The Artizans, Labourers, and General Dwellings Company Limited

According to an entry in "Dickens's Dictionary of London", by Charles Dickens, Junior, (1879): "So many of the poorer among the working classes of London are absolutely compelled to live within easy distance of their work, that a serious problem is added to the many difficulties which arise when great metropolitan improvements are in contemplation. The destruction of whole quarters of the town, which house, however inadequately, many families, is not an enterprise to be undertaken without due regard being had to the requirements of those whose little homes are taken from them, and who, if matters are left to take their own course, have no choice but to seek refuge in the already over-crowded streets and alleys which remain untouched. Fortunately this is a question that early attracted the attention of practical philanthropists, and several associations now exist which have its solution for their object ... THE ARTIZANS, LABOURERS, AND GENERAL DWELLINGS COMPANY-In the words of its prospectus, "this company was established for the erection of improved dwellings near to the great centres of industry, but free from the annoyances arising from the proximity of manufactures." Large estates have been secured near Clapham Junction and the Harrow-road the former, called Shaftesbury-park, is now covered with about 1,150 houses whilst the partially developed Queen's-park Estate, Harrow-road, contains nearly 800 houses. The estates have been laid out with every regard to the latest sanitary improvements. The Shaftesbury-park Estate is readily accessible from Kensington, Victoria, Waterloo, Ludgate-hill, and London-bridge, at low fares; while the Westbourne-park Station on the Metropolitan District and Great Western Railways, and the Kensal-green Station on the Hampstead Junction and North London Railway, and the new station on the London and North-Western main line, with a good service of omnibuses, make the Queen's-park Estate at Harrow-road almost equally accessible. The sale of intoxicating liquor is altogether excluded. The company reserves the right to prohibit sub-letting, or to limit the number of lodgers. There is a co-operative store on the Shaftesbury-park Estate as well as a handsome hall for public gatherings and society meetings; and on both estates the School Board for London has provided ample school accommodation. The houses are divided into four classes, according to accommodation and position. The smallest - the fourth-class - contains five rooms on two floors. A third-class house has an additional bed-room. In the second-class house there is an extra parlour, making in all seven rooms; while a house of the first-class has eight rooms - a bath-room being the additional accommodation. The present weekly rental, which includes rates and taxes, except in the case of the first-class houses, is as follows:
an ordinary fourth-class house, 7s. 6d.
third-class, 8s. 6d.
second-class, 10s.
first-class, 10s. and 11s.
The shops, corner houses, those with larger gardens than ordinary, and some other exceptional houses, are subject to special arrangements both as to rental and purchase. The company is also prepared to sell the houses on lease for 99 years, and on easy terms, subject to a moderate ground-rent; the object being to encourage the personal acquisition of the house by payment of a slightly increased rental. All applications to rent or purchase houses must be made in the first instance to the sub-managers on the estates, and all letters must contain a stamped envelope for reply."

Source: http://www.victorianlondon.org/dickens/dickens-mus.htm (accessed July 2009).