Under the Tenement House Act of 1867, ventilation was affected because

• A. There were meaningless windows between rooms and no air shafts.
• B. There were meaningful air shafts but no windows.
• C. It required central heating and air conditioning.
• D. It provided continuous ventilation through exterior courtyards.

Answer: (A)

Ventilation improvement came from giving every room real access to outside air, not just interior openings. Before the act, many rooms were separated by partitions with windows that opened to other rooms or to nowhere useful, so air couldn’t circulate through the building. The Tenement House Act of 1867 addressed this by requiring exterior openings and vertical air shafts so air could move through and reach interior spaces. Central heating or air conditioning didn’t exist at that time, so the mechanism relied on architectural features that bring in fresh air and daylight. Continuous ventilation through exterior courtyards wouldn’t reliably reach all rooms, whereas exterior windows and air shafts directly ensure air exchange for every room.