Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 88, no. 2273: October 7, 1911

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Vol. LXXXVIII OCTOBER 7, IQII No. 2273 A REAL ESTATE MAN'S IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN. The German Capita! Has No Skyscrapers, but It Beats New York in Big Transactions —A $17,000,000 Deal—Brokers Are Well Organized—The Increment Tax. By ELiSHA SNIFFIN, Secretary of itie Board o! Brokers. T SUBMIT a few of my impressions of * Berlin, particularly those which have a bearing on real estate, and I trust some o^ them may be of interest. Upon entering the office of Adolf Rosen¬ baum, president of the "Verein Berliner Grundstiicks und Hypotheken iVIakler (So¬ ciety of Berlin Real Estate and Jlortgage Brokers), an organization similar to our own Real Estate Board of Brokers, my at¬ tention was caught by a framed motto burned in wood which read: "Nur die Ruhe itann es iiiachen," the meaning of which 1 found of much value during my stay in this wonderful city. The visitor notes at once the repose of a well-ordered city, free from confusion in any part of its vast business districts, with streets, splendidly paved and clean as a pin, that are brightened by flower beds and garden effects in vivid colors. Berlin reminds one of a huge garden in full bloom. You at once remarli the many fine large stores, all seeming to do a prosperous business; rarely do you flnd a vacant one, and, when you do, it is for good reasons, such as a new building being erected next door. There is a building and remodeling activity all over the city and even in the suburbs that reminds you ot New York. They have beaten us in originality and variety of design, and our style of square block is here the rarest of things. Ber¬ lin streets are laid out in beautifully curved lines, starting or ending in squares or public places, all containing fountains or monuments; and flower-beds are every¬ where. If flower-beds are not placed in the center of the streets they are on the edge of the sidewalk; if not there, they are directly in front of the building line. The effect is varied in the different streets, but all owners have a community of in¬ terest in upholding the beauty of design in their particular section. UNT'eR den LINDEN. Probf.bly the best known street is Unter den Linden, famous for its stately trees. On this street are some of the best known hotels, museums, the Russian and French Embassies, etc. It commences at the Royal Castle, the Berlin residence of the Em¬ peror, and runs to the Brandenburger Thor. where commences the Tiergarten, the largest and finest public parlv in Ber¬ lin, at the other end of which is one of the finest suburbs—Charlottenburg. Some of the most beautiful town resi¬ dences are situated around the Tiergarten. The drives and bridle paths in this park are much used by the aristocracy, and when in residence the Emperor is seen al¬ most daily riding a superb horse or driv¬ ing, usually from eight to ten in the morning. The principal.street for high-class shop¬ ping is Leipziger Strasse. It commences at the Potsdamer Platz. where are the magniflcent buildings of A. Wertheim and other well-known firms. The street con¬ tinues to the Spittel Markt. In the city proper, among the finest resi¬ dential streets is that known as the Kur- furstendam. It is the prolongation of the Tiergarten Strasse and runs through Charlottenburg lip to the Grtinewald col¬ ony. Both sides of this beautiful street aj-e lined with high-class modern apart¬ ment houses. The rents range from 4,000 marks to 10,000 marks for eight to fifteen rooms, not counting servants' rooms, kitchen, storerooms, etc. Another item of interest, perhaps, is Ber¬ lin gay life at night. It is brilliant and highly interesting. But one is apt to be oddly struck with the sight of some of the city's most palatial amusement houses next door to its most prominent banking institutions—right in the banking center. Among such is the Palais de Danse, a very flne building about one year old, which cost with its site about 7,000,000 marks. This and other popular places turn night into day from 11 p, m. to 4 a. m. From 8 a. m. to 7 p. m. the same street is a bee¬ hive of industry. I may cite the suburb of Schoeneberg as an apartnient house quarter corre¬ sponding to our Washington Heights sec¬ tion. Schoeneberg was founded by one of Berlin's most prominent real estate operators, George I-Iaberland, who formed a syndicate and bought the site, which about ten years ago was farm land. It took him several years to get control of what he wanted, and he then started to lay out model streets on curved lines. When his landscape designs were com¬ pleted, large plots were sold off to builders and building companies for improvement, his company retaining absolute control over both the landscape designs and the architectural treatment of the buildings to be constructed. His company offered a HLIbll.V S.VIFFIN. number of prizes for architectural designs, the first award being 8,000 marks, the second 6,000 marks, and so on. There are at present some five hundred