Housing in Germany

I was thinking of posting a different aspect of Germany but decided to go for this housing to answer one of my readers questions.

In Duesseldorf and most of the large cities that we visited there are old districts (varying from several hundred years to pre WWll. Then there is what I call modern - or post WWll.

Aldstadt - the old city is usually some where in today's enter city district. Typically it is made up of old buildings two to four stories high, mostly quite narrow - perhaps 10 to 20 feet wide and it is hard to estimate how deep these buildings extend from the street. They share walls with the next building or if they aren't shared they are so close together that nothing goes between them. There may be a shop or other type of business in the ground level. Frequently there is a wide gateway in the front wall most likely having doors on it. This is the passageway to the backyard - it will accommodate a car or more depending on its width and length. The levels above the ground level are homes and likely occupied by one family per level unless they have been made into tiny apartments. I did not have the opportunity of being inside one of these homes. Helmut lived in one which still stands in Duesseldorf and he says it looks much the same.

Many houses were partly or fully destroyed during WWll but have been built back up more or less as they were before the war.

The streets are very narrow in the Aldstadt and many times no cars allowed except for delivery vehicles and taxies with handy capped individuals. Most of these business streets have numerous restaurants with tables outside - very pleasant places to eat the noon meal or the tea time cake, etc. Would have been a little cool for the late evening supper hour.

Modern housing - many apartment buildings have three or more stories above ground and likely having suites in the basement also. I have no way of estimating how many are like this nor who big they are. We also saw some skyscrapers but not so many. There are places of business on the ground level of many of these buildings and perhaps on the first level but suites for living in on the res of the levels.

Ursula lives in a suite that is in a three storey building but it has only a few suites in it. Renate & Wilfrid live in a row house. I think there are about seven or eight houses in a row - all one building. They have a basement and three levels above ground. they have a Patio door and large window about as wide as the whole house looking out onto their backyard which is very small. The front yard has room for a tiny flower garden and the rest is paving stones.

A few streets over from Ursula and Renate the houses are freestanding. Their brother lives in a large house on a nice sized lot in one of these streets. He has mostly garden space - his father had developed the garden and kept it up but since his death Dietrich hasn't done much with the garden. Grass lawns are not popular. D.'s house is fairly large - at one time Uncle Erich, Aunt Greta, and the Oma lived on the main floor and D. and his family lived on the second floor.

Helmut's uncle and aunt from his second Mother's side live two houses from Dietrich. They have a free standing house and a nice yard. I don't know exactly how big their house is but they lived there with their three children.

In the small towns many more of the houses are standing alone but will have the barn attached to the house. the whole set up will look like a U or an L depending how much barn space they have. Typically farmers live in villages and travel out to their fields.

A city lot as wide as 50' is only for the wealthy with large houses. In the villages the lots may be larger.

Hope this gives you some idea.