Journal of Architectural and Planning Research
9:4 (Winter, 1992)	317

ments had been legislatively abolished in
1782. Yet ninety-nine year leaseholds
likewise became the customary tenure form
for building lots (Mayer, 1883: 49-51).

Baltimore ground rents served another
economic function. They made land more
marketable by providing liberal financing
terms. For example, in 1769 Ann Fell
leased land to Alexander McMechen for
ninety-nine years, renewable forever, at an
annual rent of 10 pounds, 10 shillings. No
down payment was required; the vendor
had enhanced the salability of her land by
lending the purchase price (Myers v.
Silljacks, 1882: 330).

The ground rent system also served the
land speculator. McMechen immediately
subdivided his leasehold into three parts
and assigned two lots to sublessees who
agreed to pay the entire annual rent of 10
pounds, 10 shillings; he kept the third lot,
exonerated from rent obligation, as his
profit. In taking his profit McMechen had
not been required to invest any capital.

HOUSES

FIGURE 1. Section from Bradford's Map of Birmingham   °ncs;the land in Birmingham was freed for

1750. Source: C.W. Chalkin, The provincial towns of Georgian  development,       Construction      proceeded

England.	rapidly. During the late eighteenth century

over ten thousand dwellings were erected

in and around the city center. Increases in the value of land promoted "in- filling" in the gar-
dens behind the grand houses and "polite terraces" left over from earlier decades. Most of the
new dwellings were for impoverished workers and consisted of only two or three rooms
(Chalklin, 1974: 107-108,196-197).

Slum housing came in a variety of configurations designed to increase the density of habitation.
Houses were "jerry-built" back-to-back, at right angle to the street. Tunnels through the ter-
raced houses afforded access to the resulting courts (Muthesius, 1982: 107-108; Chalklin, 1974:
66-72).

The turn of the nineteenth century also witnessed an unprecedented growth in Baltimore's low
income housing stock. Its masses lived very much as their Birmingham brethren did. In the
low-lying districts surrounding the waterfront, houses in block rows bordered the main streets.
Behind them shanties and sheds were connected by alleys and court yards. Just as in Birmin-
gham, these warrens were the product of exigency rather than design. Profit-maximizing