HAMBURG.
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Hamburg’s maritime trade reside, while much superior conditions prevail
outside the ancient area and in the suburbs, where the industrial and artisan
classes are chiefly found.
Centuries ago visitors to Hamburg spoke of it as a densely-built and
congested town, and in spite of all that has been done by fire on the one hand
and sanitary reformers on the other this characteristic still clings to it. For
although during recent years a large amount of rebuilding has taken place
Hamburg cannot be said to have been rebuilt, like so many large German
towns : the architectural features which belonged to the late mediæval period
are still conspicuous, and the Inner Town, with its narrow courts and alleys,
its picturesque but unhygienic buildings, and its dense population, is now
as ever typical of this ancient seaport. Light and air were brought into
many dark places when the great fire of 1842 destroyed one of the oldest and
most crowded quarters, and again some forty years later when Hamburg joined
the Customs Union, and a whole district had to be cleared in order to make
room for the necessary buildings, but the displaced population—numbering
no less than 23,000—merely moved into the nearest available streets and
increased the congestion there. While the Census of December 1, 1900,
showed that the density of population in Hamburg as a whole was 106 persons
to the hectare (about 2^ acres) of land surface, the ratio in some of the older
districts was 472, 600 and 670, comparing with 70 or 80 in the residential
districts.
A striking feature of the Inner Town are the courts and wynds known as
“ Terraces ” and “ Passages.” The earlier type of “ Terrace ” abounds in the
harbour quarter, and is a long row or double row of high houses abutting upon
a narrow yard from 4 to 5 feet wide. The houses are brick or half-timber work,
as unattractive without as they are inhospitable within. Some of the
" Terraces ” consist of back-to-back dwellings, and here light and ventilation
are very inadequate. The “ Terraces ” of more recent construction are less
circumscribed, and in some cases small gardens run along the entire length of
the row of houses. Occasionally such a " Terrace ” connects two parallel
streets. Where it is only entered from one side, the building regulations
prescribe a maximum length of 162 feet ; where it is a thoroughfare, no limit is
laid down.
The courts and alleys common in the older parts of a large English or
Scottish town are the nearest approximation to Hamburg’s i£ Passages ” or
“ Gänge,” but the analogy is a feeble one, for many of the “ Passages ” of the
Inner Town present conditions of congestion and dilapidation far worse
than those usually suggested by the term “ slums.” These “ Passages ” lie
behind busy streets and are approached by dark entrances seldom more than
2 feet 6 inches or 3 feet wide, and sometimes barely wide or high enough for a
man of normal stature. In some cases the floor of the entrance lies six or more
steps below the level of the street, rising again when the court is reached at
the other end. The sight which there meets the explorer may be illustrated by
a typical " Passage ” off the Steinstrasse, the centre of one of Hamburg’s most
pronounced slum regions. This court has a length of about 90 yards and a width
of 8 feet, narrowing, however, to 3 feet or less at the roofs, for each of the
stories projects beyond the one below it. The court consists of a double row
of houses of the 'back-to-back order, very dilapidated, and no longer meeting
the requirements of the buildings byelaws, though as they will sooner or
later be swept away in a general clearance, no unnecessary money is expended
on them. Within there is equal evidence of neglect and decay, the woodwork
being worn to pieces, the ceiling of the low rooms black with age, the tiled roofs
defective. A steep flight of twenty steps, with a tread of six inches, leads to a
landing, but it is the landing not of the first but the second story, for the first
floor tenement is entered direct from the stairs. The tenements on one side of
the court consist of one room and kitchen rented at 3s. Qd. per week, those on
the opposite side of two rooms and kitchen, rented at 4s. 1(M., with 1 \d. weekly
in each case for cleaning the yard. The size of the living and bedrooms varies
from 7 feet by 7 feet to 10 feet by 10 feet, with 14 feet by 12 feet in exceptional
cases, while typical kitchens measured were 10 by 4 feet and 10 by 5 feet ;
7 feet is the usual height.
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