BERLIN.
21
Various forms and combinations of the back house have in course of time been
evolved. The simplest and the original form is an extension of the front building
on both sides to the rear by wings which are connected by a “cross” (quer)
building running parallel with the street, so that a rectangular space is enclosed
forming the courtyard or Hof. The building regulations, however, do not stipulate
how architects shall dispose of the space behind the front house, and the
latitude thus allowed to them has led to a diversity of practice. Sometimes
a middle wing projects behind the front house, with open space on both
sides, this wing leading to a cross-building ( Quergebäude ) extending the entire
width of the plot. The back house may also take the form of an isolated
lateral block surrounded on three sides by the courtyard, or instead of
this “side building,” as it is called, there may be a “middle building”
standing back on the boundary line with open space on either side. or in
front. The semi-detached back house, whether a wing or a cross-building,
is invariably entered from the courtyard by a separate door.
The most notorious “ barrack ” house of Berlin, and the classic example ot
a congested building site, is situated in the northern part of the city and bears
the name Meyershof. It is a property consisting of a front house and five
parallel buildings behind, divided by courtyards some 24 yards wide by 12
yards deep. Each of the back buildings is entered by two doors from its own
court, and the uniform height is five stories with basements. The basements
are still used as dwellings in some cases, but the great majority have
gradually been diverted to business purposes. The entire property contains
250 dwellings, and in these dwellings are housed some 800 persons. The usual
accommodation comprises either a large living and bedroom and a large kitchen,
or a living and bedroom, an anteroom, and a small kitchen. Each tenant has
also the right to a corner of the large attic. The dwellings are approached
from corridors entered from small landings, and as a rule there are three
dwellings to each corridor. The closets were formerly in the courtyards ; now
a room on each corridor has been set apart for the purpose, and it serves for
three households. There is little difference in the cubical capacity of the
dwellings, whether consisting of one or two rooms and a kitchen, for the
second living room has, as a rule, been formed by converting the large
kitchen into two apartments. The usual dimensions are as follows :—Living
and bedroom, 17 feet by 15 feet by 9 feet 3 inches high ; ante-room (often
used as a second bedroom, though it is not heatable and has no arrangements
for ventilation), 12 feet by 4 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 3 inches high ; kitchen,
12 feet by 6 feet by 9 feet 3 inches high. The rooms are papered, and
if better lighted would wear a friendly aspect. The courtyards, on the
other hand, are dismal in the extreme. No sun enters them, and as
half the area is taken up with carts, coals, wood, and odd lumber, but a
small space remains as a playground for the children. Meyershof is the
largest individual property occupied entirely by working-class households, but
houses consisting of four parallel blocks, with three intervening courtyards,
each smaller, darker and duller than the other, are common. The rents in
Meyershof range from £10 10s. to £12 per annum (equal to from 4s. to
4s. Id. per week, without rates), according to story, for a large room and a
kitchen.
Little can be said in favour of the courtyard system of building, much in
disfavour, and that from various standpoints. It is merely a builder’s device
for exploiting costly sites to the best monetary advantage, and it cannot be
pretended that it ranks in the evolution of domestic architecture as an improved
type. Nothing could be more depressing than the sight of the huge structures
which surround many of the courtyards in working-class districts of Berlin.
The street outside may be monotonous in the uniformity of its long rows of
high buildings, each like the other in every detail of structure and external
finish, yet it is wide and spacious, and the colouring of the inevitable stucco
brightens the scene. Entering a typical courtyard, however, one finds oneself
standing upon an arid piece of plaster, as a rule quite deserted. Looking
around and above, the eye rests upon large expanses of wall and window rising
to a height of five or six stories. There is no noise in the courtyard, for the
convenience of 20 or 30 families requires absolute quiet, and the house regulations
are stringent upon the point : in most houses even the playing of children
in the courtyard is expressly forbidden.
