Leaking Ceiling in Bedroom

Makeshift boards are hammered into the ceiling to prevent water from leaking onto the bed of an Italian immigrant in Philadelphia. 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.

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