houses in the city of Schoeneberg, and the architects were certainly artists, for I have never seen so many beautiful designs before in apartment buildings. APARTMENT HOUSE RENTS. Apartment houses are either four or five stories in height, according to the section of the city and the value of the land. They contain from two to three families on a floor in eight to nine room apartments. Eerliners do not count the rooms in an apartment as we do; only inhabitable rooms, excluding storerooms, servants' rooms, kitchen and bathrooms are meant when one speaks of, say, a nine-room apartment. Suites bring from. 2,000 to 2,800 marks rent a year, and would bring easily in New York 5,000 to S.OOO marks. The rooms are enormous, many of them being 20 by 25, 18 by 20, etc. The decora¬ tions furnished by the owners are very beautiful; ordinary painted woodwork you do not flnd, everything being done in the very flnest white enamel. Even the floors are enamel paint, except in some of the principal rooms, which have inlaid hard¬ wood floors. All the rooms have plenty of light and air, the rear court-yards showing again the owners' community of interest, as the court-vards of probably half a dozen may be treated as one garden. No solid wood fences separating the properties are al¬ lowed. A high iron fence of the lattice¬ work effect marks the division of owner¬ ship In a great many instances the owner has placed prettily designed white enamel benches, one for each of the different ten¬ ants in his house. Every apartment has a balcony on both the front and the rear, and these are also filled with flowers and growing plants; so you can imagine how beautiful the premises are. SCHOENEBERG AND ITS FOUNDER. Schoeneberg is now six years old. and has been a huge success for its promoters. Indeed, when vacancies occur there, apartments are snapped up from a wait- - ing list; yet the tenant is obliged to bring his own gas and electric light fixtures with him. Neither are you provided with washstands. hut you can flnd the plumb¬ ing connections in the wall. Tou may have your washstand as simple or elabo¬ rate as you like, but you must pay all the plumbing bills for connection. The lease is for one to three years, and you must give the owner three months' no¬ tice of your intention on its termination; he, in turn, must serve you with three months' notice should he wish to raise your rent. There are now many sections liltc Schoeneberg. The city does not help new deyelopnients of this sort in any way, hut after they are finished their streets and gardens, etc., are taken over and cared for by the city. For the most part, the houses are owned by realty companies or syndicates. The cost of transportation from the suburbs to the business district is about '2Vi. cents on cars in which there is plenty of room to sit down. It was through the courtesy and expert guidance of that wonderful man, George liaberland, that I thoroughly inspected Schoeneberg and other parts of Berlin. He is president of the Berlinische Boden- gesellschaft (Berlin Realty Co.). which, under his management, has paid 100 per cent, in dividends annually for a number of years. He is also a Royal Comniercial Councillor, and while the 'busiest of men, he gave the better part of a day to me. As a rule, apartment houses over here are not managed by real estate firms, but by the owner himself, with the assistance of a janitor and his wife, who are in a class by themselves. The houses have more privacy than ours, and sleepy hall- boys, elevator men and the like are not met with here. Tou ring for an entrance and arc at once shown to the elevator by the janitor or his wife, who are politeness personified. The car stops at your door by an electric device, returning in the same manner—no noise, everything of the utmost simplicity. A part of .Schoeneberg is sometimes re¬ ferred to as "the District of Columbia," on account of the many Americans re¬ siding there. Its center is the Bayrische Plalz, the delight of the Berliner and the visitor alike, with its beautiful fountains, grottoes, white benches, green lawns and fiower borders. Prom this center radiate magnificently laid-out streets, whose buildings vie in originality of design. One of the streets is in the architecture of old Nuremberg. It might have been taken from the stage decorations of Wagner's "Meistersinger." The street picture is an exact copy of historic prototypes. Scho¬ eneberg. together with other suburbs on similar lines, is making the newer Berlin a city of exceptional 'beauty- BIG REAL ESTATE DEALS. I have great respect for the magnitude of our realty operations in New Tork, but Berlin can make us sit up and take notice when it comes to Ibuying undeveloped suburban land and taking chances. Imagine a seventeen-million-dollar deal in vacant lots in New York! Recently a part of the Tempelbof Parade Ground, the colossal exercise ground of the Kaiser's own regiments, was bought by a syndi¬ cate formed by Mr. Haberland under the leadership of the Deutsche Bank and the Berlin Realty Company. The property was hought from the government for 72,-