Lawrence Turner Veiller (1872–1959) was an American

social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

er of the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was a major figure in the

Good government Good government is a normative description of how government is supposed to be constituted. It has been frequently employed by various political thinkers, ideologues and politicians. Thomas Jefferson and good government Thomas Jefferson often r ...

and urban planning movements of the early twentieth century.

Early life and education

Lawrence Turnure Veiller was born in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

on January 7, 1872. Lawrence Veiller was the son of broker and factory owner, Philip Veiller and Elizabeth du Puy. Lawrence attended school in many states such as

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

. He graduated from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in New York City in 1890. He took interest in social work by elaborating solutions for poor, harmful living conditions. He helped bring insight to building construction regulations.

Marriage and family

In 1897, Veiller married Amy Hall; they had no children.

Career

Veiller began his career with the

Charity Organization Society The Charity Organisation Societies were founded in England in 1869 following the ' Goschen Minute' that sought to severely restrict outdoor relief distributed by the Poor Law Guardians. In the early 1870s a handful of local societies were formed w ...

(COS) as a volunteer, then worked as plans manager for the Buildings Department of the City of New York gaining knowledge about housing construction and finance (1895-1897). He was especially concerned with housing conditions among the poor, which he viewed as a crucial to broader social improvement. Veiller served as executive officer of the Tenement House Committee (1898-1907). Veiller produced a Tenement Exhibition, consisting of visuals that where examples of the proposals to be set in New York City (1900). He then became secretary of the New York State Tenement House Commission (1900–01) through which he helped draft the

New York State Tenement House Act One of the reforms of the Progressive Era, the New York State Tenement House Act of 1901 was one of the first such laws to ban the construction of dark, poorly ventilated tenement buildings in the state of New York. Among other sanctions, the law ...

(1901), which established basic housing laws in the city such as better fire exits and running water for bathrooms in every tenement. Veiller understood the importance of publicity in gaining support for his cause, and to this end worked with journalists like

Jacob Riis Jacob August Riis ( ; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in America at the turn of the twen ...

, who used photography to document the living conditions of the poor. Lawrence Veiller’s participation in housing affairs ended 1917. He still took interest of New York City’s

urban reformation Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

. He worked for traffic regulation, expansion of subway transportation, and control of francises. After Lawrence Veiller’s active years of social reformation and regulation, his ideas fell out of favor. It became difficult to encourage quality construction regulations and control on housing for the poor. It became unaffordable to maintain, due to the Depression of 1929, his reforms for housing the poor ultimately receded.

Publications

Veiller published books in interest of the reform of tenement housing such as

A Model Tenement House Law A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

(1910), Housing Reform: A Hand-Book for Practical Use in American Cities (1910), and A Model Housing Law (1914; rev/ed., 1920).Sandra Opdycke. "Veiller, Lawrence Turnure"; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veiller, Lawrence American social activists Activists from New York City 1872 births 1959 deaths