184
DORTMUND.
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The following notes as to typical working-class dwellings visited may
serve to convey some definite idea as to the conditions in Dortmund :—
(a.) A dwelling on the second floor, occupied by a workman and
his young wife. There were three rooms, a kitchen 11 feet 4 inches
square and two bedrooms, one 19 feet 6 inches long by 8 feet 1 inch,
the other 16 feet 3 inches by 14 feet 7 inches ; the rooms were 10 feet
10 inches high. The rent was £15 a year. The second bedroom was
occupied by four lodgers, sharing two beds. Two only lodged, and paid
95. a month each for sleeping room, without coffee ; the other two
boarded as well, and paid I5. Id. a day each. These two were often at
home all day when working on night shifts.
(A) A dwelling on the first floor, in a street occupied mainly by
Poles. The workman was a collier, earning about £l a week, and had
three-quarters of an hours walk to the pit. He had a wife and five
children at home, a son aged 23, just back from military service, a daughter
of 20 (about to be married), a son of 17, another daughter of 16, and
one younger daughter. The dwelling had three rooms, viz., kitchen 13 feet
by 9 feet 9 inches, and two bedrooms respectively 13 feet by 9 feet
9 inches and 13 feet square, and the rent was £15 12s. a year. The
parents and three daughters occupied one bedroom ; the two sons slept
in the kitchen ; and the second bedroom was occupied by four lodgers.
The tenants had to do all painting and cleaning themselves ; the walls
were of plaster, washed blue ; the water-closet was on the landing of the
staircase. This dwelling was part of a house containing eight families
the staircase and walls were not clean, and the small yard at the back
was untidy ; there were four water-closets (one on each landing) for the
eight families.
(c.) Another dwelling on the 1st floor, in a somewhat similar
street, contained three rooms, viz., kitchen 10 feet 7 inches by 12 feet
2 inches, and bedrooms 13 feet by 9 feet 9 inches and 13 feet by 9, and
the rent was £12 a year. The husband worked in a machine-factory and
had a wife and seven children at home. The dwelling was in an eight -
family house ; the house (one of three similar in all respects) was illequipped,
except that there was a cellar in which each tenant had a
separate part, and there was a common laundry ; there was one watercloset
for each two families.
(d.) A dwelling consisting of three attics, each with sloping roof :
the largest room was 13 feet square and 9 feet 9 inches high. The
windows were small, and were in the sloping part of the ceilings. The
rent was £11 85. a year.
(g.) A ground-floor dwelling in a street occupied chiefly by workmen
employed in the Hoesch works. There were three rooms, viz., a.
large kitchen 19 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 8 inches with two windows, a
small sitting-room 13 feet by 7 feet 4 inches, and a bedroom 13 feet by
11 feet 5 inches. There was no way of entering the bedroom except
through the other two rooms. The water-closet was on the first landing
outside ; the tenants had use of part of the cellar. The rent was
£13 IO5. a year.
The rents in Dortmund are usually reckoned at so much per room per
year, " rooms ” including here the kitchen.
An analysis of the rents of 4,113 dwellings obtained for the purpose of
this report shows the predominant rents paid for dwellings of the sizes usually
occupied by working-class families to be as follows :—■
Predominant Rents of Working Class Dwellings.
Number of Rooms per Tenement.
Predominant Weekly Rent.
Two rooms
Three rooms
3s. 6d. to 4s.
5s. 2d. „ 6s.
