Club House for Officials and Workmen—Colony Wildau 
GERMAN MODEL HOUSES FOR WORKMEN 
By William Mayner 
Of the American Consulate-General, Berlin 
IV.—COLONY WILDAU 
^ I 'HE workmen’s colony in Wildau, near Berlin, 
consists of sixty-one houses available for 
four workmen’s families and thirteen double resi¬ 
dences for employees holding intermediate posi¬ 
tions and for foremen and master mechanics, also 
co-operative stores, with residences for the managers, 
a post-office agency, a casino with residence for the 
landlord and rooms for the attendants, a school 
with gymnasium, and a filter plant. The com¬ 
munity now contains 1550 persons. Inasmuch as 
the limits of the settlement require part of the work¬ 
men to reside at some distance, it was determined 
at the beginning of the present year (1906) to pro¬ 
ceed with the erection of thirty-five additional 
houses. 
A brief description of the plan upon which the 
dwellings belonging to the colony have been erected 
may be of interest. 
The workmen’s dwellings contain four tenements 
and tW'O built out garrets for single workmen. The 
rent is about $\.20 per week or $62.00 a year and 
is deducted every Saturday from the wages. The 
foremen’s houses embrace tw'o dwellings for fore¬ 
men and employees of similar station, each contain¬ 
ing tw’o sitting-rooms and two bedrooms of a little 
larger dimensions at an annual rental of 450 marks 
or about $108.00. The majority of the houses are 
semi-detached, terraces of three or four houses 
occurring in the case of two cross streets only. 
Each group of houses occupies a detached posi¬ 
tion and is encircled by gardens, and hence the 
entire colony presents a very pleasing aspect. 
Although houses of the same grade are built upon 
the same general plan, care has been taken to intro¬ 
duce sufficient variety in the architecture of the 
house fronts to avoid all sense of monotony. 
The gardens have been laid out by the Schwartz- 
kopff Company, but their proper maintenance 
devolves upon the tenants. 
Interest in horticulture is maintained by a dis¬ 
tribution at the end of the summer of prizes for the 
best kept gardens. 
Each workman’s dwelling contains a parlor, 
of 21.25 square metres; bedroom, 15.75; kitchen, 
9.00; larder, 1.30; w'ater-closet, 1.80; passageway, 
4.10; cellar, 10.00; loft, 9.00; and a garden of 150.00 
square metres. 
Domestic wants are supplied by the “Schwartz- 
kopff Co-operative Stores,” which include depart¬ 
ments for the supply of meat, groceries, hardw^are, 
drapery, etc., while the casino, opened in 1906, 
performs the functions of a restaurant. 
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