Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1883 — Honse-Building in England. [ARTICLE]

Honse-Building in England.

How many years (Land asks) must elapse before the entire surface of this country shall be covered with houses ? Forty years ago we built 40,000 houses per annum in Great Britain; now we build more than 80,000. During (he last eighty years we have erected 2,250,000 houses, whioh are “estimated to be worth double the amount of the national debt. ” It would be interesting to inquire how many of these dwellings will be in existence or in habitable condition at the end of another forty years? The great bulk of the new houses built in England are in the suburbs of London, although, as the metropolis is at present more extensively overbuilt than it has been for several years, the number will no doubt be considerably reduced during the next year or two. London houses, it is notorious, are, taken all round, the worst built in this island. It is probable enough, therefore, that quite one-half of the dwellings which are built in Great Britain, every year, will not be in existence half a century after their completion.