Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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DÜSSELDORF. 213 a close courtyard. Some of these old houses are built in blocks round double courtyards, the first courtyard leading into the second by a passage which serves both as entrance and exit. The first courtyard may be 18 feet by 16 feet, the second only 16 feet by 12 feet. Houses of this kind have little or no attrac tions save the sentimental one of age and association, yet it is a fact that tenants who might well afford newer and airier dwellings on the outskirts persist in living in the close purlieus of the Alte Stadt for no other reason than that they were born in the centre of Düsseldorf and are persuaded that nowhere else would a house be home for them. Fortunately the Old Town quarter is gradually becoming less congested. The decrease in its population shown by the census of 1905, as compared with that of 1900, was 1135 per cent. The appended table of rents, based on an enumeration of 752 tenements made for the purposes of this report, shows that for two rooms the most usual rent is 4& to 5s. and for three rooms 5s. to 7s. per week. A single room maybe had for 2s. 4d. per week. It is to be noted, however, that in these rents no element of rates is included, since in Prussia the principal basis of local taxation is income. On the other hand the owner pays the water-rent and the municipal charges in respect of chimney sweeping and the removal of household refuse. Number of Rooms per Tenement. Two rooms... Three rooms Predominant Weekly Rent. 4s. to OS. 5s. 4d. to 7s. It will be noticed that these rents are much higher than in most other towns in Germany. Rent at Düsseldorf is higher than at any of the 33 towns included in the present enquiry with the exception of Berlin and Stuttgart. Representing the level of rent at Berlin by 100, the corresponding figure for Düsseldorf is 79, as compared with 97 for Stuttgart, and 68 for Dortmund, the next most highly rented town. It may here be noted that the police regulations regarding dwellings pre scribe that bedrooms must provide at least 343 cubic feet of air space for every person above the age of 10 years belonging to the household, and for every child under 10 years at least 172 cubic feet, infants under one year being disregarded. The bedrooms must also be so arranged that unmarried people above 14 years of different sex may occupy separate apartments or divisions of the same, and a separate room or division be provided for every married couple and their children under 14 years. All bedrooms must have a lockable door and at least one window looking outside, opening, and equal in size to one-twelfth of the floor surface. Attic rooms are only permissible as bedrooms when their Avails are either plastered or faced with wood. A careful system of house inspection is carried on by the municipal authority. The practical work lies in the hands of trained officials, who are armed with ample authority, and the building and sanitary regulations aie enforced with as much stringency as is compatible Avith the existence of inherited difficulties which need patient treatment. . It has been stated that the majority of working-class households in Düssel dorf lÍA r e in tenements of two and three rooms, one of these being the kitchen, and the fact may be noted that of 10,434 dwellings of all kinds erected in the town during the years 1902-5 no fewer than 53 per cent, were of these two sizes :— Year. 1902 ... 1903 ... 1904 ... 1905 ... Total, 1902-5 Percentages Number of Rooms. 38 26 30 28 122 12 336 537 590 734 2,197 211 488 794 997 1,062 3,341 394 669 651 618 32 0 2,332 22 3 320 338 260 271 1,189 11-4 130 134 115 109 8 and over 86 86 98 57 106 93 110 129 488 i 327 438 47 31 4-2 Total Number of Dwellings. 1,898 2,677 2,851 3,008 10,434 100-0

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