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AACHEN.
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front house. Two rooms downstairs always imply three rooms upstairs, the
corridor space and a few feet from the remaining width making a serviceable
third room. At the top is the attic or loft, which is used for drying clothes and
for storage purposes. Water is not supplied into each tenement, but is obtained
from a common tap on each landing. There is also a privy or w.c. for each
landing, except in old houses, where it is frequently found in the courtyard.
Many houses, both old and new, have a “ tip ” arrangement on each floor for
rubbish. In the side wall is a large iron door covering a drop, through which
ashes, &c., are shot into a pit under the «ourtyard floor. The arrangement is
not a desirable one, unless the pits are well looked after, and though it has so
far been permitted the authorities seem disposed to enforce the more usual pan
system. Most houses have good cellaring, in which every tenant has a share,
and not a few have also a small piece of grass which serves as a drying ground
and as a playground for the children. Balconies hardly exist at all, though
house reformers are conscious of their value, and the local building society has
begun to introduce them in its newer houses.
A double house is entered by a passage formed in the centre of the
block. On each side will be found two rooms of different size, and behind
these and approached through them, yet also by a separate door, two ocher
rooms of corresponding size. The four rooms on each side of the passage can
be let as one dwelling, or they may be divided into dwellings of two and two
rooms or of three rooms and one. The staircase ascends in the centre of the
house, and on each landing are two suites of four rooms, the front rooms of each
suite being divided by a brick wall and the back rooms by the next flighc of
stairs. The rooms of each suite are communicable, so that they may be combined
according to the convenience of tenants. At the top of the house is the usual
loft. At the rear of such a double house is the “ back house ” (Hinterbau),
with a courtyard on either side. Upon each landing are four rooms, w^hich here
are arranged as two-room dwellings and cannot be otherwise combined. Access
is gained to the dwellings of the “ back house ” by the same landings which
serve for the front house. In these double houses the water supply, the privy
or w.c., and the refuse tip are arranged as in the single houses.
The dimensions of the rooms naturally vary a good deal, but typical
downstairs rooms of larger size are 15 feet 5 inches deep by 11 feet 8 inches
wide, and 14 feet 2 inches deep by 15 feet 6 inches wide, with a height of from
9 feet 9 inches to 11 feet 4 inches, and typical small rooms downstairs are 15
feet 5 inches deep by 8 feet 11 inches wide and 14 feet 2 inches deep by 12 feet
8 inches wide, with the same elevation. The rooms in the back and side houses
are generally of equal size, the average dimensions being 13 feet deep by 11 feet
o inches wide. It is noticeable that in the newer houses low rooms are very
rare, even in the upper stories, while the landing space and the stairs are as a
rule ample as to size and well lighted. On the .other hand, the water and closet
arrangements do not appear to be commendable ; as to the latter, 20 persons
are allowed to one w.c. and this is always placed on the open landing.
Number of Rooms per Tenement.
Predominant Weekly Rents.
One room
Two rooms
Three rooms
Is. Gd. to 2s. 2d.
2s. 8d. „ 3a. Gd.
3s. Gd. „ 4s. Id.
The rent index number for Aachen, Berlin being taken as 100, is 53.
