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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220 ELBERFELD. Elberfeld is one of the principal towns of the Rhineland, and in manufac tures and industries it most closely corresponds to Bradford amongst English towns. Like Barmen, which it adjoins, it is situated in the Wupper valley, one of the larger depressions of the Berg country, stretching roughly from the river Ruhr in the north to the Sieg in the south. Its population as enumerated at the census of 1905 was 162,853, against 156,966 in 1900, an increase of 5,887, or 3'7 per cent., against an increase of 12 7 per cent, during the preceding five years. Elberfeld does not gain as much as some industrial towns of North Germany by immigration : an exceptionally large proportion of its population is indigenous. The following Table shows the population of Elberfeld at the last seven censuses, and also the increase in population in each inter-censal period. Census Year. 1871 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 Population. 71,384 80,589 93,538 106,499 125,899 139,337 156,966 162,853 Increase during Inter-censal Period. Persons. 9,205 12,949 12,961 19,400 13,438 17,629 5,887 Per cent. 12- 9 16-1 13- 9 18-2 10-7 12-7 3-7 Elberfeld is an industrial and trading town pure and simple. It literally fills the valley, rising up on both sides of the river in irregular streets and terraces ; the houses climb up steep declivities, some of which are rendered extremely quiet by the impossibility of vehicular traffic ; the streets are a perplexing zig-zag of unrelated lines and curves ; in short, wherever houses could be squeezed in, they have been built, and the result is a curious patchwork of architecture. Where the hillside has defied the resources of the builder, access is obtained to higher levels by flights of stone steps, varying in number from a score to a hundred ; in one place there is a sheer ascent of nearly a hundred and fifty steps. In the older parts of the town the traditional Berg style of domestic architecture predominates. The original Berg dwelling was a low structure of wood, brick and plaster, or even of straw and mud, and it has many representatives in Elberfeld to-day, though the modern builder does not perpetuate it. Later came a modification in the form of a facing of black slate, by way of protection against the weather, and this form of house is also met with in considerable numbers. High gables and large sweeps of roof are characteristic of all these dwellings. The streets are, for the most part, narrow, and few ot them are well-paved, while many are not paved at all. tip to recently the cesspool system of drainage was universal, and even now the gutters in many parts of the town receive the w^ash-water of the adjacent houses, to the disfigurement of the streets, though within several years the costly system of sewerage now in progress will remove this deficiency. Through the valley there flows the Wupper stream, made black and noisome by the in-pourings of trade effluents of every kind, while above it runs the

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