Housing Vienna Workers

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Housing Vienna Workers

NEW ZEALAND, many people are apt to forget, is not the first or the only country to have a "housing problem," or to attempt to solve it. People who have inspected the State houses which have been or are being erected in various parts of the Dominion may be interested in a brief account of the famous Vienna workers' flats, which number some sixty thousand, in which about, one-tenth of the whole population of the city now dwell.

ByMargaret Barclay

Among the poorer class in Vienna both men and women go out to work, so is very little "home life" a« we understand it. The blocks of flate. or "town dwellings," are four to five storeys high; some are plain in appearance, but the largest and most recent —the Karl Marx Hof—is most ornate. This building ie nearly three-quarters of a mile long, and contains dwelling space for 5000 people. Sculptured figures, flagstaffs and balconies beautify the exterior of the- building, while numerous archways give access to courtyards that have gardens as well as playgrounds for children. These are common to all the tenants. There are also clinics, shops and a library.

Most of the flats consist of two rooms and a kitchen, with water and electric light. Bathrooms and laundries are communal. Chutes are provided to send the washing to the laundries. There are creches where children under two years are looked after. The older children attend kindergartens when their parents are out working. All members of the family who can earn their living do no. and with these excellent arrangements it is easy to see that parents can go out for the whole day, knowing their children are left in safe hands.

The rent of tliese flats varies from •I'y/ to 30/ a month according to situation.

It requires very little labour to keep these flats in order; but after being out at work all day many wives have no ti, ne —or energy—to cook an evening meal, so the whole family frequently dinee at one of the numerous picturesque restaurants thai cater for thie class of regular customers, charging a very moderate price. Before returning home, some may visit one of the many wine taverns that are situated more or lese together and are adorned with a brush of" pine tree on each door, frequently with the motto, "Good wine needs no bush"; showing that the new vintage ha* come in. Other members of the family adjourn to the "Prater," a large simi'seinent park, where it i<s not unusual to see Viennese working girls in their national, dress mingling vitli the crowd.

It is very much open to question whether the type of building* in Vienna for workers' homes would appeal tn people living in a young country like New Zealand. Apart from all else, thenis a marked difference between the social customs of the people.