CREFELD.
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excluding the basements and attics. Ordinary dwelling-rooms must have an air
space of 530 cubic feet if occupied by one person only, 706 cubic feet for two
persons, and an additional 353 cubic feet for each additional person ; for children
under 10 years of age the half of these spaces is allowed. The rooms must be
at least 9 feet 9 inches in height, or 9 feet 1 inch for very small houses ; and for
attics the minimum is 9 feet 1 inch. Attics may not he used as dwellings if
their floors are more than 48| feet above the street, level. As regards sanitary
arrangements, the general rule is that for every dwelling of more than two rooms
and kitchen there must be a separate closet ; for smaller dwellings, and in houses
where this regulation would be very diflic ult to carry out, one closet for every
two families may be allowed. In factories there must be one closet for every 20
males, and one for every 15 females.
The normal working-class house in Crefeld consists of two or three stories
(including the ground floor) and attics ; naturally there are many loftier
buildings, but in these usually only the upper floors are occupied by workmen.
It is noticeable that the working classes retain their old preference for living in
small houses containing if possible not more than two dwellings, and consequently
Crefeld continues to be essentially a town of small houses. At the
Census of December, 1905, there were in the town 26,092 independent households,
and these were housed in 8,185 houses, giving an average of 3 2
households per house. The number of persons per inhabited house was 13*5,
comparing with 13*9 in 1900, when Cologne, Aachen ( Aix - la - Chapelle ), Barmen,
Elberfeld and Düsseldorf, the five other “large” towns in the Rhineland, had
15*8, 17 4, 18'3, 18*9, and 20 persons per inhabited house respectively. It
is significant that a Building Society began to erect houses containing five
and six dwellings, but it had to desist on account of their unpopularity, and
now it only builds houses with two dwellings. There are still many one-family
houses in Crefeld—low structures consisting of the ground floor and attic.
The typical small house of two stories usually has a door and two windows
on the ground floor, the door being in the middle, and three windows on the
first floor. The rooms are generally well lighted and fairly large, since they
were built mainly for the home weavers, and space for a loom and a good light
were absolutely necessary. In some cases, where home weaving still continues,
the weaving-room is also used as a dwelling-room to some extent. In the new
houses each tenant usually has a separate part of the cellar for the storage of
fuel, &c., and there is frequently a cellar for laundry work. Basement dwellings,
though permitted subject to strict regulation, hardly exist ; and the same is
true also of “back houses.” On the other hand “wing houses” (“ Fliigelhäuser
”), i.e., buildings forming a wing extending backwards from the front
house, but usually only on one side of it, are common ; they may not be loftier
than the front house and their height is also regulated by the breadth oi the
courtyard, and by the further restriction that normally side wings of four stories
in height are not permitted.
The usual accommodation of a Crefeld working-class dwelling is tlnee
rooms, though dwellings of two and four rooms are common. ^ Of 1, (98
dwellings whose rents were classified for the purpose of this lepoit 570 oi 47 6
per cent, consisted of three rooms, 259 or 21'6 per cent, of four looms, and 243
or 20’3 per cent, of two rooms. As a general rule each dwelling has attached
to it a “ Speicherzimmer,” ?.<?., an attic which may be used foi various purposes,
and frequently serves as a bedroom for elder children ; sometimes it is let to
a lodger but the lodger system is not widespread in Crefeld. The kitchen is
always included in the number of rooms ; and tenants must provide their own
stoves, which for heating and cooking purposes cost as a rule nom A4 to A5,
and for heating purposes alone Rom 15s. to Al 10a. The number of rooms
which are heated depends almost solely upon the inclination and means of
the occupier.
Kents are paid monthly, and usually a quarter s notice is required, but it
is a peculiarity of Crefeld that changes of dwelling take place only twice a year,
on May 15th and November 11th, and the quarter’s notice is given to one or
other ¿f these dates. Rents are as a rule assessed by the room, and it is
assumed that a large room within the town costs in a front house from ¿4 .0s.
to £5 a year, and a smaller room from £3 15s. to £4. In a wing house the
rents are somewhat less, and the range for houses generally is from £3 to £o
