A Brief History
The first question we can ask is what is a tenement? In Berlin, the tenements are called Mietskaserne translating as ‘rental barracks’. They were originally built to house working class people during the industrial nineteenth century. They are typically 5 storeys high, with successive courtyards going deeper into the city block. On the outside of the city block there were usually shops located within heavily ornamented facades. Poorer tenants lived closer to the middle of the block, amongst workshops. The inside of the blocks were suffocating, being deprived of light, fresh air, running water and later, electricity. Families were confined to one room living in extremely close quarters.
We are using the district of Prenzlauer Berg located in former East Berlin as a case study because today it is one of the areas where many tenements still exist. In this blog post, I will provide an overview of the contextual climate surrounding the tenements.
In the 1800s, European nations rapidly went through the process of industrialisation. There was an influx of workers from rural areas into the city, which in turn required a robust city plan for housing them and their families. In 1862, James Hobrecht was appointed by the Prussian Interior Ministry to oversee the plan for the new Berlin, thus the tenement city was born. As of 1871, 75% of the housing stock were Mietskaserne. Furthermore, during the Wilhelmine period from 1890 to 1918, the tenements were a symbol of imperialism and also a developing social unrest at that fragile pre-war era.
The Wilhelmine period in Germany coincided with the Belle Epoch in France, the Gilded age in the United states and Vicorian/Edwardian periods in Britain. Putting this period in Germany into context, there was also the art nouveau movement of ‘Jugendstil’ celebrating art and natural forms, a world away from the poverty of the tenements. Of course, the cultural movements are often seen through a non-working class lens, indicative of an authoritarian, capitalist society which chooses to house its workers in sub-standard housing.
During the 2nd World War, many of Berlin's Mietskaserne were destroyed by bombing and conflict. In the districts of Freidrichtrain and Mitte, 60% of the tenement blocks were destroyed yet Prenzlauer Berg didn’t suffer quite the same fate.
In the 1960s, Prenzlauer Berg was taken over by intellectuals, artists, writers and bohemian culture. The counterculture occupied the tenement blocks which had been in a state of disrepair since WW11. Some students who occupied the tenement blocks recall the walls still having bullet holes from the intense street by street fighting.
However by the early 1990s, the Mietskaserne were as worn down as ever as the previous East Germany suffered economically with the effects of reunification, as they struggled to catch up with West Germany. This led to a squatting movement, with whole tenements being taken over. Graffiti and street art began to permeate through the blocks and the neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg had a vibrant buzz of alternative fever.
Perhaps the most controversial part of Prenzlauer Berg’s history with tenements is the post-1990s gentrification. The tenement blocks were privatised and subsequently restored resulting in higher rental prices. Some even had lifts installed, which meant that instead of the top apartments being reserved for the poorest tenants with many stairs to climb, they turned into some of the most sought after, almost like ‘penthouses’. Gentrification is not only a phenomenon of Berlin, but it is prevalent around the world today and is arguably the biggest issue cities are facing. Yes, providing adequate living conditions is a necessity, but displacing original tenants and replacing them with their wealthier counterparts does leave a sour taste. I will say that it retains the culture of art and literature but with an unmistakable slant of bourgeoisie professionalism.
In the next blog post I will go more in depth about the conditions of the tenements at the height of Berlin’s capitalist industrial era. I will also discuss why the ideology behind the architecture informs the form.
