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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HAMBURG. 259 Hamburg’s maritime trade reside, while much superior conditions prevail outside the ancient area and in the suburbs, where the industrial and artisan classes are chiefly found. Centuries ago visitors to Hamburg spoke of it as a densely-built and congested town, and in spite of all that has been done by fire on the one hand and sanitary reformers on the other this characteristic still clings to it. For although during recent years a large amount of rebuilding has taken place Hamburg cannot be said to have been rebuilt, like so many large German towns : the architectural features which belonged to the late mediæval period are still conspicuous, and the Inner Town, with its narrow courts and alleys, its picturesque but unhygienic buildings, and its dense population, is now as ever typical of this ancient seaport. Light and air were brought into many dark places when the great fire of 1842 destroyed one of the oldest and most crowded quarters, and again some forty years later when Hamburg joined the Customs Union, and a whole district had to be cleared in order to make room for the necessary buildings, but the displaced population—numbering no less than 23,000—merely moved into the nearest available streets and increased the congestion there. While the Census of December 1, 1900, showed that the density of population in Hamburg as a whole was 106 persons to the hectare (about 2^ acres) of land surface, the ratio in some of the older districts was 472, 600 and 670, comparing with 70 or 80 in the residential districts. A striking feature of the Inner Town are the courts and wynds known as “ Terraces ” and “ Passages.” The earlier type of “ Terrace ” abounds in the harbour quarter, and is a long row or double row of high houses abutting upon a narrow yard from 4 to 5 feet wide. The houses are brick or half-timber work, as unattractive without as they are inhospitable within. Some of the " Terraces ” consist of back-to-back dwellings, and here light and ventilation are very inadequate. The “ Terraces ” of more recent construction are less circumscribed, and in some cases small gardens run along the entire length of the row of houses. Occasionally such a " Terrace ” connects two parallel streets. Where it is only entered from one side, the building regulations prescribe a maximum length of 162 feet ; where it is a thoroughfare, no limit is laid down. The courts and alleys common in the older parts of a large English or Scottish town are the nearest approximation to Hamburg’s i£ Passages ” or “ Gänge,” but the analogy is a feeble one, for many of the “ Passages ” of the Inner Town present conditions of congestion and dilapidation far worse than those usually suggested by the term “ slums.” These “ Passages ” lie behind busy streets and are approached by dark entrances seldom more than 2 feet 6 inches or 3 feet wide, and sometimes barely wide or high enough for a man of normal stature. In some cases the floor of the entrance lies six or more steps below the level of the street, rising again when the court is reached at the other end. The sight which there meets the explorer may be illustrated by a typical " Passage ” off the Steinstrasse, the centre of one of Hamburg’s most pronounced slum regions. This court has a length of about 90 yards and a width of 8 feet, narrowing, however, to 3 feet or less at the roofs, for each of the stories projects beyond the one below it. The court consists of a double row of houses of the 'back-to-back order, very dilapidated, and no longer meeting the requirements of the buildings byelaws, though as they will sooner or later be swept away in a general clearance, no unnecessary money is expended on them. Within there is equal evidence of neglect and decay, the woodwork being worn to pieces, the ceiling of the low rooms black with age, the tiled roofs defective. A steep flight of twenty steps, with a tread of six inches, leads to a landing, but it is the landing not of the first but the second story, for the first floor tenement is entered direct from the stairs. The tenements on one side of the court consist of one room and kitchen rented at 3s. Qd. per week, those on the opposite side of two rooms and kitchen, rented at 4s. 1(M., with 1 \d. weekly in each case for cleaning the yard. The size of the living and bedrooms varies from 7 feet by 7 feet to 10 feet by 10 feet, with 14 feet by 12 feet in exceptional cases, while typical kitchens measured were 10 by 4 feet and 10 by 5 feet ; 7 feet is the usual height. 29088 2 K 2

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