tenement blocks
Best known to us from the remains of Ostia (above, pp. 722 f.). After the fire of Rome in 64, remedies were undertaken which have much to say about the general conditions of life in first-century Rome and, no doubt, in other large cities also. Limits were fixed to the permitted height of residential buildings, which must possess their own walls and not adjoin others directly; a proportion of the construction must be of fireproof stone, without timber frames; financial incentives were offered for early completion of building works; unauthorized tapping of the water system was prevented by government inspectors, to ensure an adequate flow to the public supply, and householders were required to keep fire-fighting equipment in an easily accessible place. All agreed that the new city was more gracious than the old; some claimed (it being impossible to please everyone) that it was less healthy than the old city, whose narrow streets and high buildings had provided shade and coolness which the new open spaces did not allow. (Boardman, 1986)