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General Aspect. BERLIN.
53
the sovereign (p. 48). The regular streets crossing each other at
right angles were not caused by the needs of traffic; the few squares,
such as the Gendarmen-Markt, have been arbitrarily inserted. Here
also, however, the old houses have been replaced by magnificent new
buildings, notably in the chief streets. The Behren-Strasse, the
chief residence of the diplomats down to 1870, the Mauer-Strasse
and the Kanonier-Strasse, all now contain numerous banking-houses
and insurance offices. The Spittel-Markt and the Hausvogtei-Platz
(p. 159) are commercial centres, while the invasion of the residential
quarters by business premises progresses steadily towards the W.
and already extends far up in the neighbourhood of the Leipziger-
Strasse.
Neither the expansion of the town in the 18th century, nor the
system of building adopted in 1860, was conducive to originality
or variety in the different quarters. For miles the whole ground
was systematically marked out, without any great consideration of
the characteristic difference between the wide main arteries and
such smaller side-streets as might be found necessary. The enormous
prices of the large building-lots, which were generally very narrow
in proportion to their depth, necessitated the building of high houses
with narrow courts. All over the town we find on the same plots
expensive residences in front and cheaper ones behind, thus causing
a great mixture of all classes of the inhabitants, and great mono¬
tony of street effects. It is only within recent years that some of
the suburbs have been laid out on the villa-system.
Just as in London, Paris, and other capitals, so in Berlin, the
upper classes tend on the whole to live in the W. end of the town,
while the E. end is given over to factories and workshops. The
South-Eastern Quarter is the seat of the more skilled industries,
such as cabinet-making and the manufacture of articles in bronze
and other metals. The place of the old building-yards and factories
is gradually being taken by the so-called Hbfe, huge, many-storied
buildings, often enclosing three or four interior courts, and airy
and well lighted from floor to ceiling, while the motive power for
the machinery is furnished by steam or electricity. Similar erec¬
tions serve as warehouses for industrial samples sent from every
part of Germany. The permission to run their waste into the Spree
being denied them, all the tanneries, fulling-mills, and dye-works
situated on the river will soon be transplanted to the upper Spree
at Kbpeniek (p. 201). Single imposing buildings, sueh as hospitals
and churches, are to be seen more towards the centre of the town,
and large barracks are found in the S. quarters, near the large
parade-ground on the Tempelhofer Feld, which here marks the
limit of the town's development. — The North-Eastern Quarter is
the seat of the home woollen and clothing industries, and contains
little worth seeing. The Friedrichshain (p. 154), however, forms a