Behind the Veil

In this week’s blog post we are talking about all things decoration. If you walk down Oderberger Straße in Prenzlauer Berg, you might be enthralled by a plethora of colourful, ornate facades of old tenement blocks. Oderberger Straße is popular with tourists and locals alike and you might feel like a kid in a sweet shop picking out different flavours of sherbet. Yet, what lies behind the facade? It is a veil of not only beautiful stucco ornamentation but also of high rents which are evermore increasing, private developers and gentrification.

The buildings often have a date at the top inscribed 1900 or 1890, a testament to when they were built. The original facades were only on the street facing blocks, concealing the more functional blocks towards the centre of the city block. As mentioned last week, it is interesting to note that this gives the illusion that the blocks behind were just as ornamented, when in fact they are quite simple.

However, the colourful stucco frontages have only existed since they were renovated in the 1990s and 2000s, when most of the government owned blocks were sold off to private companies. It were these private companies who renovated and transformed the tenements. They updated the tenements into being actually liveable and a welcoming place to live. From a historical and environmental perspective, thankfully the tenements were not demolished, as many modernists were in favour of at the time. The optimist in me would say that these private companies were ahead of the curve in terms of preserving heritage and promoting healthier living practices. Nevertheless, this hasn't been the case. According to an article in The New Yorker by Elisabeth Zerofsky (linked at the bottom of this page), rents in Berlin rose 56% percent from 2009-2014 and purchase prices for 70%. In a city where 85% of people rent and which historically has had low rents, whilst also being a divided city, the sense of community it once had is waning. Tenants who have lived there are being priced out of Prenzlauer Berg, which up until 1991 was part of a communist state. Unlike other cities, former East Berlin’s culture of cheap rents has dramatically shifted in a mere two decades. 

However, what is the alternative? Governments can't afford to compensate private companies for the inflated market value of housing. The Financial times reported in 2021 that the cost would be from about £24bn to £36bn to purchase, with renovation costs on top of that. In a strained economic climate, to many people it  just isn't feasible as it sidelines other key public spending. Yet in Vienna it has a completely different housing model. Vienna kept a hold of many of its old housing stock and it still has rents that are considered to be cheap compared to other capitals today. But of course, it has also attracted criticism for not adequately maintaining its housing and private renters still face inflated rents too.

 Is it time to look at a new model?

https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-causes-and-consequences-of-berlins-rapid-gentrification

https://www.ft.com/content/4f02ecb1-31cf-4125-b482-478b031d2e8d