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MUNICH.
Two methods of building are permitted—the “closed” and the "open.”
" Closed ” buildings are constructed round a spacious courtyard and the
entrance is in the centre of the street front. The “ open ” house isdetached,
with space on both sides and again between the front and back
buildings should the house be a double one. Where the closed system is
adopted a house may be five stories high, where the open system is followed
only four stories. For the latter method of building, which is very common,
many merits may be claimed : in particular it ensures plenty of open space, air,
and light. For the rest the houses may be large or small, accommodating in
their four or five stories any number of families from twelve to thirty. Where
possible the living and bedrooms are placed to the front and the kitchens behind,
but it is a common arrangement for an entire suite of rooms to open one into
the other ; should such a dwelling be divided the door between the two
tenements is simply locked. A corridor or vestibule goes with every tenement
(or combination of divided tenements) ; each household should have, though it
has not always, its own water-closet (as a rule within the dwelling, though waterclosets
on the landing are often found still), and the water supply is very
frequently carried into each dwelling. Every house is cellared and has a large
attic, and tenants of two rooms or more have a right to a portion of storage
space either above or below according to arrangement.
In point of size the rooms are very diverse, though it is seldom that two
small rooms go together in the newer houses. From 12 to 14 feet is a common
length for a living and bedroom, with a width of 9 or 10 feet, and a
height of 9 feet. A second bedroom is generally much smaller, probably
10 feet long by 9 feet vide. Where a family rents a single room it is
usually one of the larger kind, though—to take an actual illustration—even a
room 15 by 15 feet offers no superfluous space for a household consisting of
father, mother, and four children, who have to live in it by day and sleep in its
three beds by night. Three beds to a room are not rare in Munich workingclass
dwellings, and four beds, placed so close to each other that there is barelv
passing space, are more frequent than is desirable. The kitchen is the smallest
apartment in the dwelling. Often it is a mere cooking corner, yet where it
attains the proportions of a room it is seldom suited for sleeping purposes,,
though the double function more frequently than not falls to it. Occasionally
one comes across a bedroom devoid of window and dependent for light as for
ventilation upon the open door of an adjacent room ; in other cases lighted very
inadequately by a grating opening into the outside landing or staircase. Such
rooms or “ alcoves ” should not be used for sleeping if municipal regulations
were strictly obeyed, yet as a fact they are, and so long as the dwellings of
Munich continue as small as at present it will be impossible to place these dark
corners under effectual prohibition. The corridor is generally fairly spacious,
as it needs to be when serving for two tenements. It is used at times for
sleeping, and is even let to lodgers, though without the knowledge of the
sanitary authorities.
It is impossible to speak of slums in the ordinary sense in connexion with
the housing arrangements of Munich. The houses themselves are for the most
part in good order, though too congested, and where the aspect of things is
depressing it is generally the fault of the tenants. In the newer houses
considerable taste is shown by the builders, and ornamentation, both outside
and inside, is not uncommon—outside in the form of elaborate façades, and
inside by coloured stencil work upon the walls of the staircase and landings,
and here and there by decorative cornices in the rooms. Balconies, both
front and back, have become a prominent feature of working-class houses^
and they are highly appreciated for utilitarian reasons amongst others, for
in the upper stories the balcony is the recognised drying ground. Where
the “ closed ” system of building is followed the courtyard is spacious, and not
uncommonly it exceeds the requirements of the building regulations, according
to which a back building must be separated from a front building by a space
equal to the height of the latter as measured from the apex of the roof in the
case of five-story buildings, and equal to one-third of the entire surface of the
building plot in other cases.
The only houses which can be regarded as unequivocally bad from the
hygienic standpoint are a large group of what are called " Herbergen.” These
houses, some 1,500 in number, are for the most part single-family or at the
