Alleyway Behind Row Houses

Row houses in Philadelphia open out onto an alleyway less than four-feet wide. This is one in a series of photographs that illustrates Emily W. Dinwiddie's Housing Conditions in Philadelphia (1904), a study conducted under the direction of the Octavia Hill Association, a private organization devoted to improving housing conditions for the poor. In her forty-two-page publication, Dinwiddie pointed out the lack of proper ventilation and sanitation in dwellings for Philadelphia's poorest residents. This image served as the frontispiece for the pamphlet, and the signature beneath it may be Dinwiddie's.

Citation: Housing Conditions in Philadelphia. F221 v.421. Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.