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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

16 BERLIN. cent, of the average daily wages of all workmenTup to 500, 12^ per cent, from 501 to 1,000, 7^ per cent, from 1,001 to 2,000, 5 per cent, from 2,001 to 4,000, and 2^ per cent, from 4,000 upwards. How far the several scales of compensa tion correspond actuarially to the premiums payable will only be learned by experience. It is to be noted, however, that it rests entirely with the executive of each insuring society to determine the amount that should be granted in every individual case, and that a claim to compensation cannot be enforced at law. Housing and Rents. Several broad generalisations may safely be passed upon the housing conditions of Berlin. In the first place, Berlin is essentially a town of large houses. “ Barracks ” is the name given locally to the oppressive structures which rise to a height of five stories in every part of the town and stretch far behind the street front, around and alongside of narrow courtyards circumscribed so as to afford merely the irreducible minimum of light and air which the sanitary regulations require. Further, the tendency is for the working classes to be satisfied with diminishing accommodation. Yet, while their dwellings are small as to number of rooms, a certain compensation is afforded in many cases by the relatively large cubical contents of the living rooms proper. Finally, for this limited accommodation a high price has to be paid. All these characteristics of Berlin dwellings have a common origin in the fact that Berlin is distinctly a town of modern growth, the rapidity of whose expansion has given rise to inflated land values, which in their turn have reacted prejudicially both upon housing conditions and rents. It may be well at the outset to illustrate these several points by figures. First as to the size of the houses. Of every 1,000 dwelling-houses (i.e., blocks) enumerated in Berlin and 25 immediate suburbs, in December, 1900, 58 had but one story, 94 had 2 stories, 92 had 3 stories, 215 had 4 stories, 466 had 5 stories, 71 had 6 stories, and 4 had 7 stories. In Berlin proper 539 houses per 1,000 had 5 stories, and 99 had 6 or 7 stories. In the independent suburb of Schöneberg the corresponding figures were 657 and 77. From the ’sixties onward the disappearance of one-story houses has been rapid. Bei ween 1864 and 1871, just before the great boom, the decrease was 8 per cent., while the decrease of two and three-story houses was 41, per cent. On the other hand, the four-story houses increased 11 per cent., and the five- story houses 50 per cent. With the growth of the houses in size grew, too, the number of the basement dwellings, at least for a time, until new byelaws came into force restricting them. In 1867 there were in Berlin 14,292 such dwellings, in 1871 there were 19,208, or one-ninth of the whole. In 1900 469,710 rented dwellings were classified as to position as follows :— Basement Ground floor Entresol (mezzanine) 1st story 2nd ,, ... ... 3rd ,, ... •*- 4 th. ,, ... ... 5th ,, ... ... In different stories Totals Front Houses. 12,941 23,513 7,224 44,872 51,948 54,900 45,536 1,753 2,988 245,675 Rate per 1,000 Dwellings. 27-6 50*1 15 3 955 110-6 116-9 96 9 3-7 6-4 Back Houses. 5230 11,147 36,500 6,302 39,203 42,156 44,273 41,337 2,179 938 224,035 Rate per 1,000 Dwellings. 23 7 77-7 13-5 83 5 89 7 94 3 88-0 4-6 2-0 Totals. 477-0 24,088 60,013 13,526 84,075 94,104 99,173 86,873 3,932 3,926 469,710

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: Cost of living in German towns

Monograph

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation