358 
MÜLHAUSEN. 
The building by-laws of the Town Council regulate the construction of 
dwellings in great detail, though no attempt is made to apply their sanitary 
provisions to old property in a rigorous spirit. As to new houses, it is laid down 
that five stories, including ground floor and attic, may not be exceeded, though 
in two quarters of the town, one residential and the other industrial—Rebberg 
and Cité respectively—there may only be one story besides the ground floor 
and attic. As a rule one-fifth of a building plot, with a minimum of 48 square 
yards, and a width of at least 9 feet 9 inches, must remain open ; though where 
a site abuts on two streets the proportion may be reduced to one-eighth. The 
height of buildings (i.e., of the outer walls), lining with a street, or within 
13 feet of the same, may not exceed the width of the street by more than 
6 feet 6 inches, and may not exceed 58 feet 6 inches, or be less than 29 feet 
3 inches. Side and back houses are subject to the same conditions as front 
houses, but the width of the courtyard instead of the street is here taken. 
Living rooms must have a clear height of at least 9 feet 1 inch, and in the attic 
one of 8 feet 1 inch for at least one-half of the floor surface ; whilst both living 
and bedrooms must not be less than 7 feet 1 inch wide, with a superficial area of 
9'6 square yards. Basement dwellings are forbidden, and the floors of work 
rooms may only be 4 feet 10| inches below the surface, and even then must be 
free from damp. As to attic rooms, it is provided that they may only be used 
for permanent human habitation when they have plastered walls and ceilings 
and vertical windows. 
The usual accommodation of working-class families in Mülhausen is two or 
three rooms and a small kitchen, though tenements of one. room and a kitchen, 
and even of a single room, are not uncommon. Where working-people rent 
three rooms and a kitchen, it is usual to take lodgers should the size of the 
family allow of it. No complete classification of the tenements of the town has 
yet been attempted, but a record has been kept of new houses which have been 
erected since 1899, and it shows clearly that, taking the population generally, 
the preponderant demand is for tenements of three rooms. The following figures 
may be cited in proof of this statement :— 
Number of New Houses erected during the years 1900-1905, with Number of 
Tenements comprised therein and Classification of Tenements according 
to Rooms, the Kitchen being counted as a Room :— 
Year. 
1900 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1901 
1905 
Totals 
Percentages 
New 
houses. 
61 
41 
61 
69 
65 
88 
385 
Number of 
tenements 
contained 
therein. 
222 
170 
194 
249 
189 
357 
1,381 
One 
room. 
18 
Two 
rooms. 
1-3 
46 
26 
16 
9 
12 
45 
154 
Three 
rooms. 
11-2 
142 
113 
119 
91 
102 
185 
752 
545 
Four 
rooms. 
26 
15 
26 
103 
17 
72 
259 
18-7 
Five 
rooms. 
3 
5 
16 
23 
7 
20 
74 
5 4 
More 
than five 
rooms. 
5 
9 
16 
20 
43 
31 
124 
9-0 
The returns of the Municipal House Bureau show that for all tenements 
of two rooms and a kitchen reported vacant tenants are found, and that 
the wants of the great majority of house seekers do not exceed three rooms. 
Thus, during the year 1904-5, 597 tenements were -reported to the Bureau as 
vacant, and of these 89 were of one room, 135 were of two rooms, and 201 of 
three rooms, these forming 71 per cent, of the whole. Of 532 tenements 
reported to the Bureau as having changed hands during that year, 61 were of 
one room, 135 (the total offered) were of two rooms, and 188 of three 
rooms, these forming 72 per cent, of the whole. Again, during the thiee years