This street scene suggests conditions in downtown working class areas. The abutment of houses with the street and the absence of open spaces or trees are the most obvious features of this area. There were no back-yards either, though there was sometimes a small shared courtyard. Frequently, two or three families lived in an area that had been designed for one family. Often houses were still being occupied as crowded tenements that were seventy-five or even one hundred years old and in a doubtful state of repair.
