ESSEN. 
239 
Housing and Rents. 
It will be convenient to consider first the general conditions of housing in 
Essen ; secondly, the character of the ordinary dwellings ; and finally the 
nature and extent of housing by employers. 
The following Table, supplied by the Director of the Municipal Statistical 
Office, shows the number of dwellings and the nature of the accommodation 
offered by them in 1900, and again in 1905, after the last extension of the 
municipal boundaries. It must be remembered that in Essen—as, indeed, in 
the whole of the Rhineland—the term “ heatable room,” common to other parts 
of Prussia, has no special meaning ; for the tenants must supply the stoves, and 
as a rule they can make as many rooms “heatable” as they choose ; and secondly, 
that the kitchen is always included in the number of rooms, and is practically 
always the living room. 
Dwellings with 
1900. 
One room 
Two rooms 
Three rooms 
Four rooms 
Five rooms 
Six rooms 
Seven rooms 
Eight rooms 
Nine or more 
rooms 
Total 
1.303 
14,331 
10,963 
4,425 
2,324 
1,455 
753 
501 
1,081 
37,146 
Percentage. 
35 
38 6 
29-6 
11-9 
63 
39 
20 
13 
2-9 
100-0 
1905. 
1,401 
17,286 
14,690 
6,351 
3,525 
2,262 
1,139 
760 
1,482 
48,896 
Percentage. 
2- 9 
354 
300 
13-0 
7-2 
4-6 
23 
1-6 
3- 0 
100-0 
It appears from this that in 1905, 65'4 per cent., or very nearly two-thirds, 
of all the dwellings in Essen were of two or three rooms, and an additional 
13 per cent, were of four rooms. 
In one respect Essen takes high rank among the great German towns ; it 
has few basement dwellings. In 1900, in the old town of Essen and Altendorf, 
which were amalgamated in that year, there were basement dwellings in only 
44 houses, or 0 46 per cent, of the total number ; and this satisfactory state of 
affairs is undoubtedly due in large measure to the enforcement during the last 
twenty years of bye-laws which impose restrictions amounting practically to a 
prohibition of such dwellings. Another merit of Essen is the small number 
of courtyard houses (“ Hof hä user ”), i.e., houses not fronting on to the street, 
but lying behind street-houses, from which they are separated by a small court 
yard. In 1900 in the area already mentioned only 4 7 per cent, of the houses 
were of this type, and they contained an even smaller proportion (3*4 per cent.) 
of the total number of dwellings. 
On the other hand, attics are of great importance, and nearly three-quarters 
of the houses possess them. The attics are of two kinds, “ Mansarden,” which 
are intended for dwellings, and “ Speicherzimmer,” or lofts, which are only 
roughly finished off, and are not intended (at least primarily) as living rooms. 
The general custom at Essen is for an attic of some kind (or possibly two) to 
be let with each tenement, according to the number available and the wishes of 
the tenant ; they are used for all kinds of purposes, but especially as bedrooms 
for grown-up children or for lodgers. But the growing demand for houseroom 
has caused the attics, even when very ill-equipped for the purpose, to be let as 
complete and separate dwellings. 
As regards house-ownership it may be noted that in 1900, 8"62 per cent, 
of the total families occupied their own houses. The houses were divided 
between 3,870 owners, of whom 3,563 were private persons. At the head of 
the list was the Krupp firm, with 1,121 houses, containing 4,016 dwellings and 
22,282 inhabitants ; the next was a builder with 114 houses. At the bottom of 
the list came 734 owners with two houses each and 2,426 owners with only one 
house apiece. The owners usually let the dwellings separately, but sometimes 
the whole house is let to a tenant, who then sub-lets such rooms as he does not 
himself need ; and usually the rooms are so built that almost any combinations 
can be made for letting purposes.