Dramatic Table Reading from the CHPC Archive

On Wednesday, July 13, 2011, CHPC, along with Enterprise Community Partners, held a unique evening event to celebrate New York City’s housing policy history.

Guests from across the housing industry were invited to take part in a dramatic table reading of two pieces from CHPC’s incredible archive.

In rich poetic detail, reports from the first-ever New York City code inspectors, describing their experiences of the Lower East Slums at the turn of the 20th century, were actually read by real-life code inspectors today! We were delighted to welcome so many code inspectors, including Vito Mustaciuolo, Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Enforcement and Neighborhood Services, who read the introduction to the code inspectors’ reports.

Then, the whole audience took part in a lively reading of a 1939 radio play written by CHPC to commemorate the opening of Red Hook Houses. It tells the story of a proud Irish family living in Hells Kitchen, who go visit friends in Red Hook Houses and debate the pros and cons of accepting a new NYCHA home.

We are very grateful to Enterprise Community Partners who hosted the event and also to our exuberant audience who made every effort to perfect their Irish brogues to offer more depth to the wonderful script.

We are hoping to hold more of these events in the future so keep an eye on our website for more details, or sign up for our mailing list for the latest information on our events. In the meantime, you can read each piece from our archive below.

• Excerpts from the First Report of the Tenement House Department of the City of New York 1902-1903
• Home Sweet Home: a radio play written in 1939 by CHPC