Room to be healthy is, then, one of the great wants of cities and
towns, and no greater boon could be offered, to the working classes
especially, than houses of two stories high being, at least in front and
rear, freed from the obstructing injury of any other buildings to the
full breadth of their own height. One point more must be put in
this prayer for the poorer householders, which is this, that all
frontages should receive the light and heat, the dryness and cleanliness,
which a south or an eastern aspect would confer and maintain. Groups of houses round areas separated by their own height at
least, and three-sided, leaving the south open, would be wholesome
hamlets for the working classes. No doubt, if a grass-plot or flagged
square of a moderate size, and without trees or shrubs, could be
bestowed as a centre-piece,it would add greatly to the pleasure of the
residents and the health of the children; and by inducing the population
to live much in the open air, it would improve the physical,
moral, and mental strength of the occupying tenants. Such are
some of the reasons, statistical and constitutional, for a great increase
of street-roominess