NUREMBERG.
389
in such a case be found to consist of at least three rooms (counting the kitchen),
and sometimes a fourth apartment or alcove is added. The living room is the
largest of the suite, for it generally serves as a bedroom as well, and is
furnished for the double purpose. . Its dimensions may vary from 8 feet 9 inches
toll feet 4 inches in width, 14 feet 7 inches to 16 feet 3 inches in depth, and
9 feet 9 inches to 11 feet 4J inches in height. The second room is generally
somewhat less, and the kitchen is invariably a very small apartment, only just
sufficient for cooking purposes. In South Germany the closed stove, of iron or
tile according to the quality of the dwelling, is a fixture, and is not, as in the
Rhineland, the property of the tenant. As a rule each dwelling has a separate
W.C., which in the older houses is placed in a corner of the landing, though the
building authorities now require its inclusion within the dwelling. The entrance
to these tenements will be found in the middle of the building, and each door
opens into a small corridor or vestibule, from which, as a rule, access to all the
rooms is gained, though occasionally one of the rooms can only be entered from
another, an arrangement which the more recent by-laws prohibit. The back
house is a smaller structure, and is not necessarily connected with the front
house, as in many other towns, but may be separated from it by an open space,
which serves as a drying ground and as a playground for children. Here
will be found on each floor two tenements, each of three rooms, though
smaller than those in the front building, while the rents are also proportionately
lower.
The houses erected according to the revised regulations of 1903 are
much the same in internal arrangements, except that in front buildings there
are two tenements on each story instead of three, the result being that either
smaller houses or larger tenements are being built ; as a fact, tenements of four
rooms, viz., a living room, two bedrooms, and a kitchen, are becoming fairly
common. The back house is likewise restricted to two dwellings to a floor.
Both in the front house and the back each tenant has at disposal a portion of
the cellar and also of the attic, the several divisions being marked off by stout
laths and each being under lock and key. The wash-house will be found either
in the courtyard or in the cellar, and the tenants use it in turn according to
arrangement. Balconies at the rear of the houses are also becoming very
common ; they are small in area, but in the higher stories especially they are
found very convenient, and the tenants welcome them.
The story most desired by tenants in general is the first, and its rents are
frequently, though not invariably, the highest. The parterre is colder in winter,
for the cellar is below, the light is not so good, and it is also noisier ; while
above the first story dwellings have a tendency to deteriorate, for they are
designed for the less remunerative tenants.
The furnishing of houses such as those which have just been described—
houses, that is, of the better-situated working-class families—is never elaborate,
and probably falls below that of English households of the same class, alike in
quantity and in value.
Sub-letting is very common amongst working-class families. The housing
inquiry of 1901 showed that 22*06 per cent, of all the dwellings in the town (and
26*6 per cent, of all the rented dwellings) contained lodgers or other sub
tenants, and in the more exclusively industrial districts the percentage exceeded
30 per cent. For example :—
District.
Steinbühl, 1
" 4
Galgenhof
Steinbühl, 2
Total dwellings.
Receiving lodgers
or sub-letting.
2.012
1,656
3,033
1,975
609
532
989
680
Percentage.
303
321
32 6
344
It is almost the rule for families with dwellings of more than three rooms
(kitchen, living-room, and bedroom) to take lodgers, either one or two,
according to the size of the additional rooms, and tenements of such larger size
are frequently rented with the idea of letting off one or more apartments. It
does not appear that this plan of sub-letting is followed on business-like