The first mass rent strike in New York City took place on the Lower East Side in the spring of 1904, spreading to 2,000 families across 800 tenements and lasting nearly a month. The strike was a respo
Political cartoon published by The Daily Forward during the 1904 NYC Rent Strike
The New York State Tenement House Acts were a series of legal reforms from 1867 to 1901 which aimed to improve the conditions of dark, poorly ventilated tenement buildings in New York City. The cumula
1904 New York City rent strike
…buildings were crowded multifamily tenements that were shabbily built, were fire traps and often lacked proper sanitation services. The passage of the New York State Tenement House Act in 1901, immigration, and the demolition of old tenements, decreased the available housing. The construction of the Williamsburg Bridge beginning in…
New Law tenement in The Bronx
Interior courts. Old law (L), compared with New law (R).