Tenement

A tenement is an apartment that was lived in by many families at once. It was usually very cramped for space and not very well lighted. Tenements were built as block shaped buildings that had no lawn and only had windows on the front and back. Later on though, people realized that tuberculosis was being spread faster because of lack of light and fresh air. The newer models of tenements were starting to have lightwells in the center of the buildings to accommodate the inner rooms. Tenements are so small and lacking space that sometimes there will be a bathtub found in the kitchen. The main percentage of people who lived in these tenements were immigrants. The reason being, because they are giving all the money they make back home to their families in their home countries. People with small businesses and not a lot of money choose to live in these tenements to save money and not spend too much money on their rent. Tenements were very useful in the 1800s and offered places for immigrants to live without ripping them of all their money.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-tenement.htm

http://www.artblogny.com/2012-10/architecture/life-in-a-tenement-in-the-late-1800s-have-things-changed-much#.Umfq0hbU5Ed