consisting of one thousand shares of cumulative five per cent preferred stock of $100 par, and one thousand eight hundred shares of common. In March, 1924, the capitalization was changed to $2,000,000, entirely of common stock. Stock is held in the name of the individuals and the industrial organizations.
The Bayonne Housing Corporation has the usual corporate organization, with officers and directors. Since it is an educational undertaking, carrying out extensive experiments in the first years of its existence, the officers and directors serve without pay.
After its organization in 1918, the years following were spent in careful examination of the situation and in a long study of the various types of industrial housing, made in order to determine which one was most applicable to the conditions at Bayonne. The extraordinary upset in economic conditions which followed the World War, particularly the sharp rise in costs of construction and building finance, created almost insoluble problems. It was not until conditions had become somewhat more normal that the course seemed more clear to the sponsors of the experiment. Then, as a result of this long preparation, the Bayonne Housing Corporation in January, 1924, commissioned Mr. Andrew J. Thomas, architect, to undertake the design of this, their first group of five garden apartments, and to supervise the construction work.
Ground was broken for the foundations in the following month. The project suffered from a delay in the Spring of 1924, due to the need of removing the unnecessary legal handicaps mentioned in the previous chapter on economics, which amounted to at least five per cent of the construction cost. As soon as the necessary amendments to the State tenement law and to the local building code could be secured, the project was rapidly completed and the first building was ready for tenants in December, 1924. The other structures were soon finished, and, in 1925, seven years after the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce had made its first report, the principles and standards of industrial housing which the Committee, under the leadership of its Chairman, Mr. C. J. Hicks, had so ably formulated, were realized in this group of apartments.
The demonstration of ideal wage-earners' housing now stands completed. It proves successful in the three essentials—economic, social, architectural. The garden apartments of the Bayonne Housing Corporation give the average thrifty wageearner an ideal home at a price which he can afford.
The Bayonne apartments are now filled with tenants who are enjoying homes finer than anything they had ever hoped for. They are delighted with the garden setting, and when they see their children romping in the play space, in the sunshine, in safety, a heavy load drops off their shoulders.
Thus is reborn something of the older, freer sociable life of early Bayonne, the life of those simple old days when Bayonne was a little American town, like many another, built in the familiar pattern of small separate houses and quiet streets, before the coming of industry. Only, the rebirth comes in a different form, in a new age. The Aladdins of industry who transformed Bayonne are thus completing their task. This is the significance of the work of the Bayonne Housing Corporation—namely the development of the highest type of industrial housing for rental purposes. Other industrial centers may well profit by its example.