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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388 NUREMBERG. class leave much to be desired. Just outside the walls is a cluster of old dwellings, constituting, with modern additions, the suburb of Wohrd. Here, too, are seen narrow courts and low houses, often of one story, but though the rents are ver} moderate they are only proportionate to the inferior accom modation. Basement dwellings are few in number in Nuremberg, and those that exist are doomed to speedy extinction. To be fair to the housing conditions of Nuremberg, it is necessary to visit the outskirts beyond the walls, Steinbühl, Gostenhof, and to a less degree St. Johannis, for it is there that the working classes chiefly congregate, since there the large industrial undertakings are found ; and the general verdict upon the condition of things there must be a very favourable one. As a rule, the Nuremberg workman lives in a house of tolerable proportions, alike as to the number and the size of his rooms, though on the other hand he pays a comparatively high rent. Rents are calculated by the year—though paid by the week, fortnight, month, or quarter according to agreement— and a house is described as containing so many " rooms,” with a kitchen understood. The “ rooms ” are of two kinds, heatable and unbeatable. The former are generally described in rent contracts as " Zimmer,” the latter as " Kammern,” yet the distinction is one of minor importance where the size is equal, and the municipal authorities are more and more disregarding it. Where the unbeatable room is used for sleeping purposes, as it generally is, it has to conform to the ordinary sanitary regulations as to cubical and superficial space. According to these regulations an adult requires 343 cubic feet space and 31*7 square feet of surface, and children under 10 years half these measurements ; persons over 13 years old and of different sex are also required to sleep in different rooms. More drastic, however, is the regulation, upon which the entire modern housing system of Nuremberg depends, stipulating that every dwelling used by a family shall consist of at least one heatable room, one bedroom (of the size above stated), a kitchen, and an appurtenance (Nebenraum), which may be in the attic or the cellar, for the storing of coal, wood, &c., and a w.c. having independent approach. The far-going character of this regulation explains the fact that, counting the kitchen as a room, 93"8 per cent, of 45,024 rented dwelling houses pure and simple (dwellings connected with shops, workrooms, and inns being disregarded) enumerated and examined in 1901 consisted of three or more rooms—the kitchen being counted as a room ; 27’6 per cent, con sisted of three rooms, 43’2 per cent, of four rooms, and 23*0 per cent, of more than four rooms. Of 1,151 dwellings, the rents of which were examined for the purpose of this report, 5'0 per cent, were of two rooms (kitchen included) i 28'5 per cent, of three rooms, 44*3 per cent, of four rooms, and 22'2 per cent, of five rooms. One distinguishing merit of the Nuremberg working class tenement block is its moderate size. There are no barrack houses, such as one meets with in Berlin, for the municipal authorities have rigorously discouraged them, though the “ front ” house and the " back ” house are found here as in other large towns. For years the building regulations of the town flavo consistently aimed at encouraging the erection of small blocks of dwellings.- The latest revision of these regulations is that of 1903, and types of houses built- before and since that date will give a fair representation of the housing con ditions of modern Nuremberg. As to the height of the houses, the regulations provide that outside the walls buildings adjacent to streets may not exceed' 65 feet ; buildings in streets less than 48 feet 9 inches wide may at the most consist of ground floor, two " upper ” stories, and an attic story, only half the' superficial area of which may be used as a dwelling ; but in streets from 48 feet 9 inches to 65 feet wide a third "upper” story is allowed, besides the attic story. In the inner district a maximum height of 71 feet 6 inches is allowed, but special provisions apply to old narrow streets.. Back houses must be a story lower than the front block in new districts, and of the four stories allowed only two may be used as dwellings ; the others can only be used for industrial, commercial, or other non-residential purposes. One result of this regulation is that the building of back houses is falling off, for subject to such a restriction they are found to* be an unprofitable investment, The earlier houses provided for three dwellings on each floor in the front building and two in the back building where such existed. Each dwelling will

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