18
BERLIN.
If for present purposes the distinction between “ heatable ” and “ unbeatable"
rooms be disregarded, the small dwellings of Berlin as enumerated in 1900
may be more summarily and also more satisfactorily classified in the following
groups :—
Dwelling consisting of
Number.
Percentage of Whole.
One room
Two rooms
... j
Three rooms
Only kitchen ...
One room without kitchen ...
One room with kitchen
Two rooms without kitchen
Two rooms with kitchen ...
Three rooms without kitchen
4,086 )
37,556
33,470 i
m i i75 > 338
143 ’^gg j 143,887
80
37-2
306
It is interesting to compare these percentages with the corresponding
percentages for London :—
Tenements of
London.
Number.
Percentage.
Berlin.
Number.
Percentage.
One room
Two rooms
Three rooms
Four rooms and over
Total
149,524
201,431
181,542
487,049
14-7
19-8
17-8
47-8
1,019,546
37,556
175,338
143,887
114,196
80
37 2
30-6
242
470,977
The following table shows the number of occupied tenements of from one
to four rooms in London and Berlin according to the censuses of 1901 and 1900
respectively (rented dwellings alone being counted in the case of Berlin), with
the average number of persons per tenement of each size :—
Number of Rooms per
Tenement.
One room...
Two rooms
Three rooms
Four rooms
One to four rooms
Number of such
Tenements.
London.
149,524
201,431
181,542
139,533
672,030
Berlin.
37,369
175,163
143,744
56,197
412,473
Number of Persons.
Total.
London. Berlin.
304,874
701,203
752,221
691,491
2,449,789
67,645
629,929
608,671
239,171
1,545,416
Per Tenement.
London. Berlin
204
3- 48
4- 14
4-96
3 65
181
3 60
423
4-26
3 75
At the census of December, 1900, of the total population of Berlin, 96*7 per
cent, lived in rented dwellings, and of these 84*6 per cent, lived in dwelling's of
not more than four rooms, while in London only 54 per cent, of the total
population lived in tenements of not more than four rooms. In Berlin 3*7 per
cent, of the population occupying rented dwellings lived in dwellings consisting
of one room only, 34 5 per cent, in dwellings of two rooms, 33 3 per cent in
dwellings of three rooms, and 131 per cent, in four room dwellings. The
corresponding percentages for London (all occupied dwellings—not rented onlvl
were 6 - 7, 15*5, 16’6 and 15'2 respectively. ^
While the large " barrack,” built round a courtyard, is the typical Berlin
house, several variations of this type are clearly recognisable, and they can be
placed in a certain chronological sequence, according broadly with the building
by-laws which have been issued from time to time. Disregarding for the
moment the fast disappearing relics of old Berlin, buildings anterior to sanitary
regulations of any kind, and embodying the most primitive principles of
domestic architecture, the worst houses are those which were built under the
by-laws ot 1853, when Berlin was a town of some 428,000 inhabitants with an
industry of growing yet still insignificant proportions.
