STUTTGART. 
467 
it is the rule for fines to be applied in the same way. Besides the usual arrange 
ments for washing, shower baths are provided for the workpeople in one large 
machine works, and all men desirous of using them are allowed twenty minutes 
free time once a week during work hours for the purpose. 
Housing and Rents, 
The extension and development of Stuttgart have now for some years 
followed a systematic building plan, which was adopted by the municipal 
authorities after careful consideration of the town’s economic interests and 
topographical limitations. By this plan considerable areas of land were set 
apart as open spaces, certain districts were reserved for dwellings of different 
classes—villas, artisans’ tenements, &c.—and industry was allotted its special 
zone. In the laying out of streets straight lines were avoided and moderate 
curves favoured for the sake of variety, and it was laid down as a general 
principle that the height of the houses should diminish with the distance from 
the centre of the town, the usual maximum being 65 feet. In streets less than 
52 feet wide, however, four stories are the maximum, souterrains rising more 
than 8 feet 1^ inches above ground and attic stories with a roof incline of 
60 degrees and above being counted as stories. In the principal streets the 
height of stories must be 9 feet 9 inches from beam to beam, though one story 
may be lower, but in other streets a height of 8 feet 5 inches is allowed. All 
living, bed, and work rooms regularly used by human beings must be at least 
8 feet 1J inches high from floor to ceiling, and their windows must have a 
surface equal to one-tenth of the floor area. Attic dwellings are only allowed 
in buildings not exceeding 65 feet in height, and with the reservation that the 
elevation of a living room must be at least 8 feet 1 j- inches over half the floor 
surface, the skylight having an area of 2'7 square feet, while a bedroom must 
be at least 5 feet 10 inches wide. The by-laws also provide that a certain 
proportion of a building site behind the house to be erected shall be left open ; 
its depth varies from one-fifth to one-half of the height of the back wall of the 
house, as measured from the ground to the eaves gutter. Back buildings are 
permitted, but if intended for dwellings they may not exceed 89 feet in height, 
including the roof. Such are the main features of the code of building regula 
tions as now observed. It will be understood, however, that they have greater 
significance for the future than the past, and represent counsels of perfection 
which have only a very partial embodiment in the Stuttgart of to-day. 
The first feature of the domestic architecture of Stuttgart to strike a visitor 
is the almost universal plan which has been followed of building the houses 
detached, in blocks with a frontage varying from 40 to 80 feet, according as the 
house is a single or a double one. The detached block has been the prevailing 
type of building for the past half century, and it gives to the streets a distinct 
individuality. It is probable that utilitarian reasons—and among them the 
diminished risk to life and property in case of fire—had more weight than 
considerations of public health in causing the municipal building authorities to 
favour this style of house, as they have done since 18o3, yet the choice 
was well made. The usual space between the blocks is 10 feet. The flat 
system prevails here, as elsewhere, and in the newer buildings the rule is four or 
five stories, with lofts in addition for storage purposes. 
There is no single district which can be described as essentially industrial in 
character, though some quarters are more so than others, i he stratification of 
society which is characteristic of German housing arrangements here often 
produces results which to English people, accustomed to the one family-house 
system, must seem incongruous. A baron may live on the ground floor of a 
quiet residential street, a councillor of law or a titled Government official may 
occupy the rooms above, but on the third floor may be found a small 
tradesman, and possibly under the roof an artisan or a journeyman brewer 
earning thirty shillings a week. In less pretentious streets it is very 
common for the parterre and first story dwellings to be occupied by 
tradespeople (the landlord almost invariably reserving a lodging for himself on 
the ground floor), and for the flats above to be let off to working people, 
the elevation of whose dwellings is a rough measure of their resources. Small 
tenements and high rents are the common lot of the Stuttgart working classes. 
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