The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape

by Brian Ladd

The 1970s marked a change in thinking. The Mietskaserne was rediscovered—that is, intellectuals and opinion makers embraced it. As West Berlin’s alternative scene grew, students, artists, and nonconformists of many stripes discovered the unrenovated tenements. For them, a toilet down the hall and the absence of a bath merely meant a degree of inconvenience in return for an otherwise unaffordable large apartment, which could be renovated step by step. For rebels against the nuclear family and the traditional home, the large, high-ceilinged rooms continued to offer the flexibility of arrangement their builders had intended. The Mietskaserne presented an alternative to the modem apartment, designed for efficient use of space with small rooms carefully tailored for cooking, eating, or sleeping. As the old buildings attracted residents and small businesses, relatively intact tenement neighborhoods became Berlin’s liveliest areas. Planners and urban critics began to praise the old buildings as incubators of neighborhood identity and attractive urbanity. They became charming rather than dilapidated.